let me just run this by you guys for your opinion(s).

Our company closes from 12/24 to 1/4. Thats 8 working days. However, we only get paid for 3 days. Christmas, Christmas eve and new years. So i am expected to take the remaining 5 days out of my personal time. How does that work? if the company is closed, you cannot be expected to come to work. But they don't pay you for the time?

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

My company just announced that we had to take 2 weeks off at Christmas. Pretty much the whole company will be shut down the full 2 weeks. 4 days are paid holidays but 6 days are ours to manage. We can either take paid vacation time OR not take any vacation time at all and not get paid for those days.

It would seem like they can't make you use your vacation time... you should still have the option to take time off without pay. I don't think they're obligated to pay you when the plant is shut down and no work is being performed.

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earache


Sonoma County Scooter Club



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/22/2008 10:50AM by earache.

Our company does the same thing, the only difference is after 5 years you get paid for the 5 days shutdown in addition to the 3 holidays. I'm guessing you could probably file for unemployment during that time, but with the 1 week waiting period it really wouldn't do much for you.

For those that don't have 5 years in, they have the option of using vacation time if they have it.

Personally, I've been with the company 18 years and am planning on using 2 vacation days for a total of 2 weeks off, though I do remember how it sucked for the first five years.

That isn't at all unusual. The shutdown saves the company money. They've budgeted for your vacation time, so if you want to get paid, you have to burn vacation/personal time. Otherwise it is unpaid time off. My company is doing that this year too. We're also changing our vacation policy, so I need to burn all of my vacation time before the end of the year. I'm not working any more Fridays for the rest of the the year, and I'm taking every Monday off in December.

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Ztirffritz
"The large print giveth, and the small print taketh away." -Tom Waits

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It's very common in manufacturing. My company schedules 'shutdown' at the end of July and the end of December. Our vacation policy is such that workers MUST take one of their vacation weeks at the end of december.

Fortunately my boss has let me take my vacation piecemeal to help my wife with her two foot surgeries. And since I'm a support guy, I can work when the factory is closed.

Depending on your state laws, some people actually claim unemployment during that period. I recall the UAW guys doing that a lot.

Can you find something else to do to keep you busy while the company is shut down?

Jeff

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Quote
bazookaman
So i am expected to take the remaining 5 days out of my personal time. How does that work? if the company is closed, you cannot be expected to come to work. But they don't pay you for the time?

Real life suxor!!

BGnR

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"Near the day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."
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In this kind of scenario in most of Europe, you would have to sign on for unemployment benefit for the few days. If you didn't then you would have problems later if you lost the job or at retiring time because your social security cover would not be continuous. By registering as unemployed then you are covered for social security purposes.

I understand taking it as unpaid time. However, regarding that. I am salaried. I make a XXX dollars per year not per hour. So if i don't get paid for that time, I am not getting my salary.

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

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bazookaman
I understand taking it as unpaid time. However, regarding that. I am salaried. I make a XXX dollars per year not per hour. So if i don't get paid for that time, I am not getting my salary.

I'm salaried too, but if my company chooses to shut down for a period of time to save money then I am part of that equation. I don't know if your company is shutting down for cost savings or if the shutdown is a yearly occurrence. If it's a yearly occurrence then I would suspect that your salary was adjusted to take that into account. Meaning that you make $XXX/(year-5 days)

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earache


Sonoma County Scooter Club

Do you get all the federal holidays off the rest of the year? I've worked for one company that gave holiday pay for every business day from 12/24 through 1/1, but we only got four paid holidays the entire rest of the year (Memorial Day, 4th, Labor Day, Thanksgiving).

Some governments and many academia entities (i.e. Universities) perform the same routine, only requiring 'essential' personnel to be at work and getting paid (unless they schedule time off), but for others the campus will be shut down and if employees want to be paid they are 'forced' to use their time.

Luckily, I am not in that boat.

Though I am in that academic "boat". No pay, or work a different schedule, or take vacation or other leave time if the library is closed a day I normally am scheduled to work. As long as the closing has been announced at least a couple weeks in advance, those are my options. If there is an emergency closing, such as a snow day, or as happened this summer, the building was closed until some electrical repairs could be done to the emergency systems after a lightning storm, I will get paid for the extra day off. But they tried to wiggle out of paying for those for years until the unions filed a complaint with the state labor board which ruled against the university. Conversely, as the only staff member scheduled weekday evenings, if they stay open for a Monday holiday I am expected to work and only get a holiday day to take off later - no OT. As long as the closing has been announced at least a couple weeks in advance, those are my options.

As for standard practice, my father worked for GE for 30 years as an engineer. The local plant held a one or two week shutdown almost every summer, he was expected to take part of his vacation then. Only very seldom did they designate him to be one of the skeleton staff to take care of the few urgent issues.

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I guess this is just a time when what makes the most sense is wrong. I mean, if I am forced to take the time off, its not really "personal" time. I just cannot see how you HAVE to take your OWN time off when the facility you work at is closed. You have no option to work. Just seems weird to me.

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Never underestimate the predictability of stupidity

Quote
bazookaman
I guess this is just a time when what makes the most sense is wrong. I mean, if I am forced to take the time off, its not really "personal" time. I just cannot see how you HAVE to take your OWN time off when the facility you work at is closed. You have no option to work. Just seems weird to me.

This is often presented as "just the way it is," or as a function of technicalities... The truth is, it's a structural arrangement (laws, regulations, and popular notions of entitlement) that favors the corporation over the individual. And this setup is not inevitable or necessary - it's the result of a lot of hard work and organization by business interests to make the company's bottom line more important than your bottom line. The system is set up so that if you want to participate in the decision, you have to become part of management.

People wonder why we have unions. They complain that labor organization is bureaucratic, inefficient, and doesn't serve the worker. But when stuff like this happens, they wonder why something that feels deeply unfair seems unquestionable. I can tell you why - because as a worker, you don't have any ability to participate in the decision to close the plant and either a) take your earned leave, or b) be unpaid while on furlough. I'm not trying to move this conversation to the other side, but you can't address this issue without mentioning organization - portraying this situation as inevitable just reifies the priorities of management.

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rj
AKA
Vreemac, Moth of the Future