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symmetryofzero t1_j20k87s wrote

Reply to comment by Simplifyk in LPT: If you work an office job, save your time off for non-holiday seasons by supermagicpants

What a ridiculous system you have over there. In Australia you can carry over your PTO virtually unlimited. If your balance gets too high your employer will usually encourage you to take some tho.

I've only got 1 week PTO at the moment, but I also have 4 weeks paid sick leave saved up too.

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IrishJesusDude t1_j20z98f wrote

The "system" is just whatever policy the company has in place, obviously most companies want the employees to use up their leave every year as otherwise it could mean many staff looking for months or more off together. My own company will only allow 35 hours to be carried over but that policy only came in in 2000 and I member of staff who started on the old policy currently has 1600 hours carried over

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atreeofnight t1_j21d2dg wrote

True, but perhaps more importantly, companies don’t want to pay out months of saved leave to employees who resign.

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symmetryofzero t1_j21g5jq wrote

Lucky in Australia our laws aren't written by companies. It's by law ya get minimum 4 weeks PTO plus 2 weeks sick PTO (for permanent full time employees) - every year. And it carries over every year.

That's very sad someone had 1600hrs leave accumulated, that means they didn't take much leave during the years!

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zip222 t1_j223igq wrote

Do companies find ways to cheat the system? Like avoiding permanent full time designations? For sure that’s what companies in the US would do, and they would pay politicians to keep that legal.

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symmetryofzero t1_j224otl wrote

Keeping in mind I am talking generally here, and am not a lawyer etc.

You can employ someone as "casual" which means you basically work shift to shift - and generally they only have to give 1 day/shift notice for termination. You don't earn PTO on casual. Usually these employees are paid a better rate. But they have less perks. Casual work is pretty good in certain scenarios, I've done it before.

But to attract good workers, workplaces are usually permanent. There's usually a 6 month probation period - in which the first 6 months they can fire you if they're not happy with your performance etc. After being made permanent, they need a really good reason to fire someone (wilful negligence etc).

TLDR: Labour laws/unions are great.

If a company does the dodgy, they're opening their selves up to litigation.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen in Australia, but I would imagine it happens a lot less than the US etc.

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Johnyryal3 t1_j23ttr4 wrote

We have no "system" companies just do whatever the fuck they feel like.

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ButtercreamBear t1_j23l8g5 wrote

The idea that you have to save up sick leave is also a ridiculous system to some of us, fyi

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symmetryofzero t1_j244lc8 wrote

..... right? What is your system

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ButtercreamBear t1_j2462ur wrote

Have up to 7 sick days in a row off without a doctor's note.

If you're ill before you take annual leave, you can take it as sick leave instead.

If you don't take all your annual leave because of illness, it carries into next year.

There are no limits on how much sick leave you can take, but after 4 consecutive weeks you're considered long-term sick. The employee can dismiss you after this, but only after exhausting all options that might help you get back to work, e.g. offering for you to return part-time etc.

My sister in law had cancer just after having a baby last year - her company allowed her to take the normal 1 year maternity leave, but delay the start until after her cancer treatment had concluded (which was taken as sick leave). They've given her the 6 months of sick leave she needed, and then the year maternity on top. All paid.

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symmetryofzero t1_j25fz3q wrote

I'm really sorry to hear about your SIL. Hope she's better.

It's great her work did as much as they did to help her. Is that the norm tho?

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