My boss told me I'm not allowed to take vacation or sick days...

Roar!! wrote:

This why people don't want to hire Americans.

You should be lucky you have a job.

Anyone else can do your job, that means you are expendable.

I didn't take vacation my first 4 years on the job, only when my boss begged me to take a vacation did I schedule something.

HA!

Americans work way more and have way less vacation than most of Europe.

I was working on a major proposal with a bunch of French people last year. Everyone working huge hours on it for 6 months -- and, two months before it went in, all the French employees took four weeks of vacation. Because it was time for holidays, so who cares what they have to get done?

The difference between postdoc and labtech is like the difference between NCAA D1 track and road racing.

The postdoc doesn't just want the PI's recommendation his career will end if he doesn't have it. A labtech can continue to be a labtech unless he does something dangerous or sloppy in the lab.

If you are in a union and have a union contract then they must abide by the agreement in the contract. If you are not in a union you are an at will employee and your employer can do almost anything they want--including unilaterlly changing work rules and vacation/sick rules--except discriminate against for age, race, sex, or sexual orientaion. At will employees in the US have far less protection and righhts than people think. Most large institutions do have processes established to address grievences, but these are really only to protect themselevs against age, race, sex, and sexual orientation descrimination charges. If it is the culture of your workplace to not take vacation or sick time then taking it will probably end up in you losing your position eventually, if not for this then for another reason.

Americans do work far more than people in most European countries. But we are able to buy lots of crap that we do not need that makes us sooooo happy. What a culture we have created. Wait until you have kids and try managing work and family. Despite constant rhetoric of "family values," most American workplaces are entirely unsympathetic to time issues related to being a good and attentive parent. Even getting the Family Leave Act passed--which simply allows for 3 months of UNPAID leave when you have a kid--was extremely difficult to get passed because it was too big a burden on business. (Bush 41 vetoed it then Clinton signed it.) Evertime one of my kids gets sick and cannot go to school my wife and I have to sit down and determine which one of us will get in less trouble at work if we stay home wiht the kid.

G_D

What state? Public or private university?

Explorer never responds.

Lets flush this thread.

I had a boss who was a jerk- real bad.

When I quit, I got my check, "went to lunch" to cash my check, went home and called him to tell him I quit.

The other employees told me I was their hero.

If you end up getting another job don't put in notice, leave them hanging.

Even though that's not okay that you don't get to have a moment to rest, I'm glad you have a job and coworkers who want you there. You have a job and a reason to get out of bed in the morning. I wish I were in your place.

I hope you have a good day.

I actually believe it is illegal for the employer to not allow you to take preciously agreed upon vacation days. Accrued vacation days are a form of compensation and it is illegal to withhold compensation from an employee who has earned it per the terms of their employment.

As someone mentioned before, there is a difference between accruing leave/sick days and when you can take them. Seasonal employees for the federal gov. (think National Parks) accrue leave and sick days, but whether you can take them is totally up to your supervisor. In most employment settings, you are compensated monetarily for the unused time so there is no depriving you of your earnings (though how you leave e.g. terminated, with 2wks notice, etc. can be important too). The upshot is, the boss can't stop you from getting sick, but they can dictate when you use your vacation days. I think it's a rare case for most employment situations that employees get to take vacation without approval from management.

If you want to keep the job and not get fired don't take off. If you can accumulate the days and get paid for unused days when you quite do that. could be a lot of $! hopefully,it is not a use them or lose them situation at the end of a year.

To the OP:Be happy you have a job in this economy. Me I'm in my parents basement posting on Letsrun and have no prospects for job or ever getting laid.

Welcome to America, b*tch. Now get back to work.

I find the idea that everyone should be happy to have a job regardless of the work conditions and pay a reprehensible attitude. All workers should be allowed sick time, some vacation time, and a living wage. The scolding of people that do not have these things because they complain about it something I disagree with strongly. So, with that logic and if the race to the bottom continues, should they be happy to have a job they are required to work 12 hours a day, 7 days a week? Should they be happy making $7.00 and hour and trying to raise a family?

g_d

You're not allowed to post on your computer message boards either! In my office, NOW!!!

I spent nearly 22 years working for the National Labor Relations Board, and what I have to say to this young man is some combination of knowledge and personal opinion. During my career, I was reminded again and again that employees regularly overestimated the rights they have on the job. The poster who said you have no right under Federal law to vacation or sick leave is, unfortunately, correct. state laws vary, and the issue is far less clear when an employer has a policy that provides for vacation and/or sick leave but prevents an employee from taking it. If an employee has accrued vacation and/or sick leave when he leaves, there is no Federal law that gives the employee the right to cash it out.

As for my opinion and advice, I vigorously disagree with anyone who would call you a "slacker." You might or might not be a slacker, but it has nothing to do with your desire to take the benefit you are rightly entitled to. For decades, Americans fought for such basic rights as health insurance, vacation, and sick leave. Now, they are considered "slackers" if they take the benefits they are entitled to.I agree with the poster who says you should not take sick leave if you are not sick. When I retired, I had accrued more than a year of sick leave and I got no compensation for it.I felt fortunate I was never sick. Currently, many employers combine sick and vacation time, thus avoiding the problem of employees calling in sick when they are healthy. I think that's a good policy, but if the employer's plan distinguishes sick and vacation leave, I think the employee has no right to call in sick when he's not sick.

My suggestion is to discuss the matter with the professor who runs the lab and see if you can agree on a mutually acceptable time to take the vacation days. If this proves impossible, I would discuss the matter with HR, pointing out the policy to the HR manager. I wish you good luck. Don't feel any need to apologize for the benefits you have earned.

I may have missed it, but does the OP have a contract? Does it spell out the policy regarding sick and vacation days? If so, (s)he may take them, regardless of the PIs personal feelings about what constitutes the right level of commitment to the work of glorifying him. If the PI were to fire the OP for taking those days, the OP could file a wrongful termination suit.

Of course, that does not preclude the PI firing the OP for taking sick days, but attributing it to something else.

OP, if I were you, I would take the job, but start looking for another right away. The slim margin which separates capitalism from slavery is the right of the worker to take his skills elsewhere. Too few workers exercise that right when working for A-holes like the PI in question here.

I'm about to do something similar myself, maybe. I'm working at a place where no one has had a raise in 10 years, although they've gone on a construction tear putting up buildings with rich people's names on them that are of no institutional use. I love my job and don't mind working hard, but some employers take those two facts as a sign that someone is more exploitable. As I have been. But no more. No more.

It's a public university, I have a contract, and as I said earlier, our office manager was the one who told me that as a full time benefited employee I get vacation and sick leave. And again, NO, I never planned on abusing sick leave.

My PI so far has seemed like a good guy, but after some chatting with the grad students and post-docs I get the impression he's a bit of a slave driver who never does any actual work himself. I probably see him a total of 5 minutes per week, he never comes in the lab, and he keeps his door shut all the time so that nobody knows if he's in there or not (I'm finding he usually isn't).

I don't really see myself sticking in this lab regardless as I've recently been thinking about a bit of career change, but I am here for a year given my 12 month contract. I still want to do quality work while I'm here, be a good employee and get along with everyone though. I just don't see why I shouldn't be allowed to enjoy the benefits I'm granted.

Look, I may sound like a nerd and come off as a huge p*ssy because well I havent read the entire thread and so my comments are missing out on something someone much smarter than me said on the first or second page but it seems to me that the OP has posted his post and I dont really feel like I should dispute it or anyone else until I have time to go back and read it

Its called the free market - stop crying.