S/O: How much time is your main breadwinner granted per year

[DawnM]

Just curious.   I realize I can't cover all the scenarios so either choose the one that is closest to your situation or check other.

 

 

[DawnM]

In theory, my husband gets 6 full weeks off.  These include vacation and sick days though.  But for him, if he gets sick, he can make up the days by working a Saturday or something later on.

 

In reality, he could never take off more than a week or so at a time.  When he takes time off, the work doesn't go away, he just has more to do when he gets back.

 

But we are very fortunate.  He does take at least two full weeks off per year and then a lot of 3-4 day weekends here and there to get stuff done or take the kids places.  

 

He never actually uses all the days and they only carry over for so long.

[SproutMamaK]

I voted 4 weeks, but his states vacation time is actually 3 weeks. (For the first 15 years or so at his company it was only 2 weeks... he gave everyone a 1 week increase in vacation time when he bought the company.) However the company shuts down for the week between Christmas and New Year's, so while it's not vacation time specifically, there's an extra week of downtime there.

 

That being said, he has NEVER taken all his vacation time, even after I've had a baby. He always ends up going in to work even when he's off. Heck, even when we're in another country he ends up taking calls to put out fires. :/

[Lawana]

Dh has been with his company 27 years now, and receives the maximum 5 weeks paid time off. As of a few years ago, employees may carry over 1 week into the following year. Previously it was all use or lose.

 

That said, dh has never taken all his time, due to demand for his unique skill set. The past three years have had more time off than previously, due to his mother's final illness and death (she lived with us), his son's surgeries, and this year, his own cataract surgeries.

[Luckymama]

Dh does not have any paid time off.

 

He is a Certified Financial Planner (CFP) and is paid either by planning fees, management fees, or commisions (depending on the clients' choices and needs). He can, and does, work remotely when we are on most vacations. For example, he'll work for a few hours in the afternoon while the kids and I hit the pool when at a Disney park or he'll get up early to find wifi when we're at a national park.

 

The flexibility to take a random day "off" is a great part of his job :)

[Pawz4me]

I think DH has six weeks off.  That's vacation and sick time.  It's not hard at all for him to schedule time off, although he's pretty much expected to be available by phone and Internet 24/7/365.  He's a software/IT guy and can tap into his work computer from anywhere and access his company's systems just as if he were sitting at his desk at work. So the good news is it's easy for him to take time off.  The bad news is he never really has time off--he almost always ends up putting out a fire or ten while on vacation.

[AlmiraGulch]

I'm the main breadwinner, and right now I have 3 weeks of paid vacation, but unlimited sick time, in theory, so that doesn't count against me at all.  I work from home, though, so it's pretty easy for me to take a few hours off here and there, or check out early on a Friday if I feel like it.  That also doesn't include paid holidays.

 

I had more paid time off at my last company that I left last December.  Three weeks of paid vacations, unlimited sick time, paid holidays, and something like 60 hours of "personal time", which was basically like vacation time except that if you quit or were terminated you didn't get paid out for the personal time you didn't take.  Needless to say, I always took the personal time before vacation time.  I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't.  

 

 

[Lady Marmalade]

None.  Breadwinner works seasonally in the construction industry.  They really, really frown on anyone taking time off when they are working, since they all have 3-4 months time off in the winter.   When DH does take vacation, it is also unpaid, since he is paid hourly.  

 

 

[DawnM]

I'm the main breadwinner, and right now I have 3 weeks of paid vacation, but unlimited sick time, in theory, so that doesn't count against me at all.  I work from home, though, so it's pretty easy for me to take a few hours off here and there, or check out early on a Friday if I feel like it.  That also doesn't include paid holidays.

 

I had more paid time off at my last company that I left last December.  Three weeks of paid vacations, unlimited sick time, paid holidays, and something like 60 hours of "personal time", which was basically like vacation time except that if you quit or were terminated you didn't get paid out for the personal time you didn't take.  Needless to say, I always took the personal time before vacation time.  I'm not sure why anyone wouldn't.  

 

 

My husband just started working from home 3 days per week.  We were shocked when they said yes because they have said no for a long time.

 

He finds he gets SO MUCH more done working at home and can finish his 8-9 hour day in 5.5-6 hours since he doesn't get distracted by his coworkers.  

 

It has only been 2 weeks so far, but I told him he should try to get in 8-9 hour days and take Fridays off as much as possible so he has only a 4 day week.  He would still need to take calls and do Friday online seminars if they are given, but he could have more freedom.

[Southern Ivy]

He gets 3 weeks right now, but he'll get another week in Feb when he's been there 5 years. This does not include holidays. 
He also gets random days off when has worked on a big project or been up 24+ hours correcting system failures. 

We don't take real vacations right now, so we typically roll over about 5 vacation days each year. 

[Ethel Mertz]

I voted 6 weeks. My spouse has 4 weeks vacation time (includes 5 weekends) and 2 weeks of continuing education. Rarely is that time off all taken.

[Mama Geek]

I wasn't sure how to answer.  Dh is a contractor and sometimes takes 2-4 weeks off during the year when he is on a big project.  He also at times takes months off in between projects and it is mostly his decision to take that much time off.

 

[JustEm]

I put other. Dh has a set paid week off after Christmas but no other set weeks off. He only has to ask and find a time that works for everyone and will get the paid time off. So what he asks for varies yearly. It's at least 2 weeks off a year with with a few long weekends and sick time is always paid. But this year it was 4 weeks off, a few weekends, and sick time paid.

[Wheres Toto]

I voted "other" because we are both breadwinners (although he currently brings home a lot more bread than I do).  ;)

 

I've been at my job 2 years and get 2 weeks vacation, off between Christmas and New Years, 2 personal holidays and (theoretically) unlimited sick time.  I can also work from home or bring the kids with me if I absolutely have to.  Plus the usual 8 or 10 major holidays off.  ETA: We are allowed to roll-over our vacation time pretty much indefinitely.  I do have 30 hours still from last year, plus 37 hours from this years allotment since we haven't done more than take long weekends in a couple years. I work a 35 hour week.

 

Dh has been at his job about 6 months and has 2 weeks vacation.  I don't know about the rest, he's in a management position so it may be more of a "don't be excessive" than a defined amount of sick/personal time.   He works weekends when needed and they leave early on Fridays if they can.   I have no idea if he's off the winter break or not. I guess we'll find out soon. 

[Night Elf]

My DH reached his 20th year with his company this year. The amount of vacation depends on time worked. He now gets 5 weeks. But he also gets sick days and comp time beyond that. There is no cap on sick days provided one doesn't abuse it. And he and his team rotate being on standby on the weekends. He gets one day comp time every weekend he is on standby so the following week he takes a friday off to have a 3-day weekend. His company is very generous.

[RKWAcademy]

My husband officially gets around 3 weeks off for vacation, not including sick time or comp time earned.  He never uses them because they roll over to sick time, which ultimately will allow him to retire a bit earlier (I think they can go out up to two years early, but he burned a ton of his accrued time when our kids were in the NICU for so long).  He usually just uses comp time for vacations.  Since he almost never gets paid for overtime, it is very easy for him to build up a lot of comp time hours.  We've never wanted to go somewhere and not had vacation time.  He takes about three weeks every year.

[Amira]

It changes from year to year, but it averages to at least 7 weeks a year (vacation and foreign holidays).  Getting his employer to allow him to take the time is a different story.  He's not allowed to take any time off for the next 9 months, for example, and they often don't have enough people working in many places to allow everyone to take off the full amount of time they've earned.  

 

[mommymilkies]

Well, dh teaches, so if he doesn't teach summer (optional), then he has a LOT of time off.  

[gardenmom5]

dh is self-employed and works from home.  his schedule is his own.  there are times during the year things are very busy and he works long days, but most times things are slower and he can do what he wants.  He might have a phone call or (or three) during the week.  but he can do that from anywhere he has a phone and internet connection.

 

[Serenade]

Well, I guess I could say my husband has almost 6 weeks, but it is very hard to take, and definitely hard to take more than one week at a time. He has worked for the company for 14 years now, and only once have we taken a long vacation, and that was probably a ding against him. He is losing his job now, and my guess is it is partially due to benefits like vacation time, as well as a higher salary after being there 14 years. Sometimes I wish companies wouldn't increase salaries and vacation time due to longevity, because often that ends up leading to a job loss further down the line. At least that has happened to my DH twice -- both times he was with the company 13 or 14 years, around the time when vacation and salary get to be more than the company wants to pay. I mean, my DH has been told directly that he makes too much money. It's like raises and increased vacation time lead to eventual doom.

[JFSinIL]

Hubby lost his job almost two years ago now, and since then has been trying to build up the almost dormant legal business of his decreased father*.  He works 7 days a week (weekends he spends more time on the computer doing work than off it relaxing) so any days he takes off ... he does not earn anything.  He has to support not only us, but pay rent etc. on the legal office and pay the secretary.  Can't afford a paralegal, and the business is too small to have a second attorney.  So I checked "no time off".

 

BTW his dad died in the hospital, age about 88.  He and hubby had been discussing one of their cases a couple hours before FIL passed.  Hubby will also probably work until he dies. :-(

 

* a very small private practice, most clients Polish cleaning ladies etc. A lot of pro bono.  In-laws used to note that some years my MIL had made more income as a reference librarian than he did as an attorney.   Hubby never intended to take the business over as it was just too small to support our family.

[Dmmetler]

4 weeks, plus fixed holidays and sick leave. In practice, though, work comes with him. It's rare for him to get even a true day off (this is a guy who was checking e-mail and calling in when he was in the hospital).

[Magnolia Rain]

DH is self employed - and employs 25 other people. He gets no paid vacation or sick time. Ever. If he doesn't work, there is no one who can cover or fill in for him. He can take time off whenever he chooses, but it means making sure we can cover all our business bills and expenses as well as our employee payroll and their paid vacation/sick.

[ksr5377]

I voted for 2 weeks because I read it to mean how many weeks "in a row" that he could take off.  So, DH gets 23 vacation days, 5 "Personal Business" days and about 120 hours of sick time.  If there were a serious illness, I think it would be different, but for something like vacation, he could take 2 weeks off in a row.  After that, it wouldn't be worth it for the work that piled up while he was gone.  And the attitude he would get from his boss.  He uses up most of his vacation time every year for things like 3 or 4 day weekends, attending co-op with the kids and I to see what they're up to, taking the kids ice skating just because etc. 

[mamajag]

My husband is home 156 days of the year. The rest of the year he's either in Africa or traveling. They are good with actual illness, injury, or uncontrollable travel delays, but you'd better be there when scheduled or they will find someone else.

[Katy]

In theory he gets vacation, but in reality something always gets in the way.  It's getting to the point that we're going to have to buy plane tickets to go someplace remote, because they don't seem to mess with the vacations of people who fly somewhere, but those who drive are expected to come back in and fix an "emergency."  And by emergency I mean a minor inconvenience that someone else could probably handle, but DH doesn't want to seem like he's not a team player.  Pretty much the only way around this is to have a flight reservation, apparently.

[Chris in VA]

Dh gets 4 weeks off in the summer, all fed holidays (though Monday is his only day off, so in theory he gets a comp day, but he doesn't take them) and I suppose a sick day or two (he is never sick enough to take off). He gets two weeks of continuing ed but doesn't take it every year. He also goes on pilgrimmage to Israel every other year (just started that) for 10 days, but he is sort of working, since he's with parishoners and leads a little of the tour (he dug in Sepphoris, so the school has him do that bit), and he pays his own way.

[DawnM]

I voted for 2 weeks because I read it to mean how many weeks "in a row" that he could take off.  So, DH gets 23 vacation days, 5 "Personal Business" days and about 120 hours of sick time.  If there were a serious illness, I think it would be different, but for something like vacation, he could take 2 weeks off in a row.  After that, it wouldn't be worth it for the work that piled up while he was gone.  And the attitude he would get from his boss.  He uses up most of his vacation time every year for things like 3 or 4 day weekends, attending co-op with the kids and I to see what they're up to, taking the kids ice skating just because etc. 

 

 

You can take it to mean anything you want.  I just took the days he gets per year and put them into week form, but it doesn't matter.  

[SamanthaCarter]

10 days/year, use it or lose it. 

[Loowit]

DH doesn't get a set number of vacation days, sick days, or holidays.  He can take time off when he wants if it is okay with his boss and he can afford to do it.  He gets a PTO payout on each paycheck that is a percent of the time he worked that pay period.  He works commission so the amount varies.  We keep the money in a savings account and use it when he takes time off.  He works for a very small company so if he takes time off it effects the other workers, so he takes workload into consideration and such before making requests.  He takes off most major holidays because there typically isn't much going on that day at work, but he is usually on call.

[Mergath]

DH doesn't get a set number of vacation days, sick days, or holidays.  He can take time off when he wants if it is okay with his boss and he can afford to do it.  He gets a PTO payout on each paycheck that is a percent of the time he worked that pay period. 

 

This is how it works for my dh. With his paid holidays, I want to say it comes to something like three weeks of paid time off a year? Four? He never uses much at a time so I don't know for sure. And he's never had to take unpaid time off, so I have no idea how that would work. 

[kroe1]

No paid time off at our house. That must be nice.

[Joker]

Dh gets 6 weeks. I just recently went back to work after staying home for more than 15 years and I (and every other employee of under five years) get 4 weeks. I was surprised by mine.

[idnib]

I voted "other" because DH is one of only two employees in the U.S. and just informs his employers when he needs time off. They don't really keep track of  U.S. holidays or anything. That said, the most he's taken is 3 weeks of vacation and a few sick days per year. 

[foxbridgeacademy]

He gets 2 weeks vacation time and no paid sick time.  He can take off work if he's ill and use vaca time or just not get paid.  Company also shuts down for 1-2 weeks over Christmas New Years and they get paid for that with Holiday pay.  So, I would say 3 weeks.

[Laura Corin]

I'm the only person employed outside the home - Husband works freelance from home.  I am a secretary.

 

I get 30 days of leave per year, plus five national holidays (Christmas, Boxing Day, New Years Day, The Day After New Years - long hangovers in Scotland, May Day).  The  Head of Department has given us Christmas Eve as an extra holiday this year.  After four years of service, I get an extra two days a year.  After a total of six years of service, I get another two days.  I get up to 18 weeks of paid sick leave in the first year.  

 

If I fell pregnant, I would get one year of maternity leave, valid from day one.  It's part paid and part unpaid, but during that I would also accrue paid leave.  The other secretary in the office has worked here for six year but has had three children in that time, so has actually worked for three years.

 

 

[LaMere Academy]

I believe he gets 30 days PTO.  So it is any time off: sick, vacation, personal days.

[Arcadia]

Hubby has 14 days leave and can carry a maximum of 21 days leave at a time. They don't count sick leave or timeoff for taking family to doctor, dentist, optician. He doesn't need to catch up on work during vacation as they are slightly overstaff most of the year.

[sbgrace]

I voted 6 weeks, but that includes paid sick and personal time. The vacation time bumped up at I think 5, 10, and 15 years of employment. It will bump up 5 days one final time when he hits 20 years in a few weeks. That will be the last bump up in vacation time though.

 

He is employed by the state. I see good time off as a  trade off for working for far less money than his field earns in the private sector.   He can actually use his time. It rolls over if he doesn't use it.

[Bree]

He gets around 2 weeks for vacation, then a few days you could add for holidays, then some sick time also. So around 3 total, maybe 4 this year since he had to take more time off from having surgery ;)

[Excelsior! Academy]

I can't remember, but I voted 5 weeks.  Time off is directly related to the number of years worked at the company.  

[EmilyGF]

Technically he gets 4 weeks off. But he can work two of the four to get paid for two extra weeks. 

 

Emily

[Wabi Sabi]

We both work full-time, we both earn 6 weeks of time off each year, and we use it! We both just used two weeks' of time off. We both try to take time off every 3-4 months. 

[zoobie]

Self-employed attorney. I selected 4 weeks, but it varies by year. Even when he's not in the office, he checks email and gets phone calls. Some vacations are better than others with how much he's on/off. Most of the time, I feel very fortunate that he is able to be flexible with time in/out of the office. Occasionally I want to hurl his phone into the nearest large body of water. There was one trip where he spent most of the day at Magic Kingdom on conference calls instead of with us. But we were at Magic Kingdom instead of at home. ;)

[Rachel]

My husband gets three weeks vacation plus 12 days sick leave. His company wants him to take it, but he gets really behind if he takes more than a couple days off at a time so it's rare that he takes a big chunk of time all at once. If we had a family emergency of some sort, he'd take it all in a heartbeat.

 

He did take 1-2 weeks with the birth of each child but that involved a lot of answering emails and returning phone calls while he was "on vacation". I've never seen someone get as much email as him.

[creekland]

No paid time off at all for either of us.  

 

In his case he'd need to work for someone else rather than himself.  He's not interested.

 

In my case, I'd have to work full time rather than part time.  I'm not interested.

 

As things are we can travel as we want and more or less when we want.  We've taken off > 3 months in a year's time (only 2 months in a row).  As stated in the other thread, often he's working during down time when we travel to help keep income coming in.  We do NOT care to trade what we have.  We really like it.

 

Flexibility (and decent income on his part) are worth it.  I don't actually earn that much.  I more or less work for fun and a few extras.

[Mimm]

3 weeks plus 10 days paid holidays and 10 sick days (which can be used if a child or wife is sick). My husband can easily work from home so if he needs to come home for the afternoon or something, that's not a problem. He has a lot of flexibility with his job and we are thankful for that.

[MeghansMom]

DH gets four weeks a year plus three personal days. He can make it longer though. He gets Sun and Mon off at his primary job. Thanksgiving he will get Wed, Thurs and Friday off. If he takes off Tuesday and Saturday, he ends up with nine days off. This Christmas he will take four days off but end up with like twelve days off. But then he does have a second job that he works on his days off.

[Butter]

I wasn't sure how to answer this so I picked the total time he gets off adding together vacation, sick, and holidays since those are all paid time off.  In total that equals 7 weeks per year.  He gets 3 weeks of vacation (3 more years and he'll be up to 4 weeks per year).  That can be carried over no more than 6 weeks per year (no more than 240 hours at the end of the year).  Then he gets 2 weeks of sick leave per year.  That carries over indefinitely.  And then there are 10 federal holidays per year.  He works from home two days a week as well.  I think he works harder at home than at work most of the time.  No one to distract/bother him here!

[Annie G]

Dh gets five weeks, 11 holiday days off, and whatever sick leave he needs since he's salaried.  It took him working 20 years for the same company to get this much vacation time and he takes every bit of it every year.    His boss generously also allows him to take time off for doctor visits and other such things.