What are the Differences Between Paid Time Off, Sick Days, and Vacation?

In Business Tips, Employment Law by Ben AlbrightLeave a Comment

Different companies have different approaches to paid time off (PTO). Some companies have a blanket policy of PTO which provides employees with a set number of days off which they can use for any purpose. Other companies provide paid time off into sick days and vacation days.

Offering simple PTO and allowing employees to determine how to use it is simpler for the company and requires less intrusion into employee’s privacy. Employees can miss a day of work and a day is just deducted from their pool. When businesses make an official division between sick days and vacation, they must confirm with a doctor’s note or by other means that an employee is sick rather than traveling or something else.

Although keeping sick days and vacation in a common pool is simpler, it has some drawbacks. Employees are often less reliable because they can afford to work with less advanced planning. Creating a common PTO pool of days also gives workers incentive to use all of the PTO days as vacation and then come to work sick.

Individual businesses also need to consider how much time off they plan to give employees and whether they intend for that time to be transferrable to the next year if not used.

Does your business have questions about creating PTO policies for your business? Perhaps you are having issues with an employee abusing your PTO policy?

Contact  Business Law Southwest today to discuss all of your business law issues. Business Law Southwest. Business law that makes business sense.

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