holidays /vacation

i have just been  talking to my american friend and she said that she only gets 8 days holiday a year plus all the bank holidays is this true, i couldnt give up  my 20+ days plus bank holidays   

I worked for a large Fortune 500 company for 8 years.  It wasn't until I was in my 8th year that I finally had 3 weeks hols (+ public holidays).

I worked for a state agency and I earned 7 hours a month in the beginning and when I left I was earning 10 hours a month annual leave plus all the state holidays and some federal holidays.  But xmas we got xmas eve, xmas day and the day after xmas.  Thanksgiving we got thanksgiving day and the day after.  Wasn't to terribly bad.  Also earned 8 hours a month sick leave. 

How does the employers in the UK handle sick leave?

I think it's different if you work for a government employer in the States.  My first cousin died suddenly of a heart attack at 39 last year, leaving behind a husband and 2-year-old daughter  :\\\'(.  Her husband, however, has 4 weeks 'vacation' a year as a state prison officer - he's been there since he was 22, however, and is now in his 40s.  That may be it.

'Sick' leave - well, that depends if you've passed your probation period or not.  Not really sure.  I work for a university, however, and they're pretty generous w/it. 

My last job in the states gave me 2 weeks holiday. I was damned happy to actually get the holiday my first year of employment. Previous jobs I had you had to work for over a year before holiday benefits kicked in and it was always only 2 weeks.

Here I get 22 days. It's low as far as UK holidays go but it's still 22 freaking days. Sick days are easy here as well. I can self certify myself for up to 7 days. After that I need a doctors note. I don't think we actually have a limit on how many days we can take a year. If you're sick, you're sick. Can't do much about it.

I get 13 days sick and 13 days annual (vacation) at our Federal Gov't in the US. Plus, we have flex schedule, giving me an extra day off every other week. I'm spoiled.

I'm keeping this job while I'm studying in Leeds and will come back to it if STeve and I decide the US is the place for us to be. Otherwise, I'll happily take a job with 22 days or so.

Steve (jmaster911) has also said that sick days aren't used unless you're really sick in the UK, he rarely uses them. I, on the other hand, earn them, so I use them for other things other than sick days (ahem, don't tell).

Where I work I get 10 days vacation plus 5 personal days along with 6 company holidays. We used to get the day after Thanksgiving off but they scrapped that 3 years ago and tossed that day into the personal days.  We have 'unlimited' sick time in that you get the first 5 days of any illness as sick time, on the 6th day you go onto short term disability (if you're eligible for it) and then after 12 weeks I think you get put into long term disability (if you're eligible for it). If you're not eligible, then it's unpaid leave.

Hubby has been with his company for 6 years and gets 2 weeks. It sucks! Hubby was so shocked when he got here and found out how little time you got off, since when he first started he only got a week. Hubby doesn't even get sick days, some of you are so lucky!

I've got 4 weeks vacation a year + 7 holidays and 8 sick days.  I've been at my job for 7 years and this is the most I will ever get. 

I worked at non-profits in the US so I always had 4 weeks holiday.  At the school I was at I also go a week at Christmas and all the national Holidays (13) and about 4 Fridays in the summer.  I had nothing to complain about   Sick days were as many as you needed.  No personal days though!

At my last US job, I had 3 weeks per year. If I'd stayed on instead of moving, it would have gone up to 4. But I was management level, and I don't think others had as much time off. US companies are notoriously stingy when it comes to vacation time. At the first job I ever had, you got NOTHING the first year. NOTHING AT ALL. Then your second year, they gave you 5 days.

I've been with my company 6 years now and I have 27 days of TOP- time off with pay- plus 6 paid holidays. We have to use TOP for vacations, sick days and personal days. There is also a STRICT policy regarding how many employees can be off on one day so it is very likely that you will not be able to use your vacation time when you actually want it. If you call in sick more than 3 times/year, you are subjetc to being written up. There are many good things about my company but the way they make you feel like a criminal for wanting to take a day off is not one of them.

I've been with my US company 20 years now. I'm entitled to 6 weeks of vacation, 10 paid sick days, and 3 personal days. However, because I am on part time due to my commute to the UK, that has all been halved. But it still is pretty generous as I only work part of the month.

I grew up in Italy and all the time I lived with my parents we took the all month of august and went on vacation. Everybody did that.
Now I am in the US and my husband gets 10 days but he cannot take them all together.
How many days can you take together in the UK?  Can you take all your 20 days at once?
Marilena

How many days can you take together in the UK?  Can you take all your 20 days at once?

Your employer would decide that.
Most people dont want to take them all at once, because most folk would like to have more than one holiday/ break a year.   In the company i work for, they want you to take 2 weeks together / at once, but the rest of the days can be used as and when you want.    There have been special circumstances, like honeymoons and once-in-a-lifetime world cruises, where they have let people take all 20 days at once.