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Comment by darklion | Hacker News Reader

Meanwhile, my company halved our sick time a couple of years ago, and just last week announced that they were eliminating dedicated sick time entirely starting the first of next year. Want to take a sick day? Spend your “paid time off” (a.k.a., vacation days) to do it.

Insert a, “I’d love to use my sick time, IF I HAD ANY” meme here.

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Every company I've worked for in the last 20 years or so have combined sick time and vacation time into a single "paid time off" bucket.

I strongly prefer that, honestly. It means that I don't have to categorize the reasons why I'm taking the time off because it doesn't matter. It's all just time off.

The key to remember is that it means that PTO is not "vacation time". It's a paid time off allowance that can certainly be used for vacation, but can also be used for other things.

Last place I worked (in the UK) - 30ish days of holiday per year. Sick pay was full pay for up to 6 months with doctor's documentation.

I think "sick time" or "sick days" is a very US-centric thing. In good chunks of the EU, medical leaves (approved by a doctor) are a legally protected concept.

> I strongly prefer that, honestly

Same, but I have only used 2.5 PTO days as sick time in probably the last 20ish years. Two of those were due to Covid in January.

So for me, it just means more vacation time. If it was categorized separately I’d lose (historically speaking).

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