Using Sick Leave before company is sold?

[tractorshopper]

I think he said they are financially viable and are selling a profitable business because they are ready to cash out and retire themselves.

 

[ustmd]

No matter on what your future there as an employee, if the company is being bought by a large, publically trade company, it is unlikely the new company will allow you to carry 480 hours of sick time. Under GAAP, a public trade company has to treat paid sick time and vacation time as a liability and carry an accrual (i.e. hold cash on the balance sheet) to cover that liability. Most companies now cap the total amount of vacation and sick time you can have at a far lower level (200 hours is a very common number) or if you are a salaried employee, they go to an open leave policy.

 

[KennyG]

Sick leave is for when You are sick, not your kid, not your family pet and it's not something that the company owes you in the form of income if you don't need it.

Agreed on the second part but a lot of companies have a more liberal official position on "sick leave". In fact we call it sick leave and miscellaneous personal time. Some states require that the allowance include time off for family sickness and emergencies. Our policy also applies if you have to close on a house or something that can't be scheduled outside working hours. We also have separate special allowances for jury duty and immediate family funerals and arrangements.

 

[ultrarunner]

The changes have really opened up what sick leave covers... of which family leave is the biggest part.

I'm thankful to be healthy... truly.

I was also one of those with a lot of PTO... the reason is the company has to go outside the company for my replacement coverage and since we no longer have onsite management it means any problems 365 days of the year come to me... I did get away 13 days this year... the rest of my PTO was at home on call... with a 50/50 chance of getting at least one call and a 1 in 4 of having to come in.

It was not always like this... 20 years ago we had lots of overlapping coverage... with the sale in mind the owners have really streamlined the workforce which makes the bottom line better and realizes more value in a sale...

If the proposed sale happens... the new entity will own 51% which would be a controlling interest.

If I were to give one single reason why all but two of the management team left it would be the elimination/freeze of the retirement program... this really hit some very hard and I know it was a key factor why I joined the company...

As someone mentioned... I am on the fence because leaving 25k on the table is a lot of money... especially since I have been told my position will change with no promises...

There is another thread about rental property... all I can say is I am so glad I invested early...

 

[hawkeye08]

They did away with our sick leave years ago and we can no longer carry over any vacation time from year to year. It is all about liabilities on the books. I know some folks in other companies that had a large amount of sick time accumulated and it paid out at much higher pay than most of it accumulated at... perhaps they will pay it out (some companies did that at half pay rate, others did nothing)...

 

[ultrarunner]

It would make a good severance package...

 

[drajj5]

What everyone else is doing has absolutely nothing to do with you. Above all else Ultra...stay true to yourself. Worth is not always measured in money as hard as that may seem for some..

What arrow said holds value, integrity is all but lost.

I see it all around in my office as well, FMLA is used for everything! Young folks use it as if it were- accrued annual leave. I try to explain to them that it is there for them if something happens (true badness of sorts). They look at me and without batting an eye.... "I want it under family medical". I just spoke to a wall, as they feel 'nothing bad could happen to them'. I like you appreciate the sick leave as it also goes unused and feel that it is insurance; not vacation.

My father ingrained in my head, "When you work each day- put forth a honest days work" not for your company but for yourself. To this day as I complete a days work it runs through my brain those words he spoke.

 

[PILOON]

Gotta admit that values sure have changed over the last couple of decades.
I thank my lucky stars that I have passed that stage in life.

I know one person that flew half way across the country to enforce her retirement rights when she learned of a pending buyout.
Had she not done so all her benefits would have evaporated. I personally know of her exemplary efforts to make her employer stay profitable. As they dealt with Asian markets she was on call almost 24/24 due to time zones.
It is all about bottom lines and dividends.
Loyalty no longer matters, just dividends, or so it seems.

When I owned my small ($1 mill) company any leaving employee* mandated a 'going away party' (paid by me) essentially for moral support.
When I sold and later left they forgot all about that tradition.

OK, was a bit PO'd then but still prefer to be where I am compared to many others.

* I later learned that said departed employees received a $500. bonus for every employee they could raid me for as we had an excellent reputation for forming top notch technicians. We actually became a revolving training door. The only edge was that I had a drawer full of grants that paid 60% of trainee salaries for 30 weeks which almost allowed us to break even once trained to par.

 

[MossRoad]

Well, what can you stomach as to your personal morals? Is sick time sick time, or is it a day you can call in to paint your bathroom? Has the company stuck it to you? Are you a chump for giving so much of your time? You definitely are a chump for paying taxes and carrying an undue portion of society's load, that's for sure! (me too!) :laughing: Have you always given a fair day's work for a fair day's pay or has the company taken advantage of you unfairly? Now's the time to decide if you think they owe you or if you're even. Whatever it turns out to be, if you can sleep well at night knowing you've done the right thing and have no regrets, that's what counts. You know that.

 

[ultrarunner]

The retirement party was a staple for decades... at least going back to the 1980's...

They were not lavish... the company would kick in a little and the employees would kick in the rest... they were well liked and attended.

Plenty have retired in the last 36 months and silence... most never said goodbye... that goes from the managers all the way down.

It is something I have particularly noticed because I am number 3 in seniority and the new hires simply don't know.

It must be a reflection of sentiment when career people simply want out... maybe it is just a reflection of the world today?

I've had to pack up the offices for several... they took nothing including family pictures, awards and plaques.