Does your work make you "make up" snow days?

[Deleted]

I am a teacher, and the schools are closed tomorrow for snow. Everyone else I know is excited that their office may be closed tomorrow, but not me. That's because teachers (contrary to the notion that we get holidays and vacations) are simply paid per day. So we lost a "holiday" in February. We may lose whatever our other snow day is. If we have additional bad weather days, we may teach into June.

I know no one is feeling sorry for me (I'm not either), but I wonder how many of YOU are excited when your work closes for weather. When I worked retail (second job), I also hated it because it meant I didn't get paid.

Bad weather just annoys me because I'd rather be out when it is pretty than stuck in the house when it isn't.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...is your contract to work X number of days/year?
...I've found it typical that inclement weather closures are not charged against us workers... but it can certainly wreck havoc with work flows on projects...

[TheOtherMe]

Places I've worked just didn't pay us if we didn't show up due to snow. Count yourself lucky that you can make it up.

[The J]

I enjoy it, as long as I'm not coming up on any tight deadlines.

[phil5185]

I am a teacher, and the schools are closed tomorrow for snow.

I thought you lived in the South??

But it does vary considerably by region, in SnowCountry the county/city govts are equipped and prepared and the public equips their cars for winter - in MN and IA they seldom have snow days, the plows & sand spreaders are out at 4:00 AM, and the school buses are running by 7:00.

But farther south in MO where snow is less common, a little 6-inch storm will stop the plows and close the schools.

[SVT]

No, we don't have to make snow days up.

[constanz22]

If I can't make it in because of weather, I have to use a vacation day, comp time, etc. However, if it is bad enough that we close (very rare-has to be a state of emergency with roads closed) then, no, it doesn't have to be made up or any personal time used.

[debtheaven]

I'm amazed because I think you'd been teaching for a long time. I am a new teacher and I only get paid when I work, and I don't work in the public system.

But the teachers in the public school system on permanent contracts do get paid for snow days. Snow days are rare here but they do happen.

ETA: When I was in the private sector, there were no snow days. You could come in late and / or leave early, there was tolerance for people who made an effort. Of course that system doesn't work at all if you are teaching.

[Deleted]

I don't get paid for snow days and they actually mark it against you (their attendance policy) unless they shut the place down.
I live 30 miles from work and have had some pretty rough rides just to make it in to work or home. I drive through the prarie and there is not much wind break for the snow. I have gotten to be a very good winter driver.

[Sharon]

We have to use vacation time if you do not make it to work during inclement weather and the office is open. If management makes the decision to close the office then we do not have to use vacation time.

[debtheaven]

Susana

Another thought. My sis is a retired NYC teacher. She lives on LI but taught in a really rough part of Brooklyn during most of her career. She would NEVER get snow days, because on snow days, her students wouldn't get their milk in the morning and a hot lunch. When my nieces were growing up this was very rough on her because my nieces had snow days, but my sis would have to go into work.

So could this be about making sure your students have a hot meal that day? Just a thought.

[Sam_2.0]

If I can't come into the office, I am expected to log in from home (unless I am really sick or something). So no real snow days here. I am salary though, so if for some reason I couldn't make it to the office, and power was out here so I couldn't log in, I would still get paid. I just have to make up the work when I get back (and no OT for that either).

[formerexpat]

No, but then again, I have to work more than 180 days and more than 6 hours a day.

[debtheaven]

Having a bad day Expat?! LOL

ETA: I saw that your DW was initially planning on becoming a teacher. So why do you knock us so?!

[Deleted]

I was just wondering about the private sector. I knew what happened if you were an hourly employee (no pay) because I also worked retail.

Yes, I am a contract employee with X number of days (which most posters on here don't understand and then ooh and ahh over our "vacation.") Yes, I am a veteran teacher and have made up my share of "snow" days. Like I said, I just wondered what happened in the private sector.

For Phil . . . check your weather report. The Southeast is having a major snow/ice storm. I hope I can go back to work Tuesday, but the system said they would update us tomorow. My daughter had a baby yesterday, and the hospital let her go earlier than usual this morning so that she could get home ahead of the storm. (Insert diatribe against insurance companies paying for more than X days here . . . LOL). She was there just over 24 hours.

[formerexpat]

Having a bad day Expat?! LOL

[/size]

The Eagles lost, so you can say that

ETA: I saw that your DW was initially planning on becoming a teacher. So why do you knock us so?!

[/size]

She realized that she wouldn't deal well within the system that turns our children into sissies by politically correcting everything and penalizes the good teachers by keeping them on par with the bad teachers. It's not the teachers fault as much as the system that is holding the good teachers down while rewarding or keeping those that aren't cut out for the job.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...yeah, what a bummer to end on a pick...

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

...hey, OP... when we were in the south and a snow came in, the county announced that their 3 snowplows wouldn't be able to keep up, so schools closed... it was fairly comical to hear that the entire county owned 3 plows... but, I suppose, that may be par for the course in the southern states...

[TrixAre4Kids]

On the rare occasion our business department has closed for weather (and been paid for the privilege of going home early) but I work in repair and we NEVER have been sent home or allowed to stay home. If you can't get in to work you are forced to take a hit on your attendance, they will not allow vacation time.

It would take a state of emergency with roads closed (which thankfully we have not experienced). The business office folks are obviously 'more equal' than we are...due to 'The Needs of The Business'

[marmar]

I work for a police department (civilian, not a cop), but even so, I have to report to work regardless of the weather. None of us in the city get the day off unless we want to take a vacation day or comp-time (and that's frowned upon).

If I don't want to drive during inclement weather, the city will put me up in a hotel and have an officer drive me between the hotel and the PD. I've never taken the city up on that offer b/c I don't want to have to share a room with another employee (who may snore); I want my car at home in the garage; and the cat would be ticked if I didn't come home anyway.

[mrsgords]

Jan 9, 2011 18:38:16 GMT -5 The J said:

I enjoy it, as long as I'm not coming up on any tight deadlines.

I agree.

My company lets people take a vacation day on short notice when the weather is bad. We also have the option of making up the time, but I usually just take a vacation day as I always have several vacation days saved up this time of year. In fact, I just rolled about 80 hours over for 2011.

If my company actually shuts down due to weather, salaried employees get paid. That's happened twice in the four and a half years I've worked at this company. One was due to flooding, the other to an ice storm.

[BeenThere...DoneThat...]

<<< My company lets people take a vacation day on short notice >>>

...I'm beginning to wonder how difficult it may be to transition back into the workforce after my sabbatical... right now, it feels really nice to be the boss...

[Deleted]

I have never missed work because of weather. We have had the office closed for weather but I needed the time for work so I clocked lieu hours. Hey if everyone else was getting an extra paid day I wasn't losing out! And then I got to take it in nicer weather.

ETA -Qualify that to I have never missed at this company.

[justwhoever]

I work for a public school(I'm not a teacher) and I have to work 180 days per school year. Doesn't matter when those 180 are just so long as the students get them. If it means going to work/school til June oh well. But this year I don't care....I probably won't be working come May no ways. Let them go to school til July for all I care. hahaha Yes I hate my job....no I hate the people I work with. The job and teens are great!

[Deleted]

I worked for a sub of the Prudential for 10 years and commuted to Newark during some of the worst winters in history. They never closed for the snow the whole time I was there- really ticked me off. Sometimes after everyone had dragged themselves in they'd close early. I once left the office at 1 PM and got home at 8 PM. Teleworking didn't exist at the time.

I suppose my current employer would close the office if the roads were impassable, but in 7.5 years here we've never had a snow day. Kansas doesn't get hit like NJ. The other thing that makes life so much more palatable here is that most of us have laptops and can work from home if we decide we don't want to go out on the roads. I love that. If they did declare a snow day, to answer the OP's question, those of us on salary would still get paid. Not sure what would happen with the few hourly workers we have.

[Deleted]

I work at a CC. We take our snow days to corespond with the district schools. When the disctric shools close, we get paid without having to take it as time off.

Normally, I looked forward to it. But now it just means I have to put in extra hours (no OT) to get the job done.

[hawkeyes2001]

I would have to use PTO/vacation time. I'm salaried and work in health care. Thus far the clinic has not closed due to weather in over two years.

[kinetickid]

Jan 9, 2011 18:26:45 GMT -5 southernsusana said:

I am a teacher, and the schools are closed tomorrow for snow. Everyone else I know is excited that their office may be closed tomorrow, but not me. That's because teachers (contrary to the notion that we get holidays and vacations) are simply paid per day. So we lost a "holiday" in February. We may lose whatever our other snow day is. If we have additional bad weather days, we may teach into June.

I know no one is feeling sorry for me (I'm not either), but I wonder how many of YOU are excited when your work closes for weather. When I worked retail (second job), I also hated it because it meant I didn't get paid.

Bad weather just annoys me because I'd rather be out when it is pretty than stuck in the house when it isn't.

I've never had a job that let us stay home because of weather. Once during a storm, our boss let us leave a little early--ahead of the bigger part of the storm, so we wouldn't have to drive during the really bad part--but, otherwise, I've worked every single day, rain or shine.

[Cookies Galore]

If I simply decide I can't make it in or have to come in late then I use personal emergency time. If the whole office is closed then I use whatever code HR tells us to use for the closing. If those who have work at home privileges do work on a snow day then they use the relevant project code for however many hours they did the work. I like last winter when we were closed for two days (the city of Philadelphia pretty much shuts down whenever it snows) HR sent emails to everyone to have fun sledding and enjoy their time with family.

[pushingit]

Eh? You're contracted to work a certain number of days for your salary. No big deal.

We're expected to use a vacation or personal day if our office is closed.

Edit - Not when we're closed . . . sorry, when we decide we aren't able to come in.

We've never been closed. We've closed early a few times and people were paid for the whole day.

Thing is, we have people coming from all over, and very erratic weather. I could have no snow at all where I am and people 20 miles away can be hammered, while people farther out don't have any and can get to work without driving through the worst of it.

If you heard a few weeks ago about a storm that shut down the I90 in Buffalo stranding people over night . . . I'm less than 20 miles from there and could still see green grass.

Also, it's always the same people who can't show up, or show up a couple hours late every time there's a snow storm, and it's not because they couldn't drive in it, it's because they'll use any excuse not to come in. One's an hour late every time it snows because they were stuck in their driveway. Well, you knew it was snowing when you went to bed! Set the alarm for earlier.

And really, it's no big deal, except these are also the people who take all their personal time as soon as they've earned it, and gripe about being short because they're hourly and get docked the time.