While our vacation time is by no means standard in the museum world, since
we are a very large institution and many of us at the Smithsonian are
Federal employees, our benefits may still be of some interest.  

We are paid every two weeks (each two week block of time being called a pay
period.)  New Federal employees earn 4 hours of sick leave and 4 hours of
annual leave (vacation time) per pay period, i.e. 13 days a year each. 
After 3 years, we earn 6 hours of annual leave per pay period, i.e. 20 days
a year.  After 15 years we earn 8 hours of annual leave per pay period, 
i.e. 26 days a year.  The hours of sick leave earned always stay the same. 


The nice thing about sick leave is that it carries over from year to year
indefinitely.  With annual leave you can carry over no more than 240 hours
into the next year.  

If you leave the Smithsonian you will be paid for any unused annual leave,
though sick leave just goes away. If you leave the Smithsonian for another
federal job, you get to keep your leave, of course. 

=========================================================
Important Subscriber Information:

The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes).

If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).