Sorry for the late response on this one inasmuch as
I've been on vacation for the last two weeks and away
from the computer for most of this week.

With respect to flex time, its best if you define
whether you're employees are considered exempt or
nonexempt.  If nonexempt, flex MAY be an option,
though much of this would be contingent upon the size
of your institution and the state in which it resides.

However, if your employees are exempt, flex is legally
not an option.  An exempt employee is paid for the job
and not the piece of the job.  They may have to work
overtime with no compensation, and if they need to
take off for part of a day (as opposed to a full one),
their time is NOT docked.  There's often a
misperception on this item in the US, and I
consistently have to remind our exempt employees of
that fact as a requisite of my current position.

While the original question had to do simply with
vacation policy and the norm, its important to also
remember issues such as the Family Medical Leave Act
wherein an employee may be off for up to 12 weeks for
a personal or family medical issue of significance. 
Some states, such as California, have laws on their
books that parallel FMLA and provide partial
compensation.  In other instances, no such laws exist,
and the employee may be off for the 12 weeks, but, if
there is no vacation time on the books and sick leave
has been exhausted, it is without pay.  

FMLA is currently under scrutiny by the US Congress,
and information provided today may be invalid at some
point in the future (certainly I hope not, but . . .
).

Since the question had to do with industry standard as
to vacation, I can't give you that answer (no, I like
Janice, I'm not an attorney either, though I've taken
numerous law courses and follow employment law with
some regularity).  However, since Deb addressed the
subject of flex time, it bears surfacing here.  It's
something readily confusing if one doesn't stay on top
of human resource law.

For more information on these topics, see:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17a_overview.htm

http://www.dol.gov/esa/whd/fmla/

OR

Go to http://www.findlaw.com which has a number of
excellent employment law newsletters

OR 

http://www.nolo.com which has a number of inexpensive
self-help legal resources

It bears noting that the members of
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MuseJobs regularly get
updates on employment law issues, both for the US and
other countries abroad (including the UK).

And Deb, based only on what you wrote about your "work
privileges" it sounds like you may be an exempt
employee and shouldn't have to "make up" any time. 
Being exempt, you can work as little as one minute in
a day (hypothetically, though a half hour is probably
more practical) and not have to record or make up the
time.  However, you may also need to work til midnight
if that's what the assignment takes without
compensation beyond your regularly pay.

A start would be was your salary for $xxxx a month or
$xx.xx an hour? If monthly, they probably had exempt
in mind, but read the definitions provided by the DOL.


  

--- Deb Fuller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> Since more and more places are offering flex time
> where you can make
> up hours and work whatever schedule you want,
> vacation time isn't as
> important. I have flex time so I don't take that
> much time off, esp.
> for doc's aprts and sick days. I can work from home
> if I can't come in
> and I can make-up hours if I miss a day. So if I'm
> gone a week, I
> might only use 2-3 days of vacation time because I
> make up the rest.



Indigo Nights
[log in to unmask]

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