#pto*

[reasonsforhope]

"Illinois will become one of three states to require employers to offer paid time off for any reason after Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed a law on Monday that will take effect next year.

Starting Jan. 1, 2024, Illinois employers must offer workers paid time off based on hours worked, with no need to explain the reason for their absence as long as they provide notice in accordance with reasonable employer standards.

Just Maine and Nevada mandate earned paid time time off and allot employees the freedom to decide how to use it, but Illinois’ law is further reaching, unencumbered by limits based on business size. Similarly structured regulations that require employers to offer paid sick leave exist in 14 states and Washington, D.C., but workers can only use that for health-related reasons.

Illinois employees will accrue one hour of paid leave for every 40 hours worked up to 40 hours total, although the employer may offer more. Employees can start using the time once they have worked for 90 days. Seasonal workers will be exempt, as will federal employees or college students who work non-full-time, temporary jobs for their university.

Pritzker signed the bill Monday in downtown Chicago, saying: “Too many people can't afford to miss even a day's pay ... together we continue to build a state that truly serves as a beacon for families, and businesses, and good paying jobs.”

Proponents say paid leave is key to making sure workers, especially low-income workers who are more vulnerable, are able to take time off when needed without fear of reprisal from an employer.

Bill sponsor Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, a Peoria Democrat, said the bill is the product of years of negotiations with businesses and labor groups.

“Everyone deserves the ability to take time off,” she said in a statement. “Whether it’s to deal with the illness of a family member, or take a step back for your mental health, enshrining paid leave rights is a step forward for our state."

“This is about bringing dignity to all workers," she said at the signing."

-via ABC News, 3/13/23

[len-art]

One of the themes for a class assignment was poto and I was having so much fun I started feeling guilty lol

Here some process stuff!!!

[picknmixsims]

Sims Salary Bonus Scheme - Paybook Update

Sims Salary Bonus Scheme

Adds menu options to a Sim's Paybook to add/subtract PTO and for the owning Sim to "Cash In" their PTO

The "Cash In" option is similar in function to Fruit of life by cathair2005, but fixes the broken PTO calculation. (For reasons known only to Maxis, 0-100 pto points is 1 day of pto, 101-200 pto points is 2 days of pto, etc - the fruit of life incorrectly uses 0-99, 100-199, etc)

The main mod logic has not changed, only the paybook menu options in the WH_PayBook_A.package file have changed.

Many thanks to Bulbizarre for the idea.

[navybrat817]

Lovelies, I requested 5 days off in October, November, and December.

15 days off.

I deserve them.

[polaroidtransfers]

[bitchesgetriches]

Dear bitches, I have a question that may benefit the class: I'm lucky to have a job that has a very generous 15 day sick leave policy, and no health issues that would make me take it - except that I also have the copper IUD that gives me horrid cramps on day 1 of my period, for just about 24 hours exactly.

What is the business speak for 'I'm taking a sick day today because of my period'? What is the general business speak for 'I won't be here for a day for health reasons' that doesn't imply contagion or invite questions about how I'm feeling when I come back? Thank you and I hope you know JUST how appreciated you are (seriously, who else would I ask this to)

Sweetie pie... we LOVE that we're the ones you choose to ask this of. This is all we ever wanted--for strangers on the internet to talk to us about their periods!

(Sidenote: I, Piggy, also currently have an IUD, and it leads to practically ZERO symptoms of menstruation. I don't bleed, I don't get cramps, I don't experience mood swings. About once per year my face breaks out in zits and I bleed a small amount for a few hours. That's it. I fucking love it. So readers, just keep in mind that everyone's body is different and your symptoms may vary on any medication. I DIGRESS.)

The #1 thing to keep in mind is that your employer is not entitled to any confidential medical information. If you have cancer, they don't have a right to that information. If you've got a headache, they don't have a right to know. If you're considering a cosmetic surgery, a gender alignment surgery, or any other surgery... they don't need to know. So if you're menstruating and it hurts, they definitely don't get to know.

So my preference would be to go with the direct approach. If you're cramping and you want to take a sick day, just tell your employer "I'm taking a sick day." If they press for details, say "I'll see you tomorrow. :)" If they keep pressing, remind them that they are not legally entitled to your confidential medical information.

But if you'd rather not be direct (and who could blame you?) just tell them you "got food poisoning from the mussels at that place off of i70--you know the one? Yeah last time I'll make that mistake, even if I do have a Groupon. I didn't know puke could even BE that color!" Food poisoning is gross and temporary and tends to dissuade further questions.

Blood Money: Menstrual Products for Surviving Your Period While Poor 

Workplace Benefits and Other Cool Side Effects of Employment 

If we just helped you out, tip us!

[monkeyssalad-blog]

Passing Storm by Jeff Hooten Via Flickr: The CAF B-29 "Fifi" rests on the tarmac as a thunderstorm passes overhead. _DSC6504_HDR

[hockeyupdate]

[nando161mando]

Management right?

[rollerman1]

[casposters]

Title: Guadalcanal 1942–43: Japan's Bid to Knock Out Henderson Field and the Cactus Air Force Authors: Mark Stille & Jim Laurier

Attack on the “High-Speed Convoy” On October 15, the remnants of the attack aircraft from the Cactus Air Force attacked the Japanese “High-Speed Convoy” of six transports and eight destroyers. The transports arrived off Guadalcanal at midnight and immediately began to unload. When dawn broke, the Marines found the transports protected by Zeros from carriers Hiyo and Junyo and floatplanes from the R Area Air Force. Japanese bombardments of Henderson Field by battleships and cruisers the previous two nights left few American aircraft operational and little fuel. The fuel problem was solved when one of Geiger’s staff officers remembered the location of an emergency fuel reserve. As the Marines searched for fuel, the mechanics worked furiously to return damaged aircraft to flyable condition. Eventually, Geiger prepared a coordinated strike of 12 Dauntlesses escorted by eight Wildcats, three P-39s, and a single P-400. Geiger added his personal PBY-5A flying boat to the strike flown by his personal pilot Major Jack Cram. Using the slow and plodding PBY in daylight was considered suicidal, but the situation demanded every aircraft be committed. The PBY was fitted with two torpedoes and Cram was given his first-ever lesson on how to conduct a torpedo attack. The plan was for the Dauntlesses to attack first and draw attention away from the low-flying PBY. Cram put the aircraft into a dive and reached 240 knots, beyond the PBY’s safe speed. He succeeded in launching his two torpedoes at transport Sasago Maru. The ship was set afire, though it is not known if the cause was a Dauntless bomb or one of Cram’s torpedoes.

Wildcats and Zeros were exchanging fire behind the lumbering PBY. After delivering his attack, Cram turned left to regain the Marine perimeter. One Zero riddled the PBY and closed for the kill. A Wildcat got behind the Zero and brought it down on the edge of Henderson Field. Both Cram and his PBY survived this harrowing experience.

[lookingforcactus]

Non-paywall version here.

"Shawna Freeman Lane, 34, continued to teach college-level business by laptop after she gave birth by C-section in 2017. Her husband, Eric Lane, was home with her in Fircrest, Wash., for three weeks. The same thing happened in 2018, when their second child was born—except this time, Mr. Lane only got two weeks at home.

Having to leave his still-healing wife in the lurch was hard for Mr. Lane, as was tracking his children’s development via text messages while at work. But when their third was born last May, things were different. In 2020, Washington state had passed a new law entitling working parents to 12 weeks of paid leave, to bond with their newborn.

“It felt like winning the lottery, honestly,” said Mr. Lane, who stayed home for six weeks after their son was born, then another six weeks when Ms. Freeman Lane went back to work.

They are part of an explosion in the number of workers taking parental leave. In the 12 months through February [2023], a monthly 406,000 workers were absent on average due to paid or unpaid parental leave, up 13.5% from 2021, according to Labor Department data. The 478,000 working parents absent in January was the most since records began in 1994.

One driver behind the upswing is likely the increase in births in the past two years versus the prepandemic trend. The pandemic itself may also be a factor, as lockdowns and Covid kept many workers home.

But the main factor appears to be government and employer policies. While the U.S. remains the only advanced economy without nationally mandated paid parental leave, the share of workers with access to leave is growing, to 25% in March last year versus 19% in 2019, according to the Labor Department. Seven states plus the District of Columbia now require employers to provide paid leave, up from four in 2018, while private employers are also expanding the benefit. Four more states will require paid parental leave by 2026.

“As the state laws have passed, there has been a culture change, and more awareness and support for mothers and—especially—fathers around taking leave,” said Jane Waldfogel, a public affairs professor at Columbia University.

A greater propensity by fathers to take leave is an important contributor. The number of men on parental leave tripled to an average of 76,500 in the six months ended in February [2023] from five years earlier, whereas the number of women rose 11% to 336,000, according to census data.

More parental leave-taking benefits the economy in the impact on families’ well-being, said Emily Oster, economics professor at Brown University—ranging from near-term outcomes such as infant mortality rates to longer-term measures, including child test scores and adult earnings. “In this sense, leave now is an investment in the economic future,” Ms. Oster said...

Leave policies are a small but increasingly key way that firms compete for workers, according to Julia Pollak, chief economist at ZipRecruiter. About 3% of currently active online job postings nationwide explicitly advertise parental leave, about a fivefold increase from before the pandemic, ZipRecruiter data show.

Industries seeing the biggest increase are retail, and transportation and warehousing, said Ms. Pollak—something she calls the “Amazon effect.” The e-commerce giant was at the forefront of offering parental-leave benefits, prompting competitors to do the same...

Parents are also taking longer leaves. The typical mother now takes 120 days of bonding leave, up from 110 in 2019, and the median father is out for 60 days, a 15-day increase, according to Sparrow, a leave-management platform. New York state family bonding claims data show a similar trend, with moms claiming 9.9 weeks in 2021, a three-week gain from 2018, and dads extending their average leave by 2.3 weeks, to 6.9...

“My son is so much fun now. He’s getting to the stage where he’s his own human,” [Jonathan Leslie, a 36-year-old software engineer] said. “Having the open-ended play with him—that opportunity won’t come again.”

-via The Wall Street Journal, 4/8/23. Non-paywall version via ProgramBusiness, 4/10/23.

[would-u-like-ur-milk-in-a-bag]

[bitchesgetriches]

"I work for a company with an incredibly generous 15 day sick day policy" pisses me right off. Fuck you, America.

Signed, someone in a civilised country who gets six months.

Yeeeeeah. We're all pretty jealous and in awe of your civilized work benefits. Can we come live with you??? What's it like just never having to deal with burnout???? How does it feel to just, like, stay home and recover from an illness instead of trying to work through it?

I currently work for a company that has "unlimited paid time off," it's literally half the reason I accepted the job, and all of my friends are SHOCKED by how generous this policy is.

Workplace Benefits and Other Cool Side Effects of Employment 

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[vizthedatum]

You know what?

Maybe I'll just take Navratri and Durga Puja (total: Oct 3-13th) off from work - I have still been trying to figure out when to use my PTO (because at a certain point, it stops accumulating, and then I lose out on extra PTO... and yeah I stopped accumulating a while ago.).

I am so burnt out. I've been trying to figure out when to take time off for a while. I have a flexible schedule, so I can take breaks when I need to, but I need to actually take a break from thinking all the time about work (and putting in the hours to finish my projects) - so I can come back more renewed.

--

Navratri and Durga Puja are significant for me. I will still have healthcare appointments (and a meeting for Job 2 that I consented to and insisted on), but I can dedicate myself more fully to focusing on myself and praying.

More realistically, the days I'd probably take off are Oct 7-11th.