LDRDocs/Foundations and Governance/General Policies/PTO.md

LDR values time, and we offer a generous paid time off plan.

Hourly employees hired prior to April 21, 2022 accrue PTO at a rate of 1 hour per 10.8 hours worked, to a maximum of 192 hours (24 days).

Employees hired after April 21, 2022 accrue PTO at the following rates based on the number of years they have worked at the company.

|   Year with company   |  Hourly Accrual Rate    |   Max Unused Days   |
|:-----|:-----|:-----|
| During first year     | 1 hour PTO per 26 hours worked     |   10 days   |
| During second year     | 1 hour PTO per 17.3 hours worked     |  15 days    |
| During third year     | 1 hour PTO per 13 hours worked     |  20 days    |
| During fourth year and beyond     |  1 hour PTO per 10.8 hours worked    |  24 days    |

PTO cannot be used until an employee has been regularly employed with our company for 90 working days.

## Unused PTO and forfeiture of PTO
Unused PTO is forfeited upon termination of employment except where there is a written agreement about payment for unused PTO.

Generally speaking, an employee who quits, is laid off, or is terminated forfeits their PTO unless they have worked with the company for more than a year in a full-time capacity and have very few, if any corrective actions or write-ups in their personnel record.

### PTO accrual pausing
Under certain circumstances accrual of PTO can be paused. When PTO is paused, effected people stop accruing PTO.

This may occur on a departmental or company-wide level if the performance of a particular division is below expectations. It may also occur on an individual level as a form of [[Corrective Actions|corrective action]]. In general, when a person is subjected to [[Retraining]] their PTO accrual is paused.

## Absences, Sick Days, and Personal Days
Our company doesn't maintain a separate pool of days for different kinds of absence or leave. A person's PTO is used to cover all such situations. PTO use is generally only approved for excused absences. See our [[Foundations and Governance/General Policies/Attendance]] policy for further explanation.

### Examples of when PTO can be used to cover absences:

- A person who calls off sick, has proof of the illness, and provided appropriate notice can generally apply their PTO to the absence.
  
- A person who requested days off weeks in advance and received approval can use PTO to cover those days.

Having unused PTO days doesn't necessarily entitle an employee to take days off. Days off still need to be approved and scheduled as much as possible to avoid creating any delays or problems in the workplace. During times when the company is experiencing a lot of delays, heavier demand than usual, or staffing shortages PTO may not be approved.

## Limited PTO Periods
A Limited PTO Period is a specific time block during which scheduling PTO requires approval further in advance than usual, and there are more restrictions about approving it.

When a Limited PTO Period is announced the special scheduling requirements will be included with the announcement, and if they are not they are as follows:

1. Scheduling PTO requires 30 day notice prior to the first day of absence;    
2. If multiple people are requesting overlapping days, they will be approved based on tenure and a first-come-first-serve basis;
3. Unplanned absences can result in immediate [[Corrective Actions]] if they are not excused.

### Standard peak season Limited PTO Period
By default, there is a Limited PTO Period during peak season each year. Unless there is a different announcement that Limited PTO Period includes:

1. The second week of November through Christmas Eve.
2. The first two weeks of January.

## Required vacation
Once per calendar year each employee is strongly encouraged to schedule at least 5 consecutive days off work. This is to encourage taking a real vacation and rest from work.

## Fractional PTO Use and rewards for long term service
When planned and approved in advance, PTO can be used in any manner that doesn't cause a business disruption. This is especially true for employees who have seniority. Some novel examples of that (which would still require advanced approval), include:

- Leaving 2 hours early on Fridays but still receiving pay;
- Spending 1 hour of PTO per week to have a 1 hour long lunch;
- Taking the 2nd Wednesday off of every month;
- Observing personal or cultural holidays the company doesn't officially observe.

For such planned, approved uses of PTO, the following factors will generally be considered:

1. The PTO use doesn't cause a problem of any kind in the work place;
2. The person requesting it is an employee in good standing who has a record of stellar performance;
3. The person requesting has worked with the company for several years;
4. With the modified schedule the PTO use allows, the person is still accruing a positive PTO balance.

In the examples listed above, a person who's worked with the company long enough to be accruing 24 days of PTO per year would still be earning at least 1 unused day per month even with the modified schedule.

### Fractional PTO use for unplanned absence
In the case of unplanned use of PTO, it will generally only be approved in 4-hour or 8-hour increments. If the underlying absence was shorter, the remainder is forfeit.

For instance, an employee is an hour late to work, but it's for an excusable reason. They can opt to use PTO to receive pay for that hour, but in doing so they will be spending 4 hours of PTO to receive one hour of pay. This is to encourage employees to use PTO in planned, non-disruptive ways.

## PTO Cashout
Employees in good standing with a track record of stellar performance may be eligible to exchange unused PTO for extra pay. This is intended to assist employees with covering unexpected expenses or emergencies, acting on investment opportunities, or major life expenses. Such cash outs are not an entitlement, and will be approved on a case-by-case basis.

Generally speaking, the following factors are weighed when a PTO cashout is requested:

1. The financial health of the company;
2. The performance and employment record of the requesting person;
3. The legitimacy of the reason a cash out is being requested.

For example, a person who has worked at the company for several years with stellar performance might request cashing out several days of PTO to upgrade kitchen appliances, renew a lease, or other expenses that represent a major life improvement.