Teachers have a lot of time off in the summer, during the holidays, and at other points throughout the year. In addition, they get a certain amount of PTO to use when they are sick or need a personal day.

What are they supposed to do if they get sick or need a personal day at the beginning of the year, however, if their PTO doesn’t begin until it has been fully accrued.

That is what the husband of a teacher in this story was complaining about. Since his wife technically does not have any PTO for the first month of the school year, she has to go in while sick, which puts her and the students at risk.

Honestly, it really is a stupid policy that many schools have. They could easily adjust the policy to fix the problem, but schools don’t want to. Read through the full story below and see what you think.

Pissed off about my wife’s PTO policy (at a school)

I’m incensed about this, and I need to rant.

To be fair, teachers get a lot of days off throughout the year.

My wife very recently became a teacher; there are a lot of really nice things about the school already, and the employees are generally happy working there.

But, I’m finding myself somewhat livid about the PTO policy. Specifically, that PTO is accrued, with no starting balance.

Going to work sick is bad for everyone, I agree with that.

Now, I know this isn’t exactly rare, but there are two things about this I find to be obnoxious an unconscionable:

• First is the fact that they don’t do PTO rollover, tied with the fact that school years clearly start and end with a clear date, meaning that you are just guaranteed to spend the first few months of school with little to no ability to take off.
• The second issue, which is that this directly pressures and incentivizes teachers just to go to school sick. which is even further exacerbated by the fact that the beginning of the year is when a ton of staff and students all get sick as the herd comes back together.

There is no reason not to let them take their PTO from the beginning.

It is absurd and insulting, wildly unnecessary, and even dangerous.

Considering that it’s pretty rare for teachers to quit their job in the middle of the year, we know that 95-100% of the time, you know ahead of time how much PTO teachers will accrue.

It isn’t that hard to handle PTO at any company, even a school.

And with any other job, if something happens where you have taken more than you accrued, you get charged back either through payroll deduction or you are on the hook for it financially. It’s not that complicated.

And let me just say that having paid time off be accrued is bad and obnoxious in any field.

This person is really upset about this, and I can’t blame them.

Businesses more than have the means to get paid back for any abuse or overuse. Starting with zero PTO, and not letting a roll over from the previous year just GUARANTEES THERE IS A PERIOD OF AT LEAST A MONTH OR TWO WHERE ALL OF YOUR EMPLOYEES ARE JUST INCENTIVIZE TO COME TO WORK SICK.

Adding to the fact that they are responsible for peoples children just makes it staggeringly unjustifiable. Even if you want to be mean about it, start everybody off with two days or something in the bank what the heck are we doing here?

Honestly, I can’t think of any real reason why the school can’t let the teachers take their PTO right from the beginning. At least for sick days, if not scheduled days off. It wouldn’t be difficult to manage at all.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a woman who got promoted, then realized they set her replacement up to fail.

Read on to see what the people in the comments have to say about this situation.

A policy like this at a hospital is just crazy.

Do they not have this problem in Canada?

Here is someone who had a similar issue at their job.

Did a union agree to this policy?

How could they use all their PTO?

Such a simple policy change would benefit teachers, students, and administrators, yet they refuse to do it. Why is it that some policy makers just can’t get out of their own way and do the right things?

I think teacher PTO should roll over each year, though. Even if there were limits, it would make life easier for everyone.

If you enjoyed this story, check out this post about a mom who homeschooled during the day and worked at night, only to have her employer try to change her schedule.