Thread regarding Occidental Petroleum Corp. layoffs

PTO Policy

Has anyone heard what the plan is for banking excess PTO? They put that on hold due to COVID. We were going to get to one time bank up to 120 hours to pay on departure before they pulled the date to further notice. I’m sitting on 200+ hours - plus accruing 20 hours a month and don’t want to get in a use it or lose it scenario. I’m saving it until we go back to the office or when school starts again so I will be more able to effectively homeschool on a hybrid model. Or just saving it for extra pay in case of a lay-off. But pretty soon I’ll be forced to start using some if it’s use it or lose it. I’m sure management will make us space it out and not take a week a month.

On another note, I’ve taken on work from 5 people who left the company. Yep — all not so happily at 30% less pay!! How am I supposed to maintain that pace if I’m out 5 days a month on PTO plus the two Fridays off. Whose going to do the work? Yeah, I know - they don’t care. But at some point we’re all going to need to start using PTO or face losing it.

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| 6282 views | | 9 replies (last June 13, 2020) | Reply
Post ID: @OP+15o263EA

9 replies (most recent on top)

Until I hear different it has all been put on hold because of the virus. They waived the 296 hours cap, and also pushed out taking us back to 120. The way I see it they gave people the option of using banked hours in case they had needs during the virus shutdowns, etc. when they decide to take us all to 120 I would think anything over that would be banked since the cap is not in place now. Once the cap goes back in people would probably need to take the amount over the cap or stop accruing. I don’t think they are trying to screw people out of vacation.

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Post ID: @3tzc+15o263EA

Vacation is yours to use but it must be managed taking business needs into account.

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Post ID: @3lmd+15o263EA

Simple truth: the year-end cap of 120 hours is in place, UNLESS/UNTIL they announce some type of excess "banking" OR waive the cap. Given this simple truth, I would recommend anyone with substantial PTO hours to inform their boss they will be using December (and November & October, if needed) as vacation time. Inform them NOW. Its YOUR vacation. Its yours to use.

If they find out that half of the remaining workforce will NOT be answering emails or producing during the final 2 months of the year, they may (I said 'may') decide to grant some type of waiver/banking arrangement. Is such an arrangement is announced, you can then retract your notice of intent to take off at the end of the year.

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Post ID: @3jaf+15o263EA

You honestly think you're not going to lose anything over 120 hours at the end of this year? They've taken away so much else, including 30% of our salary, they're not going to buy back our PTO at the end of the year or let us roll it all over. If you still have over 120 hours at the end of the year, be ready to lose all those extra hours. Yes, if we get laid off prior to the end of the year, then you'll likely get that as part of your check, but I'm not going to count on layoffs just yet. I have about 260 hours right now, and I'm going to start taking PTO each month to keep it around there, to match my monthly accrual. Then, I can take the rest of excess time at Thanksgiving and Christmas (if I'm still here) to bring it down to 120 hours, because I fully expect them to take away anything over 120 hours when the ball drops ending this horrible year.

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Post ID: @1ngp+15o263EA

I have over 300 hours too since they removed the cap on hours. It would not surprise me if they offer a buyback deal at reduced hourly rate to clear off this liability from the balance sheet. I hear companies really hate carrying the burden of accrued vacation for years, and they’ll never have a better opportunity than to pay it off at a 30% discount.

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Post ID: @eft+15o263EA

@fmi+15o263EA as if Oxy was the pinnacle of productivity prior to the merger or WFH.

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Post ID: @vms+15o263EA

I have 344 hours now because they let us carry it over, and got rid of the limits, which was nice. The way I understood it everything over 120 hours would be banked. So in my case they would bank 224 hours, and I would start with 120. If I need to take them I will take the ones in the bank that put me over 120 hours. To be honest with the lockdown and all there has been no where to go, so I just worked.

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Post ID: @kki+15o263EA

PTO is PTO. So if you are sick at home and off the work clock I would guess you need to take PTO. Likewise if you go golfing for the afternoon I think that qualifies as PTO. Probably the same thing with doctors appointments. I have a feeling many people are having lots of unrecorded extra time off under the WFH arrangement.

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Post ID: @fmi+15o263EA

I have the same question, I bet if anything HR and Management will come back with, " you should have used it while working from home you can only carry over 120 hours"

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Post ID: @den+15o263EA

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