The totally off-topic thread

[bass_ke]

Wowsers, I'm very out of touch with the 9-5 office life, I now feel lucky to be on shift over the Christmas period with additional leave caps put on my work area!

 

[Pushka]

Our business dies from about the 20th and only kicks in from around 6th January. It's written in staff contracts that we close down.

 

[Flashback]

My work has just announced that we are closing for Christmas on the Friday before, the 20th, forcing everyone to take almost two weeks off work. Have no leave available, I'm up for almost a fortnight with no pay :evil:

Annoying for a lot of people like us, e.g. AFFers, where we try and maximise our holidays and often head off somewhere whenever on leave. I've never understood how people can take holidays .. and just chill at home! If you have DIY / renovations to do, I understand that .. but not just doing nothing! This is also a pet hate of mine, especially as a consultant when you don't receive holiday pay anyway. It especially annoys me as it has never been written into my contract. In reality if I took them to court over it, I would win and get paid for the days I had to take off, however is it worth souring the relationship to do so....? Probably not.

As long as workers aren't forced to take leave (unless it's in their contract). It's unfair otherwise.

Agree 100%.

Our business dies from about the 20th and only kicks in from around 6th January. It's written in staff contracts that we close down.

That's quite different. If it's in the contract then it's been agreed to when it was signed so that is fair enough. If said person doesn't realise due to not having read their contract... well that's their own fault

 

[Buzzard]

The Uni where I am located closes on the 24th and reopens 2nd Jan. I look forward to the 8 day break.
I would actually be happier if we closed on Fri 20th like Flinders Uni

 

[moa999]

Another example where employment conditions in the government sector are very different to the private sector

 

[Katie]

What age is the right age to do big family holidays where the kids will remember it? I am tempted by the itineraries mentioned in other threads but little Miss number 3 is only 2. Upside is the longer it is the longer I have to save...

My motto is who cares if they remember it, if you will!!

 

[Katie]

Saw the FB post too - Hope Little Miss is okay[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]

Thanks, doing well. She had an early day at school; mum picked her up after her teacher said she was drowsy. We suspect they were being a bit cautious, but hey, best be cautious than careless!

 

[Katie]

Reading the mishap Katie's daughter had yesterday (ouch!) came to mind when I read this story. A mother has seeked legal advice after her son cut himself while climbing a monument.


Mum may sue after boy, 7, hurt climbing war memorial | Sunshine Coast Daily

This is why we can't have nice things.

Goodness!
Re my Little Miss, the number of people who have commented that they also broke some part of their body due to monkey bars is quite surprising.

But I promise we're not going to start a campaign to ban them (aka a campaign to make our kids risk and exercise less, both of which will have negative impacts on their life!!!)

 

[Princess Fiona]

Wowsers, I'm very out of touch with the 9-5 office life, I now feel lucky to be on shift over the Christmas period with additional leave caps put on my work area!

I feel a bit strange as this is the first time in 9 years where I have had the entire Christmas/New Year off work. The last time this happened was Mat leave and that wasn't hugely enjoyable

 

[phily]

Our business dies from about the 20th and only kicks in from around 6th January. It's written in staff contracts that we close down.

That's fine if you join the business and are aware of the contract terms re Xmas shutdowns, but it'd be tough for those who've been there for a long time and expected to agree to these new terms.

 

[JohnM]

Another example where employment conditions in the government sector are very different to the private sector

If you're referring to Universities as "the government sector", the reason why they have the extra days off a Xmas/New Year is that they do not take any public holidays (with the exception of Easter and Anzac Day) during the year as it is too disruptive to timetables. And no, I am not in the university sector. It's been like it at least since I was a student in the 1960s at UWA.

 

[anat0l]

If you're referring to Universities as "the government sector", the reason why they have the extra days off a Xmas/New Year is that they do not take any public holidays (with the exception of Easter and Anzac Day) during the year as it is too disruptive to timetables. And no, I am not in the university sector. It's been like it at least since I was a student in the 1960s at UWA.

Maybe not at the universities you know of.

In Brisbane we take all gazetted public holidays at our institution. Labour Day, Queen's Birthday, Australia Day, and the ministerial public holiday for the Ekka.

Disruption to timetables? Yep, it does. Having tutored a first year course for several years, I've gotten used to coordinating with our tutors for alternative arrangements on weeks where there are public holiday disruptions. Also plays tricks with lecturers and lecture plans if the public holiday falls on a lecture day. The Queen's Birthday almost always falls within first semester exam period, so Central always needs to take this into account for an already crowded examination schedule.

 

[mono88]

The Uni where I am located closes on the 24th and reopens 2nd Jan. I look forward to the 8 day break.
I would actually be happier if we closed on Fri 20th like Flinders Uni

For many years I worked in a private sector role in an office which closed for 10 days over Christmas/New Year except for 4 to 5 staff required for specialist work of which I was one.
I used to love working then, the office was quiet and I was able to get all the work done to strict deadlines.
Now with a family and a different role there is no way I want to work during that period.

 

[Pushka]

That's fine if you join the business and are aware of the contract terms re Xmas shutdowns, but it'd be tough for those who've been there for a long time and expected to agree to these new terms.

The terms aren't new. We've closed down for as long as we've had the business.

 

[blackcat20]

Taking forced leave from one's annual leave sucks, period (no pun intended).

Our university has an interesting take. We close for around 10 days covering Christmas Eve to New Year's Day. However, the days not covered by public holidays are granted to us as "free annual leave". It's as if we took annual leave on those days as usual, but nothing is deducted from our annual leave allowances. Strictly speaking, it's not university policy - it's actually dependent on a decision made by the university that is announced to the staff. So far, for all the years I've been here, they have never refused to grant this special leave.

my previous position was like this, but the Christmas break was in lieu of labour day, queens birthday and cup day.

Our business dies from about the 20th and only kicks in from around 6th January. It's written in staff contracts that we close down.

Research doesn't really die down. In fact a lot of people will have to plan well to make sure their experiments can be stopped for the break.

That's fine if you join the business and are aware of the contract terms re Xmas shutdowns, but it'd be tough for those who've been there for a long time and expected to agree to these new terms.

This shut down was determined sometime in the last few days, it's certainly not in any contract. But we're undergoing a merger so it seems we've taken the other groups 'terms' unfortunately. It's possible I'll actually have to work extra days in the lead up to Christmas to "afford" the break, and I'm busy enough with my own business as it is...

 

[erkpod]

And here I was with travel booked because leave was approved but it got unapproved because of the off chance I might have had to work NYE. How I was expected to know in May what shift I'd been allocated on NYE. Oh how those with short memories forget I worked every day from Xmas Eve to NYD (both inclusive) this year.

But they had no issue with Xmas Day.

One year, there was no consideration of releasing the Xmas/NY roster early so it was released 2 days before Xmas.

 

[Pushka]

This shut down was determined sometime in the last few days, it's certainly not in any contract. But we're undergoing a merger so it seems we've taken the other groups 'terms' unfortunately. It's possible I'll actually have to work extra days in the lead up to Christmas to "afford" the break, and I'm busy enough with my own business as it is...

When a merger happens, according to fwa, the terms of your existing arrangement re AL etc still apply as it is essentially the same entity. We (as employers ) went through this exact situation last year.

 

[markis10]

When a merger happens, according to fwa, the terms of your existing arrangement re AL etc still apply as it is essentially the same entity. We (as employers ) went through this exact situation last year.

We got new contracts, which turned out to be not a bad thing, as the new ones forgot to exclude leave loading, in QLD it's paid unless your contract or agreement excludes it.

 

[Simo]

Woke up this morning to seeing ll the delays in SYD.

Glad I was not travelling

 

[blackcat20]

When a merger happens, according to fwa, the terms of your existing arrangement re AL etc still apply as it is essentially the same entity. We (as employers ) went through this exact situation last year.

Its not a written thing, it's just when they prefer to close, so we've been lumped with it too.