How paid time off works in the US
The United States is unusual among wealthy countries in one way: no federal law requires employers to give paid vacation. There is no statutory minimum and no mandated number of days. Whether you get paid time off, and how much, is set by your employer.
Most full-time workers do get PTO, and the amount usually grows with how long you have been somewhere. Two weeks is a common starting point, often rising toward three or four weeks after several years. But it is company policy, not law, so it is worth reading your offer letter or handbook rather than assuming.
How PTO is handed out
- Accrual. You earn a set number of hours each pay period, so your balance builds up through the year. Leave partway through and you keep only what you have banked.
- Front-loaded. The whole year's allowance lands at once, at the start of the year or your start date, and you draw it down as you go.
- Unlimited. No fixed number; you take what you need with a manager's sign-off. It can be genuinely generous, though people often take less under it, not more.
Many employers now pool vacation and sick days into one "PTO" balance, while others keep them separate. A number of states and cities require paid sick leave even though none require paid vacation, so the two can follow different rules.
Federal holidays are separate
The eleven federal holidays are their own thing, and not automatically yours either. They are paid days off for federal employees; private employers usually observe the main ones, but nothing in federal law makes them close or pay extra for working them. Your PTO sits on top of whatever holidays your employer gives.
What happens to unused days
Whether unused PTO rolls into next year, gets paid out when you leave, or simply expires comes down to your employer and your state. Some states, California among them, treat earned vacation as wages that cannot be taken away, so "use it or lose it" is not allowed and any balance is paid out when you go. Others leave it entirely to company policy. Check both before you count on a balance being there.
Once you know your number, put it into the planner and it will show how far your PTO stretches across the year, and where a single day off buys you the most time away.