Federal Employees Get 8.5 Weeks Off A Year, Costing Taxpayers $22 Billion.

[Free Vulcan]

Federal employees are given an average of 43 days off per year, costing taxpayers well over $22 billion for that luxury, government watchdog organization OpenTheBooks reported.

Employees of the federal government are given, on average, 13 sick days, 10 federal holidays and 20 vacation days per year, according to the Tuesday OpenTheBooks study. Giving federal employees roughly 8.5 weeks off a year costs taxpayers $22.6 billion annually.

Some 406,960 federal employees made six-figure incomes in 2016, amounting to around 20 percent of all listed federal employees.

Read more at: http://dailycaller.com/2017/12/27/federal-employees-get-8-5-weeks-off-a-year-costing-taxpayers-22-billion/

[andy58-in-nh]

There's a reason why it's called the Dreaded Private Sector: one-half of the time off, one-third of the paycheck, one-quarter of the retirement benefits and none of the job security.

[the_doc]

They ought to be cut back to about 6 sick days and 15 vacation days (starting at 10 vacation days for newbies).  That would save about $5 billion.

Better still, they should lay off at least one-third of the federal employees.  That would save about $45 billion.  Implementing both measures would save about $48 billion.

[RetBobbyMI]

I don't know were they get 43 days.  The most a federal employee can get is 8 hours per pay period or 26 days a year.  All federal employees get 4 hours of sick leave per pay period or 13 days. Most accumulate sick leave for when they really need it. The only way to get more annual leave is time off awards or other leave categories such as military duty, jury duty, etc.

[Mesaclone]

I don't know were they get 43 days.  The most a federal employee can get is 8 hours per pay period or 26 days a year.  All federal employees get 4 hours of sick leave per pay period or 13 days. Most accumulate sick leave for when they really need it. The only way to get more annual leave is time off awards or other leave categories such as military duty, jury duty, etc.

Most workers get 6 hours per pay period...so closer to 20 days per year, plus the sick time. I can't vouch for all Feds, but I certainly don't get the day off on Federal Holidays...nor do those I work with.

So the truth is somewhere in the middle...as it generally is. Yes, the Fed is quite fair in giving a reasonable amount of leave time...more than the private sector. However, its greatly overstated by articles such as the one cited above. Honestly, I believe 20/13 would be a fair allocation at any and all workplaces...to me, that's a much more important issue for "labor" than is a 15$ minimum wage.

[Fantom]

Could be worse, they could be at work. Last I saw, that cost us a bit over 4 trillion a year.

[IsailedawayfromFR]

Better than Europe.  I recall working their as a supervisor years ago and a new employee showed up for work on a Monday and the firs thing he asked me was whether he could take off for vacation the same week.

[RetBobbyMI]

Most workers get 6 hours per pay period...so closer to 20 days per year, plus the sick time. I can't vouch for all Feds, but I certainly don't get the day off on Federal Holidays...nor do those I work with.

So the truth is somewhere in the middle...as it generally is. Yes, the Fed is quite fair in giving a reasonable amount of leave time...more than the private sector. However, its greatly overstated by articles such as the one cited above. Honestly, I believe 20/13 would be a fair allocation at any and all workplaces...to me, that's a much more important issue for "labor" than is a 15$ minimum wage.

I have worked for the feds and worked as a contractor. As a contractor I didn't even get all federal holidays off and had to use my limited leave time to stay home, since I couldn't work due to the federal holidays.