Vocations · Professional Development · Benefits

Days off are pay.
Count them.

Type the pay and the paid days off. The calculator turns vacation, holidays and sick days into dollars so two offers can be compared on the whole package.

Value my leaveWhat you get

The paid leave value calculator

The worked example is a $52,000 county library offer with 31 paid days off. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional DevelopmentFree

What you finish with
A day’s pay, the value of vacation, holidays and sick days and of all of them, the share of paid time that is leave, the days worked and what goes unused. It prints as a summary to set beside another offer.
Who it is for
Job seekers comparing offers, employees deciding whether to take their days, and early-career workers reading their first benefits summary.
Format
Browser calculator for a phone, tablet or computer, by touch or keyboard. Prints a summary; downloads a spreadsheet (.csv); export and import a file.
Access
Free. No account, no sign-in and nothing to install. Everything you type stays in this browser; nothing is sent to Caveat.
Where it lives
The Professional Development space in Caveat Vocations.
Support
Questions, a correction or a request: team@caveatacademic.com.

How to use it

  1. Choose salary or hourly.
  2. Type the schedule.
  3. Type each kind of paid leave.
  4. Estimate the days you will use.
  5. Compare offers in dollars.

Value my leave

How leave is valued

A day of leave is worth a day of pay.

The worked example: a county library offerSalary$52,000a yearA day$200.00÷ 260 paid daysDays off3115 PTO, 10 holidays, 6 sickWorth$6,200a yearThe worked example: a county library offerSalary$52,000a yearA day$200.00÷ 260 paid daysDays off3115 PTO, 10 holidays, 6 sickWorth$6,200a year
A year of pay divided by the paid work days gives a day’s value; every paid day off is worth that much.

Why put a price on it

A salary pays for every work day in the year, including the ones you take off. Fifteen vacation days on a $52,000 salary are $3,000 of pay for time not worked. An offer with more pay and fewer days off can come out behind.

What federal law says

The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require pay for time not worked, such as vacations, holidays or sick days, so paid leave is an employer’s choice or a state or local requirement. The Family and Medical Leave Act gives eligible employees up to 12 weeks a year of job-protected leave, unpaid.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Labor. Vacation leave, holidays and sick leave under the Fair Labor Standards Act (dol.gov).
  2. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. Family and Medical Leave Act (dol.gov/agencies/whd/fmla).
  3. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States (bls.gov/ebs).
  4. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Employer Costs for Employee Compensation: paid leave (bls.gov/ecec).

The values are your pay spread across your paid days; they are not a payout promise. State and local paid leave laws vary and are not covered here. Your entries stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.