Vocations · Professional Development · Benefits

Days off are pay.
Here is how much.

Type your pay and the paid days off the job gives. The calculator puts a dollar value on each kind of leave, shows what you earn per hour you actually work, and what unused days are costing you.

Value my days offWhat you get

The paid time off calculator

The worked example is made up: a $52,000 job with 15 vacation days, 9 paid holidays and 5 sick days, of which 25 get used. Nothing you type leaves this browser.

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What you get

Vocations · Professional DevelopmentFree

What you finish with
The pay for a day, the value of your vacation, holidays and sick days and of all of them together, your pay per hour actually worked, and the value of days left unused. It prints as a one-page summary and downloads as a spreadsheet for comparing offers.
Who it is for
Students weighing a first job offer, working adults comparing jobs or planning leave, and career readiness and personal finance teachers.
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. Type your pay as a yearly salary, or an hourly wage with hours a week.
  2. Type the vacation or PTO days, paid holidays and sick days the job gives.
  3. Type the days you expect to use and whether unused days are paid out.
  4. Read the value of your paid days off and your pay per hour worked.
  5. Print the summary or download the spreadsheet.

Value my days off

How the value is worked out

Pay for a day, times the days.

The worked example: $52,000 a yearA paid day$200.00$52,000 ÷ 26029 days off$5,80029 × $200.00Per hour worked$27.66÷ 1,880 hours$52,000 a yearA paid day$200.00÷ 260 days29 days off$5,800their valuePer hour actually worked$27.66$52,000 ÷ 1,880 hours (235 days × 8)
A $52,000 salary pays $200.00 a workday, so 29 paid days off are worth $5,800; using 25 of them, the pay per hour actually worked is $27.66, not $25.00.

The arithmetic

A year has 52 weeks of five workdays, 260 paid days, so a day’s pay is yearly pay divided by 260 (an hourly wage is first turned into a year at hours a week times 52). Each kind of leave is worth its days times a day’s pay. Pay per hour actually worked divides yearly pay by the hours you work once days off are taken out, which is why more paid days off raise it.

Rules that vary

Under federal law private employers do not have to give paid vacation, holidays or sick days, so they are part of what an offer is worth. Some states and cities require paid sick leave, and some require unused vacation to be paid when you leave a job; others allow use-it-or-lose-it policies. Your employer’s written policy and your state labor department say which applies.

Sources

  1. U.S. Department of Labor. Vacation Leave and Holiday Pay (dol.gov/general/topic/workhours): the Fair Labor Standards Act does not require payment for time not worked.
  2. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. National Compensation Survey: Employee Benefits in the United States: how many paid holidays, vacation and sick days workers typically receive.
  3. U.S. Department of Labor, Wage and Hour Division. State labor offices (dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/contacts): state rules on paid sick leave and payout.
  4. CareerOneStop, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor. Benefits guidance for comparing job offers (careeronestop.org).

The worked example is made up. Your employer’s policy decides how leave is earned, carried over and paid. Your figures stay in this browser. Support: team@caveatacademic.com.