This has significantly changed how many vet moms can enjoy their time off, especially after having a baby.
K
Kristen Stiltner
6 years ago
The current PTO policy is not mutual and beneficial to both parties. As there is no current maternity leave policy, I propose to not have an expiration date on my PTO. Additionally, work life balance is essential and should be dictated on individual needs
M
Maria
6 years ago
I lose my PTO right before summer break. Currently I am scrambling to find days to take off so I don’t lose anything. If we wanted to have another child we now have to plan around my anniversary so I can survive with some type of income when I recover and bond.
K
Katherine Ogawa
6 years ago
I do not find the PTO policy mutual as California is exempt. I completed my family before this went into effect otherwise it would have greatly impacted my financial security to take bonding time with my infant.
D
Deborah Gass
6 years ago
It’s difficult to even use the PTO to plan for rollover when you have to schedule it 4 months in advance!
M
Melanie Vignal
6 years ago
This PTO policy makes it virtually impossible for me to have a child during certain months of the year because I will not have enough to supplement my income while on leave. It will cause me to have to shorten my leave or attempt to very strictly plan when I'm having children which is not reasonable. Also, the fact this policy does not affect California residents due to state laws makes it not mutual to all employees
H
Heather Oltjen
6 years ago
I agree with everything written above. My husband and I have both worked for Banfield for 7 years and our PTO policy was one of the things we loved most about our company. It allowed us to enjoy a healthy work-life balance, fulfill our love of travel, and stay in touch with family who live airplane flights away- all on our own chosen timeline.
Like just about every fellow Banfield DVM we’ve spoken to, we were very disappointed to learn about the recent policy change. We had our first son born last July 21. Our anniversaries are July 20 and Aug 6, so we both we unable to save PTO to use during maternity/paternity leave. Banfield has been great about placing a focus on associate well-being, but this new rule really does achieve the opposite effect.
H
Heather Oltjen
6 years ago
I agree with everything written above. My husband and I have both worked for Banfield for 7 years and our PTO policy was one of the things we loved most about our company. It allowed us to enjoy a healthy work-life balance, fulfill our love of travel, and stay in touch with family who live airplane flights away- all on our own chosen timeline.
Like just about every fellow Banfield DVM we’ve spoken to, we were very disappointed to learn about the recent policy change. We had our first son born last July 21. Our anniversaries are July 20 and Aug 6, so we both we unable to save PTO to use during maternity/paternity leave. Banfield has been great about placing a focus on associate well-being, but this new rule really does achieve the opposite effect.
J
Jessica Stroble
6 years ago
Thankfully this policy went into affect after I had my son or I would have been forced to go back to work much sooner than I was physically or mentally prepared for due to financial constraints. The majority of our veterinarians are women and this truly impacts their ability to have work life balance in regards to family planning. While our work force is mostly women of child bearing age many of us are consider “advanced maternal age” which means it can take longer to conceive, require more doctors visits, more money for medical treatments, etc. I was lucky and it only took me 6 months to conceive but if I had been trying to get pregnant with my anniversary date in mind it wouldn’t have lined up at all. My other concern is that this policy and many of our pto policies do not affect associates in California- we are founded on mutuality - and this isn’t it. We won’t allow our associates to receive free cremation from a company because the same company doesn’t service all of our hospitals so not everyone could benefit from the discount but we will allow associates to bank pto in one state and not another? I understand that example is apples to oranges but hopefully you understand my point. Pathway just announced 8 weeks paid parental leave - we must look into making changes in our pto policy that benefit our associates, not the company.
O
Omega Hammerling
6 years ago
While this isn’t affecting me this year, I lost 70 hours of PTO last year because I was the only doctor at my hospital, with no relief coverage available (if I had taken those two weeks off, that meant getting two more weeks behind, and two weeks my staff would have gone without a paycheck). Even having the option to get paid for those hours would have been nice, but buyback was only allowed if >160 hours, which wasn’t the case, and I couldn’t donate them because the donation window was a month after my anniversary, so those hours simply disappeared. Overall, very frustrating and disappointing. (This year, I have associate doctors and relief coverage, so PTO is much easier to take, and my hours will not be lost as a result)
K
Kaycie Baxley
6 years ago
Featured
While planning to have a second child, I had to ensure that we conceived the child during a certain time period to maximize PTO available for maternity leave. If conceived after that period and born immediately after my Banfield anniversary date, I would have only had enough PTO for 2.5 weeks, rather than the 7 which are protected by FMLA.
J
Jenna Bauer
6 years ago
The majority in our profession are young mothers or soon to be moms. This policy takes away the the opportunity for us to save PTO for a needed and deserved "paid maternity leave". Also, when having young children, they routinely get sick and cant go to daycare requiring us the need to routinely have a few days *when needed* to take off to stay home with them.
A
Alyssa Abrams
6 years ago
I feel I am forced to take vacation on Banfield's terms and not my own. Also I dislike that if I wanted to use my PTO for part of my maternity leave I also have to plan around Banfield and not my own family planning schedule.
R
Rebecca Koehler
6 years ago
As mentioned in the petition I am a mom who relied on saved PTO for maternity leave and am planning to have more children in the future. This policy will make that more difficult and I really don’t want to, or think I should have to, plan conceiving a child around expiring PTO. It’s very frustrating and already worries me before I am even pregnant again. I was also hired as a new grad so my start date is at the beginning of the summer right before I would want to use PTO for family vacation. So I will have to bring it down right before I already plan to use it. So then I will be well below 80 and have to worry if I will have hours if myself or my children get sick or any other emergency or unexpected circumstance arises. Even though this policy was made with the intent to get people to use their PTO it has had a negative impact on how I can plan and causes undo stress. I believe this is the case for many others as well. I hope drawing attention to it will encourage Banfield to remove this contingency on PTO roll over.
K
Kristen Ezell
6 years ago
It is also not mutual that some states do not allow this policy and those doctors are not affected.
A
Alison Fowle
6 years ago
My biggest issue is also losing PTO that I would be saving for maternity leave. I do not want to "plan" for a pregnancy so that I am able to actually use PTO that I earned.
K
Kristen Doss
· petition starter
6 years ago
Like so many moms, I would like to be able to save up my PTO for maternity leave. As I cannot carry a child myself, I will not be able to use the SDA benefit to maintain income after the birth of a baby. Whether adoption or surrogacy pans out for me first, I will need to take time off to bond with and care for a child. I cannot plan this around my May 29th anniversary date.
C
Christina Lewis
6 years ago
My anniversary date is 6/1. The new policy makes it very difficult to take time off over the summer to spend time with my school aged children
This has significantly changed how many vet moms can enjoy their time off, especially after having a baby.
The current PTO policy is not mutual and beneficial to both parties. As there is no current maternity leave policy, I propose to not have an expiration date on my PTO. Additionally, work life balance is essential and should be dictated on individual needs
I lose my PTO right before summer break. Currently I am scrambling to find days to take off so I don’t lose anything. If we wanted to have another child we now have to plan around my anniversary so I can survive with some type of income when I recover and bond.
I do not find the PTO policy mutual as California is exempt. I completed my family before this went into effect otherwise it would have greatly impacted my financial security to take bonding time with my infant.
It’s difficult to even use the PTO to plan for rollover when you have to schedule it 4 months in advance!
This PTO policy makes it virtually impossible for me to have a child during certain months of the year because I will not have enough to supplement my income while on leave. It will cause me to have to shorten my leave or attempt to very strictly plan when I'm having children which is not reasonable. Also, the fact this policy does not affect California residents due to state laws makes it not mutual to all employees
I agree with everything written above. My husband and I have both worked for Banfield for 7 years and our PTO policy was one of the things we loved most about our company. It allowed us to enjoy a healthy work-life balance, fulfill our love of travel, and stay in touch with family who live airplane flights away- all on our own chosen timeline. Like just about every fellow Banfield DVM we’ve spoken to, we were very disappointed to learn about the recent policy change. We had our first son born last July 21. Our anniversaries are July 20 and Aug 6, so we both we unable to save PTO to use during maternity/paternity leave. Banfield has been great about placing a focus on associate well-being, but this new rule really does achieve the opposite effect.
I agree with everything written above. My husband and I have both worked for Banfield for 7 years and our PTO policy was one of the things we loved most about our company. It allowed us to enjoy a healthy work-life balance, fulfill our love of travel, and stay in touch with family who live airplane flights away- all on our own chosen timeline. Like just about every fellow Banfield DVM we’ve spoken to, we were very disappointed to learn about the recent policy change. We had our first son born last July 21. Our anniversaries are July 20 and Aug 6, so we both we unable to save PTO to use during maternity/paternity leave. Banfield has been great about placing a focus on associate well-being, but this new rule really does achieve the opposite effect.
Thankfully this policy went into affect after I had my son or I would have been forced to go back to work much sooner than I was physically or mentally prepared for due to financial constraints. The majority of our veterinarians are women and this truly impacts their ability to have work life balance in regards to family planning. While our work force is mostly women of child bearing age many of us are consider “advanced maternal age” which means it can take longer to conceive, require more doctors visits, more money for medical treatments, etc. I was lucky and it only took me 6 months to conceive but if I had been trying to get pregnant with my anniversary date in mind it wouldn’t have lined up at all. My other concern is that this policy and many of our pto policies do not affect associates in California- we are founded on mutuality - and this isn’t it. We won’t allow our associates to receive free cremation from a company because the same company doesn’t service all of our hospitals so not everyone could benefit from the discount but we will allow associates to bank pto in one state and not another? I understand that example is apples to oranges but hopefully you understand my point. Pathway just announced 8 weeks paid parental leave - we must look into making changes in our pto policy that benefit our associates, not the company.
While this isn’t affecting me this year, I lost 70 hours of PTO last year because I was the only doctor at my hospital, with no relief coverage available (if I had taken those two weeks off, that meant getting two more weeks behind, and two weeks my staff would have gone without a paycheck). Even having the option to get paid for those hours would have been nice, but buyback was only allowed if >160 hours, which wasn’t the case, and I couldn’t donate them because the donation window was a month after my anniversary, so those hours simply disappeared. Overall, very frustrating and disappointing. (This year, I have associate doctors and relief coverage, so PTO is much easier to take, and my hours will not be lost as a result)
While planning to have a second child, I had to ensure that we conceived the child during a certain time period to maximize PTO available for maternity leave. If conceived after that period and born immediately after my Banfield anniversary date, I would have only had enough PTO for 2.5 weeks, rather than the 7 which are protected by FMLA.
The majority in our profession are young mothers or soon to be moms. This policy takes away the the opportunity for us to save PTO for a needed and deserved "paid maternity leave". Also, when having young children, they routinely get sick and cant go to daycare requiring us the need to routinely have a few days *when needed* to take off to stay home with them.
I feel I am forced to take vacation on Banfield's terms and not my own. Also I dislike that if I wanted to use my PTO for part of my maternity leave I also have to plan around Banfield and not my own family planning schedule.
As mentioned in the petition I am a mom who relied on saved PTO for maternity leave and am planning to have more children in the future. This policy will make that more difficult and I really don’t want to, or think I should have to, plan conceiving a child around expiring PTO. It’s very frustrating and already worries me before I am even pregnant again. I was also hired as a new grad so my start date is at the beginning of the summer right before I would want to use PTO for family vacation. So I will have to bring it down right before I already plan to use it. So then I will be well below 80 and have to worry if I will have hours if myself or my children get sick or any other emergency or unexpected circumstance arises. Even though this policy was made with the intent to get people to use their PTO it has had a negative impact on how I can plan and causes undo stress. I believe this is the case for many others as well. I hope drawing attention to it will encourage Banfield to remove this contingency on PTO roll over.
It is also not mutual that some states do not allow this policy and those doctors are not affected.
My biggest issue is also losing PTO that I would be saving for maternity leave. I do not want to "plan" for a pregnancy so that I am able to actually use PTO that I earned.
Like so many moms, I would like to be able to save up my PTO for maternity leave. As I cannot carry a child myself, I will not be able to use the SDA benefit to maintain income after the birth of a baby. Whether adoption or surrogacy pans out for me first, I will need to take time off to bond with and care for a child. I cannot plan this around my May 29th anniversary date.
My anniversary date is 6/1. The new policy makes it very difficult to take time off over the summer to spend time with my school aged children