They used to get audited by the IRS every. single. year. Maybe they still do, for all I know.

From various clues, they sound like the kind of right-wing wingnuts who think that government intervention in daily life is a betrayal of the Great Principles That Founded Our God-Blessed Nation (tm) because the leader of a company is obviously wiser and more blessed than the peons who work for him and the government is just getting in the way of laissez-faire capitalism. Employment law is just another way for The Dammed Gubbmint to mess things up.

edit: Avoiding/evading/circumventing those sorts of "unwarranted intrusions" is seen as a victory for Right Thinking Americans Everywhere.

You'd be amazed at what passes for business thinking in Utah. There are reasons we're the fraud capital of the country.

Oh, {{{{Tep}}}}. They all said it already, but, what they all said.

Well, I dunno. I haven't job-hunted in 13 years.

Gotcha. I can't assume that every industry is like biotechs, that's for sure. We start with 3.5 weeks of PTO, but that includes "sick time". Some companies treat those separately. However, I don't allow my employees to use PTO for sick time. I don't agree with the policy of encouraging people to come in to the office and spread their illness. When my staff are sick, they stay home and I don't report the time taken.

Tep--do consider going out tonight, only because I know this event gives you great pleasure, and being with folks who don't actually CARE about your work, since they barely know you, might help put the douchenozzles in perspective.

I can't assume that every industry is like biotechs, that's for sure. We start with 3.5 weeks of PTO, but that includes "sick time"

Heh. And javachik, not every company in biotech is like generous--I interviewed with one that gave 15 days PTO. Total. I was like "...you've got to be fucking kidding me. That's it? Sick AND vacation?" My first company in DC you started with 24 days of PTO. It was sweet. We didn't get tons of vacation days, but damn. My first company out here in Seattle, I think it was something like 20 days, but you also got the week between Christmas and New Year's off?

Not for the first time, but why can't we all have management like Scrappy and javachik?

Tep--do consider going out tonight, only because I know this event gives you great pleasure

Yeah, Tim just came home from a meeting and gave me Stern Face. I compromised and said I'd go up with him now, and reserve the right to leave whenever I wanted to.

Yeah, Tim just came home from a meeting and gave me Stern Face. I compromised and said I'd go up with him now, and reserve the right to leave whenever I wanted to.

Yeah. Because I get the impression that you're rather like me here, and whether or not you enjoy being around other people in some situation, it's still placing demands on your emotional reserves (as opposed to the more extraverted types, who get a boost from the interaction). So make sure you have an escape route if you find you just don't have anything left for it.

"I think you have 2 douchebags for bosses, is what."

I'm a pretty big Tim fan right now.

Wrt the benefits thing, even if Hypothetical New Company generally only gives [x]amount of PTO to new hires, it's totally within your rights to say (once you get to the talking numbers part of the process) "I'd like you to match my previous employer's PTO benefits." It's a cheap way for them to make you happy and most places that aren't hamstrung by bureaucratic corporate overlords are at least willing to consider it.

It sounds similar to the kinds of stories I heard during the dot-com crash.

Steph, Scola might be on to something... do you think they are looking for quick fixes financially? I have to tell you that this behavior is something that the very large company I used to work for did when they first started tanking. They cut the driver's hours, cut back office hours in the guise of "performance" (they also are set to lose $1.3 billion this year)