Planning for holidays is important for both part-time and full-time workers. Both part-time and full-time employees are entitled to a four weeks of paid holiday every working year; the only difference is that the part-time workers are paid holidays on a pro-rata basis. By pro-rata basis it is meant that the holidays of part-time workers will be equal to the weekly working routine that they follow. It is essential to calculate the exact number of pro-rata holidays available after taking a new job to plan for holidays.

Find the number of days in a year that you are entitled to a vacation from your job by consulting your job contract or the terms of appointment. In the United States, most workers are eligible for a vacation of one to four weeks every year.

Determine how soon you will be eligible for vacation. Often you will have to be on the job for six months to a year before being given any vacation time.

Determine how much you work every week compared to a full-time employee. If you work 15 hours a week and the full-time employee works 40 hours, you are a 37.5% employee.

Multiply the number of weeks of holiday entitlement for the full-time employee by your work percentage. If you work 15 hours a week your holiday entitlement might be (0.375 week * 5 days) 15 hours.

Tip

To estimate the total pro rata holidays available you may add different types of holidays together such as vacation leave, sick leaves, casual leaves etc,.

Warning

Some companies use slightly different conventions in estimating the pro-rata leaves available to their employees and you must be fully aware of the policies followed by your company to make necessary adjustments to the estimate.