Paid Vacation Time

The paid vacation policy in my office goes something like this:

1^st FULL year: 2 weeks (80 hours)

10^th FULL year: 3 weeks (120 hours)

20^th FULL year: 4 weeks (160 hours)

(Because I began working here prior to July 1^st, I negotiated a week of vacation (40 hours) for myself for 2013!)

The great thing about this system is that I could take the whole shebang at once, i.e. use 40 hours over a week in the middle of July to go to the beach OR I could use a few hours here and there, i.e. 10 three-day weekends where I take Friday off.  (I only work four hours on a typical Friday.)  However, I would definitely have to stick with the company for a LONG time to get some real vacation benefits.

I have yet to use any of my 40 hours, but am trying to use them up over some various things around Christmas time.  If I don’t manage to use all 40, they get “paid out,” meaning I just receive the extra moolah in my paycheck.  Also, since we’re paid hourly, we can take unpaid time off, which is awesome when you have a doctor’s appointment and come in an hour late, but not so awesome when your bank account receives that week’s deposit.

How do you use your vacation time?  Does your company let it roll over or do they pay it out?  What’s their policy on unpaid vacation?