Time away

Beginning January 1, 2024, all employees will be eligible for 25 days of vacation annually, which replaces the tenure-based schedule.

If you currently have more than 25 days of vacation, you will keep your current vacation allotment. If you will reach a service milestone in 2024 that would provide you with 27 or 30 days of vacation under the current policy, you will keep those additional days. And, you will still be able to carry over up to five unused vacation days per year.

Don’t forget: You also get a flex day, which is considered a holiday, to use anytime during the year.

Merck provides you with 12 holidays per calendar year, which includes a flex day you can use anytime for any reason. Plus, Merck is also closed for the four business days between Christmas and New Year’s Day, excluding any weekend days.

When you need it, compassionate time provides up to 10 days per calendar year of paid time off to deal with:

• Personal or family emergencies
• Bereavement following the death of a loved one
• Other challenging situations, like supporting a loved one with a serious medical condition or handling traumatic events that may impact you or your family

To learn more, including examples of when to use compassionate time versus other time away policies, please review our Compassionate time guide.

When you’re sick, it’s important to take the time you need to get better. There’s no set number of days available to for you to take. However, once you are absent from work for more than three consecutive days, your absence will fall under Merck’s short-term disability (STD) program.

PPTO generally provides up to 12 weeks (60 working days) of paid time off within the first 12 months after birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child.

You can take this leave:

• Consecutively, as a set number of weeks in a row
• Phased, where you work a fixed number of days per week using the remaining days as PPTO for a set number of weeks
• As a combination of consecutive and phased PPTO

In the situation where both parents work for Merck, each of you is eligible for 12 weeks (60 days) of PPTO.

For scenario examples of how to use PPTO, please review Adding a child to your family.

For additional information on what Merck offers to new parents, go to the Building a family section of this site.

Merck provides paid time off if you are required to serve jury duty or serve as a witness, for as long as it takes to fulfill your civic duty.

Merck believes in making sure you have the opportunity for a positive and constructive experience when participating in the voting process. Generally, you’ll have up to two hours to vote.

You are eligible for up to 40 hours per year of paid time off to volunteer on behalf of company approved non-profit organizations, public charities, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and/or company approved community programs during regularly scheduled work hours.