Dan@Disney

Booking time off seems to be very confusing for people so I am going to break down the basics and explain how it all works.

What are the different types of time off?

There are 3 different types of time off – Vacation, Floating Holiday and Sick Pay. You earn each of these as the program goes on.

Vacation is earned based on the hours you have worked – you can get up to 40 hours (5 days) per calendar year. You get 8 hours of vacation for each 360 hours worked.

You get 3 days of Floating Holiday per calendar year – these are given to you on March 1st, June 1st and September 1st.

Sick Pay is earned similar to vacation – you get 8 hours for every 300 hours worked up to a total of 48 hours (6 days) per year.

If your program takes you in to a new calendar year (January) you Vacation and Sick Pay roll over but your Floating Holiday does not. Any Vacation and Sick Pay left at the end of your program will be paid to you – Floating Holiday will not. Because of this it is almost always better to use your Floating Holiday first before vacation or sick pay.

You sick pay will be used up if you call in sick but it can also be used to pick up time off. You can always check how much you have left of all 3 types on the Hub.

What about ADOs?

Authorised Days Off (ADOs) are a day off without pay. They are in addition to your vacation and sick pay. You can only take 1 in a week in addition to your RDOs (Regular Days Off). These are at the discretion of management.

When can you book time off?

Technically you cannot book vacation until you have been on the program 9 months. In reality this means you cannot get paid vacation until you have been there 9 months – you may be able to book unpaid vacation. If you put a request in as a vacation before 9 months it will be assumed to be unpaid vacation time.

Every year in November/December there is a vacation bid. At this time you can put any vacation requests in for the next year and they are considered in order of seniority (starting with the people who have been at the location the longest to the newest). This is the best time to put vacation requests in.

For each day of the year there is a vacation allowance – for example 3 people can have each day off. Once those are taken everyone else who asks will be waitlisted – unless one of those people cancels their request you are unlikely to have the time approved. In the vacation bid nobody can already have asked for the day so assuming you have fairly high seniority you have a good chance of having the time approved – you can always cancel the request later if you change your mind.

Also bear in mind all time off requests must be in the hub 2 weeks in advance, before the schedule comes out. Anything after that time will be ignored.

What about switching shifts?

You can always switch shifts to get time off but there are a few rules to stick by. You must still be being paid 30 hours of work per week (Sunday – Saturday) – this includes Floating Holiday and Vacation Pay (8 hours each).

Also any switch cannot result in a higher cost to Disney. So for example if your shift gave the other person a 6th day instead of your 5th day it would be overtime instead of straight time and cost Disney more, this request would be denied. Also anything that goes from a straight time shift (less than 8 hours) to an overtime shift (over 8 hours) would also be denied. The same if it went from someone being under 40 hours (straight time) to being over 40 hours (Overtime).

Anyone in a tipped position (Server, Bartender, Food Runner) can sign a waiver which means they do not get paid overtime and can therefore pick up shifts that would otherwise result in overtime. In a non-tipped position it is necessary to find someone who would not go in to overtime.

All of these restrictions can be overridden by management but it is not guaranteed. For urgent requests speaking to management may help.

I just want to do something on my regular days off

Your regular days off are not guaranteed. At busy times of year you may lose one and end up working 6 days a week. If you are planning something on an RDO put a request in for that week which just has your RDOs and you working every other day. If it is approved as a request on the Hub it is then guaranteed. A lot of people were caught out by this around Christmas – put the request in and get it guaranteed.

As with all my advice, please bear in mind that things do change and while this was correct for my program policies and procedures change all the time. Always speak to management before acting on any of this information.

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Every January everyone who earned money in the USA must file a tax return including CRPs. It is really not that difficult since CRPs only pay federal taxes and almost always are owed money at the end of the year. This is my step-by-step guide to how to file your taxes:

Get your W2

The first step is to get your W2 form from Disney. This is basically a summary of what you were paid and how much tax you have paid. You can get it electronically from the Hub but you must be on the Disney network to do it. This basically means you have to do it from work or one of the Disney Learning Centers unless you are lucky enough to have remote access as a Core Trainer.

To get your W2 log in to the hub and press the Sign Up/View W2 button in the right links box.

This will open a window where you can choose the W2 you want (This year it is 2012, if you have worked for Disney before you may have other years available)

Click View W2 and you will have the option to print it. Do this as you will need information from this form later. At this point you can log out of the Hub, you have all the information you need.

Filing your return

There are lots of ways you can submit your tax return but the easiest and cheapest I found on my last program was TurboTax. They take you through a series of questions to help you file your return and their basic service (which is all you really need) is free. To get started go to the website and click ‘Start For Free’

Choose the ‘Free Edition’

When asked how you filed your taxes last year just choose ‘skip this step’. Then Register for the site.

Agree to the terms and conditions and continue to the next step. The site will confirm all your information. Click ‘Start My Return’

It is now just a case of following through the wizard style interface and answering the questions. The first are simple personal information such as your name and Occupation (Food & Beverage Server/Merchandise Host/Food & Beverage Host or something similar).

Once you complete all of the first questions TurboTax will suggest a filing status. For most CRPs it is going to be ‘Single’ although it will depend on your personal answers to the questions. This will decide the level of Tax you are required to pay so make sure you answer these initial questions carefully.

You will then be asked for your mailing address - if you are still in the USA and will be for the next month or so put the Disney housing address. Otherwise put your home country address. This is where any letters from the IRS (Tax People) will be sent and where any refund check (if you choose a paper check) will also be sent.

You will also need your Social Security Number at this stage. Before you complete this section TurboTax will allow you to review the information and make sure it is correct.

Throughout the process you will be offered to upgrade to a higher level of TurboTax service – while this is your choice I continued with just the Free level.

The next section covers working and what you earned. You will be asked if you worked for an employer (you did if you worked for Disney). You will then be asked about other forms of income – answer these questions correctly although most likely you did not receive any other income unless you are a US Citizen.

You will then be asked for your W2 information from the information you printed from the Hub.

The first thing is the EIN number which is in Box a of your W2. The next page will ask for all the information from your W2 – follow the instructions as to which box to take the information from. Copy it carefully into the correct boxes.

Once you have entered this information TurboTax will give you an estimate of your refund.

You will then be asked another set of questions about your W2 and any other income you might have earned. Most likely you have not earned anything else if you have just worked for Disney but read all of the questions carefully.

The next section will ask about Deductions and Credits – As a CRP most likely none of these wil apply but again read the information carefully.

Click ‘Done With Deductions’

After you answer a few more questions TurboTax will suggest a deduction for you. For most people this will be the ‘Federal Standard Deduction’.

You will then be asked about any Special Circumstances. Again most of these will not apply to CRPs but read the information carefully.

Once you complete the section you will be asked if you have entered everything. If so continue to review the information.

TurboTax will then move on to State Taxes. As CRPs we do not pay State Taxes so you can ‘Skip State’.

After a few more offers to upgrade your service if you would like to, TurboTax will check your return and re-estimate your Refund.

The next step, after a few more upgrade offers, is to choose how you would like to receive your refund.

If you have a US Bank Account you can have the funds direct deposited, which is the fastest option, or you can choose to have a paper check in US Dollars mailed. If you are still in the USA direct deposit is probably the best choice however if you are back home the funds can only go to a US Account so you may have to opt for a Paper Check and find somewhere to cash a US Check in the UK.

After you have entered your bank details you will be asked to review your order with TurboTax including any additional services you bought from them along the way.

Next you will File your taxes. You will be asked how you want to file, the fastest way is E-File which is the default setting.

TurboTax will check your return and make sure there are no errors before giving you the final choice to submit your information to the IRS. You cannot change the information once it is submitted so be 100% sure of your answers before you complete the process.

Also make sure to take the option to save a copy of your return and all of the forms for future reference.

Getting your Refund

You can fiel your taxes any time but they will not be processed by the IRS until the end of January. Most refund come in 21-28 days from the day they are processed. If you file later in the year they may get backed up so it can take slightly longer. TurboTax allows you to track your refund so you can know when to expect the money.

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