Too much work to take a vacation?

Yes, that seems to be the lot of the American worker (and we're sure many lawyers would agree).

According to a recent survey by Yahoo! HotJobs, 45 percent of workers left unused vacation days on the table in 2006, and 36 percent of workers currently feel they have too much work on their plate to take a vacation. Experts say this is unfortunate since vacation provides workers with an opportunity to relax and recharge, and return to the office rejuvenated, which improves productivity.

A possible source of the growing incidence of unused vacation is the "worker bee" culture at many companies (and dare we say, many law firms) that looks upon taking vacation time as an act of betrayal.

According to John Challeger, founder of the outplacement firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas, more workers are compensating with "mini-vacations" - three and four-day weekend getaways that provide some respite from the daily grind.

So dear readers, chime in, do you take all of your vacation time? Or do you leave most of it on the table?