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That's completely reversed from most of the US.

Vacation is usually paid out, sick time expires. Also, many employers require vacation be scheduled in advance, while sick can be on-demand.

Hmm... I suppose policies may vary, but in my experience exactly the opposite tends to be true. Sick days and personal days vanish at the end of the year while vacation days generally accumulate (sometimes with a cap, though). It's fairly common for people with separate pools to use "sick" days to just take a day off to recharge or run errands. (Although, technically, employers often have the right to demand a doctor's note, but seldom actually do so.)

At my work, sick days expire at the end of the year and vacation days are kept for a some amount of time, before they meet a functional cap.