Do you lose your vacation when changing job

[cougar8000]

I am considering taking on a new position in a new company and currently have over 110 hours of vacation. It is a rolling system(PTO), so I have been accumulating it for a while. Question is. Does law require my current company to pay off my vacation or do I loose it?

Thank you.

 

[kulwen]

Depends on the state.

In NV we get paid for vacation time if we leave, but not sick time.

So, I keep my sick time pretty low.

 

[madmike2]

I think the laws vary from state to state. It might be something you can negotiate or find the company policy, which also vary. For instance, my employer has a use-it-or-lose-it vacation policy, but that's illegal in my state, so I do my best to stay withing policy guidelines and not "roll-over" vacation hours. And 2 weeks of vacation time is nothing to sneeze at.

Or use it before you leave...though its likely "untimely" for motorcycle riding.

 

[keithaba]

Depends on your contract more than anytying. Go find it, under all that crap you thought you would never look at again.

My contract states that we get paid out for our final PTO, 2 weeks after our last paycheck.

 

[cota95]

Check your employee manual. My company pays out accumulated vacation time but not sick.

 

[SockMonkey]

Being an employer in, currently, 23 states, I may have some insight into this. PTO (personal leave, sick time, etc.) is deemed an earned benefit, offered and paid at the discretion of an employer. It is not a federal or state mandated benefit. As such, an employer - regardless of size, is not obligated (unless specified in writing in an offer letter, contract or employee handbook) to pay out accrued PTO upon voluntary separation of an employee. Neither is an employer obligated to pay out accrued benefits upon involuntary separation of an employee, again unless so specified in writing.

If you have any questions, I would - as has been advised previously, consult any employment documentation you may have, or speak with the HR department at your employer regarding your company's specific policy in this regard.

 

[Derek]

on another note, it's quite acceptable to negotiate your vacation entitlement when you're talking salary with the prospective employer.

dh

 

[cougar8000]

Thanks guys. I am have no clue where my contract is since I was hired almost 10 years ago. Nor I am ready to got to our HR with this question. Will try to find this info somehow.

New company does not negotiate vacation policy. I can buy some days off. It is general considering that I can earn 18 days in a year plus holiday plus 2 floating days. I am loosing only 5 days at a moment, but gaining them and some in a pay.

 

[tcfjr]

From the Illinois Department of Labor site:

If I quit or am fired, am I entitled to payment for my unused accrued vacation time?
Yes. A former employee has a claim under the Act for the collection of the monetary equivalent of his/her vacation time earned in accordance with an employment contract, agreement or policy. For more information, click here. 820 ILCS 115/5 and 56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.520.

IANAL.

 

[Geezer]

It sounds like you should be on vacation right now. Use up those five days before you actually separate. If they really need you for those days they'll negotiate.

 

[mdisher]

The first place to check is your employee manual as others have indicated.

'Earned' Vacation time is a liability to the company and something you're due when you leave, and paid with in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think this varies state-to-state but I've been wrong before.

There may be limits though, your company may not allow you to carry more than 80 or x hours past some anniversary date and they may go *poof*.

About 10 years ago at the height of the dot-com-boom... I was with a company that went out of business. I was caught with nearly 70 days of vacation (yes you read that right)...

The company worked out a deal to pay us 1/2 that (in my case that was approx 35 days). The other 35 days (and everyone else's 2nd half of their unpaid vacation went into the debt pool with all the other creditors.

In the end I think I got paid for about 5 of those 35 when the dust settled.

(How the hell did you get 70 days of vacation?)

- Back then we were worked to death, I had 5 weeks but could never take them. I also had 'bonus and comp-time days' that I also couldn't take. Over the years they all added up. It sucked in a big way, but I learned a valuable lesson.

Take that vacation time.

 

[cougar8000]

I am safe and I guess I can consider it as a leaving bonus

PTO Payment

PTO benefits are paid at base pay.

Employees at termination, retirement, or transfer to ineligible status are eligible for 100% PTO payout. Proper notice is requested of all employees and is defined as two weeks for most employees and three weeks for directors and above. At the time of termination, PTO will be paid at base rate. PTO payout at time of termination will not occur until actual time taken has been reported and is current.

Once notice is given, PTO may not be used or paid during the notice period.

 

[SockMonkey]

From the Illinois Department of Labor site:

If I quit or am fired, am I entitled to payment for my unused accrued vacation time?
Yes. A former employee has a claim under the Act for the collection of the monetary equivalent of his/her vacation time earned in accordance with an employment contract, agreement or policy. For more information, click here. 820 ILCS 115/5 and 56 Ill. Adm. Code 300.520.

IANAL.

Operative words being: "employment contract, agreement (offer letter), or policy (employee handbook)". But, having said that (and also being a registered employer in the fine State of Illinois), good luck with that claim if you're terminated for cause - particularly if well documented. Illinois will more often than not side with the employer if the claim is contested (which Illinois readily allows an employer to do).

 

[SockMonkey]

I am safe and I guess I can consider it as a leaving bonus
PTO Payment

PTO benefits are paid at base pay.

Employees at termination, retirement, or transfer to ineligible status are eligible for 100% PTO payout. Proper notice is requested of all employees and is defined as two weeks for most employees and three weeks for directors and above. At the time of termination, PTO will be paid at base rate. PTO payout at time of termination will not occur until actual time taken has been reported and is current.

Once notice is given, PTO may not be used or paid during the notice period.

Excellent!! Good for you! :clapping:

 

[SockMonkey]

'Earned' Vacation time is a liability to the company and something you're due when you leave, and paid with in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think this varies state-to-state but I've been wrong before.

Careful... Again, unless otherwise provided in writing by the employer, there is no law anywhere in any state that says an employee is "due" their accrued leave upon separation. Accrued leave is indeed a liability on the balance sheet, which is why most employers have a "use-it-or-lose-it" policy. Our employees (including me) lose all unused PTO on January 15th of each year. Liability gone.

 

[mdisher]

'Earned' Vacation time is a liability to the company and something you're due when you leave, and paid with in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think this varies state-to-state but I've been wrong before.

Careful... Again, unless otherwise provided in writing by the employer, there is no law anywhere in any state that says an employee is "due" their accrued leave upon separation. Accrued leave is indeed a liability on the balance sheet, which is why most employers have a "use-it-or-lose-it" policy. Our employees (including me) lose all unused PTO on January 15th of each year. Liability gone.

It may be semantics or splitting hairs, but I believe this is one reason companies may use the term 'PTO' or Personal Time Off as opposed to 'Vacation' in some instances. I think they're may be a legal difference.

We discussed changing our 'terminology' last year but didn't do anything other than increase the number of 'sick days', which in our case is considered 'PTO'. Those Sick or PTO days are use it or lose it and are not acruable, where as vacation is up to a point in our case.

I do believe the employee is 'entitled' to any, earned yet unused or acrued vacation, which is not necessarily the same as PTO.

Then again, I'm not an HR Specialist, nor do I pretend to be one. I only have my experiences from which to speak.

Glad to hear it will work out for the thread starter.

 

[SouthernCruizer]

'Earned' Vacation time is a liability to the company and something you're due when you leave, and paid with in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think this varies state-to-state but I've been wrong before.

Careful... Again, unless otherwise provided in writing by the employer, there is no law anywhere in any state that says an employee is "due" their accrued leave upon separation. Accrued leave is indeed a liability on the balance sheet, which is why most employers have a "use-it-or-lose-it" policy. Our employees (including me) lose all unused PTO on January 15th of each year. Liability gone.

**********************

I can guarantee you that in the state of Louisiana, ALL accrued befenifts (including vacation, sick days, etc), IS payable upon termination of employee, whether by firing, resignation, etc. This has been proven in court, in August 2007, by me. I got a 28K settlement (actual wages owed plus 90 days wages for penalties) because my hard headed employers refused to pay me my measly accrued vacation time. Plus, they had to pay 25% of that for atty fees, and then had to pay the court costs.

As a side note, the employee handbook contained a vacation policy that stated "in the case of termination, any unused vacation time will be forfeited". HA! :assassin:

Jay

'04 FJR 1300

 

[SockMonkey]

'Earned' Vacation time is a liability to the company and something you're due when you leave, and paid with in a reasonable amount of time. I don't think this varies state-to-state but I've been wrong before.

Careful... Again, unless otherwise provided in writing by the employer, there is no law anywhere in any state that says an employee is "due" their accrued leave upon separation. Accrued leave is indeed a liability on the balance sheet, which is why most employers have a "use-it-or-lose-it" policy. Our employees (including me) lose all unused PTO on January 15th of each year. Liability gone.

It may be semantics or splitting hairs, but I believe this is one reason companies may use the term 'PTO' or Personal Time Off as opposed to 'Vacation' in some instances. I think they're may be a legal difference.

We discussed changing our 'terminology' last year but didn't do anything other than increase the number of 'sick days', which in our case is considered 'PTO'. Those Sick or PTO days are use it or lose it and are not acruable, where as vacation is up to a point in our case.

I do believe the employee is 'entitled' to any, earned yet unused or acrued vacation, which is not necessarily the same as PTO.

Then again, I'm not an HR Specialist, nor do I pretend to be one. I only have my experiences from which to speak.

Glad to hear it will work out for the thread starter.

PTO (Personal Time Off), Sick Time, Vacation, are all grouped under discretionary employer-provided benefits. The reason many companies (ours included) use the term PTO as opposed to Vacation and Sick Time (or Sick Days) is to simplify accounting - particularly if both vacation and sick time are an accrued benefit. Most HR departments (as well as indepedent HR consultants) prefer a singular PTO system (which typically includes both leave and sick time) as it doesn't promote an environment where an employee would need to lie about being sick to take time off to take care of personal business.

I'll apologize up front, but I don't like seeing bad information get circulated. No employee in any state is entitled to discretionary employer-provided benefits unless otherwise spelled out in writing. Matter of fact, there is no private-sector employer in any state that is required to provide paid leave of any sort - including sick time, outside of that mandated in the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA); and that only applies to companies of greater than 50 employees.

 

[SouthernCruizer]

I totally agree about the bad information part...thus..here is the section from the La. Dept of Labor pertaining to vacation pay..

What is the law concerning payment of wages to employees?

Final Paycheck

Louisiana employees who are laid off, fired, or who quit must be paid their wages in full at the next regular payday, not to exceed 15 days from the date of their discharge or termination. Wages include vacation time earned by the employee. An employee should send a written demand for payment of their final wages to their employer. After receipt of a written demand, the employer must pay all wages owed to the employee on a timely basis or be subject to a penalty that may be imposed by a court. Claims against an employer for late payment may be filed by way of a private lawsuit. The Louisiana Department of Labor does not have the authority to enforce this law. You may review this law at (R.S. 23:631) - (R.S. 23:632).

Take special notice of line 2 in the above paragraph "Wages include vacation time earned by the employee"...you need to check your sources about vacation time...

If the law as written on the books is not enough proof, I got the 28K stub (compliment of the court) that says you are owed accrued vacation pay , at least in La.

Jay

'04 FJR 1300