Is it legal for employer to force employees to take vacations

[techman121]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? California (VEBA state)

I learned in my state I can rollover up to 120 vacation hours to next year. My employer for my state however, has just 7 Personal Time days and 8 Vacation Days. Some people in my company. take vacation, some "save" for next year and some just don't take much and probably loose vacation hours they can't accumulate/rollover anymore.

I noticed management started to push all people, starting those with highest quotas to take vacations, to even take vacations before taking personal days off and there was warning, that if people do not take, then management will be picking vacation days off for them. They also encouraged those who have less vacations and save for next year, to take vacations and their Personal Time Off can be approved and converted to next year as "Vacation".

I kinda I am lost in this and I don't understand it. Before I came to work for this organization, I worked for previous 2 big companies where there was no pressure to take vacation. Even had one of my former managers tell me, Personal Time off should be taken first before taking Vacation, because in event if I leave a company I get paid for unused Vacation hours, Personal Time simply gets lost and cannot be reimbursed. Which to me makes sense because for an example, when you leave for another company, you start with a pro-rated vacation/PTO balance so the money you get paid can be used to substitute salary if you take Unpaid Time.

 

[FlyingRon]

I'm curious why you even mentioned VEBA. Unless you are actively enrolled in VEBA trust it has no bearing (and I'm not even sure if you're in it why it matters to your question).

There's nothing wrong with what they are doing. As long as they are following their published policy (if any) and aren't in conflict with any employment contracts or CBAs they can do what they want. It's not uncommon for companies to encourage people not to bank their vacation. And yes, they can force you to take vacation days. If you are non-exempt, as long as you are paid for the hours worked, or if you are exempt, paid the agreed upon salary, the nature of how they calculate vacation and schedule work is up to them.

 

[cbg]

It is 100% legal for an employer to force you to take a vacation. In every state.

 

[eerelations]

oh the stress of having to take a vacation

 

[techman121]

oh the stress of having to take a vacation

Stupid remark! Why not? 2 weeks a year is not a lot. You could bank 2 weeks over next year and instead take 4 weeks for a real vacation (out of state, to Europe, Hawaii etc). United States is the only advanced industrialized country that has no mandated vacation policy, the minimum number of vacations employers are required to give full-time employees is 0. You wanna know how many vacation days British have? 28! And also as mentioned, if you have bank and if leave your employment, your earned vacation days per a given year is yours to keep.

 

[Zigner]

Stupid remark! Why not? 2 weeks a year is not a lot. You could bank 2 weeks over next year and instead take 4 weeks for a real vacation (out of state, to Europe, Hawaii etc). United States is the only advanced industrialized country that has no mandated vacation policy, the minimum number of vacations employers are required to give full-time employees is 0. You wanna know how many vacation days British have? 28! And also as mentioned, if you have bank and if leave your employment, your earned vacation days per a given year is yours to keep.

In California, when you leave, the employer is required to pay you for the accrued vacation days. Bank them yourself.

Better yet, move to England...problem solved!

 

[RRevak]

oh the stress of having to take a vacation

Pssst, sometimes being forced to "take a vacation" CAN be stressful depending on the reasons someone is holding their time. Example: My kiddo had OHS a while back that we had to travel for. Minimum of a week inpatient with 6-8 weeks recovery time. Hubs had vacation hours he had accrued through his employer that he planned to use in order to be there for the duration of surgery and a portion of her recovery time at home to help. He purposely didn't use any of it prior so when the time came he had the ability to take the time he needed to be with us but not without income. Had he been "forced" to use his time he wouldn't have been able to be there. At least not as long as he wanted and I needed. For some, having to take a vacation is a mere annoyance. For families like us it could have made things very complicated.

 

[cbg]

However, anyone who is "saving" their time for ANY REASON AT ALL should be aware that the employer has NO legal obligation to allow it, or to approve time off in large chunks. The SOLE exception would fall under FMLA, when an employee MUST be allowed to substitute paid leave for unpaid leave if they request it. HOWEVER, the employer is still not obligated to allow them to "save" time for that purpose.

 

[eerelations]

United States is the only advanced industrialized country that has no mandated vacation policy, the minimum number of vacations employers are required to give full-time employees is 0. You wanna know how many vacation days British have? 28! And also as mentioned, if you have bank and if leave your employment, your earned vacation days per a given year is yours to keep.

Hey no need to tell me about US vacation laws (or rather, lack thereof). And England - poo! The Brits are way way way behind the EU when it comes to PTO! And don`t even get me started on Australia! You may think you know a lot about foreign vacation laws, but hey! Not as much as me!

 

[eerelations]

Pssst, sometimes being forced to "take a vacation" CAN be stressful...

Not as stressful as not getting any vacation time at all (which is what I was referring to).

 

[techman121]

Hey no need to tell me about US vacation laws (or rather, lack thereof). And England - poo! The Brits are way way way behind the EU when it comes to PTO! And don`t even get me started on Australia! You may think you know a lot about foreign vacation laws, but hey! Not as much as me!

No matter what you say, fact is even in wage slave China, they have at minimum some PTO (whatever form it is) while Americans are at mercy of their "God, caugh caugh.... Job creators". Practically those who have better full-time jobs will usually have 2 weeks of vacation with some able to negotiate more while those poorer and at lower level can't have anything. And many who do have vacations, they are afraid of using them worrying that when they come back from their vacation they may get replaced.

 

[Zigner]

No matter what you say, fact is even in wage slave China, they have at minimum some PTO (whatever form it is) while Americans are at mercy of their "God, caugh caugh.... Job creators". Practically those who have better full-time jobs will usually have 2 weeks of vacation with some able to negotiate more while those poorer and at lower level can't have anything. And many who do have vacations, they are afraid of using them worrying that when they come back from their vacation they may get replaced.

Oh, then you have another option. Move to China, problem solved!

 

[techman121]

Not as stressful as not getting any vacation time at all (which is what I was referring to).

yeah ... Try that with lost 10% shift pay differential in your salary for which are you already getting low paid. And when you are looking for another job for which you have been upping qualifications with blood, tears and sweat studying your whole weekends with certifications on your own dime. Combined with employer requiring you taking some more in addition for his own which he won't reimburse in studying materials (except for exam in a single attempt). Your hope for getting some decent payoff for job change and moving are over. Although there are some employers who will reimburse for moving expenses.

 

[techman121]

Oh, then you have another option. Move to China, problem solved!

You also have option to move to North Korea or Iran. Even they have vacation

 

[eerelations]

Actually China doesn`t have legally-mandated vacations. Where OP is getting that, I don`t know. (A caution, OP, I know a lot more about this stuff than you do.)

OP, please note I am in Canada, where our enlightened government requires all employers to give their employees at least two weeks`paid vacation time per year. Sounds good, doesn`t it - but wait! Canadian employers are not allowed to let their employees carry over said paid vacation time into subsequent years, even if the employees request it. Canadian employers would be fined if they allowed this. So while Canada might seem on the surface a good place for you to go, it actually isn`t (phew).

Finally, we hear a lot of American employees wailing and moaning about not having any legally-mandated vacation time, and somehow blaming their employers for this. It`s not your employer`s fault OP, and it`s not our fault - it`s your fault. The way to fix this is for you and your fellow wailers and moaners to stop voting for employer-friendly candidates and start voting for candidates who`ll get you the vacation time you want.