Refusal to payout for accrued vacation

[franknsteiner]

What is the name of your state?

I am in Louisiana.....My supervisor created several "training documents" that included real patient information including social security numbers and diagnosis codes, etc, and distributed the documents to various people and offices, as well as posted them on a public intranet folder. When I brought the HIPAA privacy violation to her attention on 3 seperate occasions, she seemed indifferent. Our Administrator went so far as to say that he was not concerned with HIPAA. I filed complaints with the DOJ Office of Civil Rights for the 13 people who were violated, and then I was terminated with no reason given. I was 6 days from one year of employment with this organization and have accrued over 80 hours vacation time. They refuse to pay citing my not meeting one year of employment.

Can they do this leagally?

[pattytx]

From an FAQ on the Louisiana DOL website:
[url]http://www.ldol.state.la.us/job_laborlawfaq.asp?Portal=WRK[/url]
(bolding mine)

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 -632.

So, the fortunate thing is there is a law. The unfortunate part is that if the employer does not make such payment upon your written demand, you would have to sue him directly; the DOL will not pursue this for you.

[cbg]

I'm not disputing a thing Patty says.

However, I think you should contact the state DOL, or an employment attorney, anyway. Unlike the large majority of people who post here, I think you may actually be one of the few who really does have a case for wrongful termination. In most if not all states, firing someone with no reason given directly after that person has reported illegal activity to the appropriate regulatory agency would be, if not proof positive, at least highly suspicious. So you well have more of a claim than just the final pay/vacation time.