Vacation Policy Change

What is the name of your state? IL

My company just sent an email stating that effective 1/1/05 they are changing from vacation days to paid time off. In addition all days rolled over from previous years must be used by 6/1/05.

When I began working for this firm I had an employment contract that gave me 15 days and my company's policy was that you could carry 1.5 times your vacation (22.5 days) before you stop accruing. If you quit or got fired they would pay you out the vacation days you have accrued. I am rolling over 14 days into 2005. From what I understand if I were to quit or get fired now, I would not be payed the 14 days I have previously earned. Is this legal? Also, can they force you to use them by 6/1/05?

Thanks in advance for your advice.

Regards, Kalik

I am rolling over 14 days into 2005. From what I understand if I were to quit or get fired now, I would not be payed the 14 days I have previously earned. Is this legal? Why do you believe this to be the case? Does the policy still allow for rollovers? If it does and these are rolled over hours, they would have to be paid at termination. In fact, in IL, a PTO policy that puts vacation, sick, personal, etc. under one PTO umbrella and does not treat them as separate entities anymore would require you to be paid all the PTO time, not just "vacation," unless the PTO policy specifically separates them or there is a separate policy for each.

Also, can they force you to use them by 6/1/05? Yes. "Use it or lose it" policies are legal in IL. If they want to, they can discontinue allowing you to rollover your time from year-to-year; they can make you use it all by a certain time every year; they can refuse to pay you for time you don't use by the specified "use by" date if you remain employed. In fact, this is very common.

Why do you believe this to be the case? Does the policy still allow for rollovers?

The new policy allows for me to rollover my previous balance (prior to 1/1/05) and use it or lose it by 6/1/05. Starting 1/1/05 any days earned will need to be used by 12/31/05 as they are eliminating rollover. From your response I gather that if I leave before 6/1/05 I will be entilted to payment for the days rolled over prior to 2005 as well as the additional days accrued in 2005. I didn't realize that PTO days must be paid out the same way vacation days are if someone gets fired or quits.

Thanks, Kalik

You are misunderstanding me. I said PTO days need to be paid out ONLY IF the PTO policy does not differentiate between what portion of the PTO days are for vacation, sick, personal, etc. It sounds like your policy DOES differentiate as to what is vacation and what isn't. In that case, only the PTO days designated as vacation need to be paid...nothing else.