can an employer use accrued sick leave hours from an employee after termination to reinburse a gift that was given to the employee?

[tahiram]

After i was terminated from my job and given what i thought was my final paycheck i had looked on my employee website and discovered an additional paystub that showed my accrued sick leave hours as an employee was diverted onto another paystub for a deduction of a gift card that was given to me as a gift along with other employees while still employed. I would like to know if it was even legal here in the state of Nevada to use a terminated employee's sick hours to reinburse a gift that was given to the employee while employed.

 

[xylene]

Were you employed by a private or government employer?

What is your employer's policy on payment of sick time upon termination? For private employers, sick time is not required under nevada law, but promised sick time or sick pay may create a legal obligation.

Did your employer, in its policies pay sick time upon discharge? Did they pay such time customarily without a written policy?

 

[tahiram]

I believe they are a private employer i am not sure

According to their policy they do not mention being paid sick pay upon termination but it does say i am to be paid PTO hours upon termination. What confuses me is how they were able to deduct from me a gift that was given and cash out on accrued hours that by nevada law arent required to be given and make it as a deduction to my wages.

(Update) I re-checked my paystub only to find that they converted my sick leave hours into PTO hours and was able to collect on hours they werent entitiled to give. which means that they did not pay me my final wages.

 

[xylene]

Your first step is to contact your former employer and see what they claim.

 

[cbg]

Does your company have a policy of paying out PTO at termination? It is not required by law, but it is required that the employer follow their own policy.

Also, the gift card would be taxable income. It may have been a means of dealing with that.

 

[tahiram]

Yes they do and i thought i was paid all of my PTO hours after they had terminated me only to find that there was another paystub with deductions to my wages for a gift they gave me with no conditions attached or explained at the time i was given it. So i was unaware of any terms of conditions of this gift because they werent disclosed.

 

[LdiJ]

Yes they do and i thought i was paid all of my PTO hours after they had terminated me only to find that there was another paystub with deductions to my wages for a gift they gave me with no conditions attached or explained at the time i was given it. So i was unaware of any terms of conditions of this gift because they werent disclosed.

Again though, a gift card would be considered to be taxable income under most circumstances...which means that they would have to withhold taxes. As someone else already suggested, it simply may have been more practical to deduct the gift card and associated taxes via the PTO check.

 

[tahiram]

If the company gave you a gift, and there were no conditions attached, then the gift is yours and it would not change character merely because you left your employment. This deduction to my wages was attached after i was terminated not while as an employee. Unless they have done this for every employee, this does not sound proper.

 

[HighwayMan]

I believe they are a private employer i am not sure

Seriously??? How on Earth do you NOT know that?

 

[cbg]

For clarification - the question here is not privately held vs. publicly held. The question here is government or not government. Do you work for a Federal, state or local government agency or contractor? If not, they are a private employer. Even if they are publicly traded.