Already Approved Vacation

[jennisi]

State: Idaho

My husband's company has an accrual vacation policy. His vacation has already been approved and he has already accrued enough to cover all of the days we will be gone. He is planning on giving his company notice that he will be leaving the company one week after he returns from his vacation.

1. Can the company, at this point, change their mind about his already approved vacation?
2. Can they tell him that they cannot allow him to take his vacation anymore because he is quitting?

 

[eerelations]

Yes and yes. They can legally do these things even if he doesn't submit his resignation. They can also legally fire him and walk him out the door the moment they receive his notice of resignation.

If I were your husband, I would:

1. hope they don't cancel my vacation before I actually depart on said vacation;
2. take the vacation (if my employer hasn't canceled it);
3. submit my resignation when I returned from the vacation; and
4. prepare myself emotionally and financially for possibly being walked out the door the moment my employer receives my one-week's notice of resignation.

And no, your husband isn't legally required to provide any notice whatsoever of his upcoming resignation, unless he has a written contract stating he must do so (and before you ask, a company policy is not a contract). However, if your husband departs without providing any notice, his employer may say to prospective future employers "he left us without providing any notice." If he provides a week's notice, they will say "he provided us with one week's notice of his departure." The second statement sounds a little better, I think.

 

[jennisi]

Wow!

That is very interesting. He still does not have another job offer, he is in the process of interviewing.

So the trip is planned for mud June and I had thought that telling them at the beginning of June would be good timing that way they had over one month to find a replacement But now we might just wait until after the trip.

So let me ask; if they were to deny the vacation request and fire him on the spot, do they pay out days accrued? And can he collect unemployment? since they fired him before we were financially ready to quit?

Thanks for the help!

 

[eerelations]

They may or may not pay out the accrued vacation - it depends on your state's laws about this (and I'm not familiar with those laws, sorry). However, if your state requires that accrued vacation time be paid out, that requirement may depend on what the employer's policy says about vacation payouts. So before someone else weighs in with a better answer about vacation payouts in Idaho, it might be helpful if you post what your husband's company's policy says about it.

(And remember that policies are not contracts - if the policy says the company will pay out accrued vacation time upon termination - for any reason - and the state has no law on this subject, the company may choose to violate its own policy and not pay out the accrued vacation...and this would be legal)

If your husband's company fires him just because he submitted notice of resignation, he might be able to get UI - there's no way of knowing this in advance. However, why your husband (or anyone else) would submit his resignation before he had a written offer of employment elsewhere is beyond me. The only way I can say that he would probably get UI is if he had a written offer for employment for X date and he submitted notice for a month prior to X date and they fired him on the spot, he could get UI for that month...

But only if he doesn't go on vacation during that month! UI doesn't pay for time spent on vacation.

So here's my next recommendation to your husband:

Don't submit a notice of resignation until you have a written offer of employment in hand. Treat the vacation stuff as a completely separate issue.

 

[cbg]

Idaho state law does not require the unconditional payout of unused vacation. It will depend entirely on company policy on the matter.

 

[ecmst12]

He will not be able to collect unemployment. Even if they don't allow him to work out his notice period, he still quit. He shouldn't give more notice then he can afford to be unemployed for.

 

[pattytx]

There is no provision in Idaho law requiring payout of accrued vacation at termination. They may do so if company policy provides for it.

 

[eerelations]

So there ya go.

 

[jennisi]

Thank you

right now we are weighing our options. We want to make sure we have all possible outcomes before we make a decision as to how to move forward. By no means are we planning to give a letter of resignation w/out having something else lined up

Thanks so much for your help! He has already requested a copy of the company policies in regards to separation and accrual rates.