Negative leave balances

[digweed]

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

I left my company with a negative leave balance of 46 hours. Almost all of this occurred in partial-day increments, not full day increments. I was a salaried/exempt employee. I signed an agreement when I was hired saying that the negative leave hours would be taken out of my last paycheck.

However I am now researching this and it appears that DOL laws prohibit them from taking money out of my paycheck if the leave was taken in partial-day increments. For instance:
Deducting Negative Leave Balances From Exempt Employees' Last Paycheck
>>
The agency's response did not make a clear distinction between partial and full days of absence. First, DOL addressed
regulatory requirements and permissive deductions associated with full-day absences and reductions to a leave bank,
including maintaining negative balances, so long as the employee received the full salary "where the employee's absence
is for less than a full day." The opinion letter concluded that for termination weeks, the regulations do "not allow
for deductions for the last week's pay for amounts which the employee may owe ... for advanced leave"
>>

I am curious to see if people think their deduction from my last paycheck was lawful.

I did sign that agreement, so I may have signed my life away. I'm just not sure if that overwhelms what the Department of Labor thinks.

 

[ecmst12]

It would not have been legal for them to dock your pay for partial day absences (in most cases). It WAS legal for them to dock your vacation bank for same.

 

[digweed]

Ah I just realized that I missed. This should be in wage & salary issues:
Wage & Salary Issues

I don't know how to report my post to a moderator...

It would not have been legal for them to dock your pay for partial day absences (in most cases). It WAS legal for them to dock your vacation bank for same.

But can they require me to pay the leave back, by docking my last paycheck?

 

[ecmst12]

I'm relatively sure it is, but hold on for more opinions.

 

[digweed]

And if so, is it because of the agreement signed or because there is a law allowing them to do so?

Conversely, if that agreement does not provide the company any remedy *other* than docking the final paycheck, and the final paycheck would not cover the leave balance, does the company have a leg to stand on if they ask for the balance to be paid in cash?

One other assumption I would like to check: it looks like there are no Virginia-specific laws that cover this scenario, so it should only be federal law that matters:
CEPI - Commonwealth Educational Policy Institute

While federal wage and hour law asserts by far the most influence on an employer’s obligations with respect to certain wage and hour issues, individual states, including Virginia, do regulate some aspects of employee wages and hours worked. For example, Virginia sets its own minimum wage, as do some other states, with certain specific exemptions from that minimum wage, however, the Virginia minimum wage must not be less than the federal minimum wage. Va. Code Ann. §§ 40.1-28.10, 40.1-28.9. Virginia law also governs, for example, when employees must be paid, Va. Code Ann. § 40.1-29, the employment of minors, §§ 40.1-70 to 40.1-100, and recognizes the right in certain specific circumstances of an employee to refuse work on a day considered by the employee to be the Sabbath. §§ 40.1-28.2 and 40.1-28.3. However, for purposes of determining the eligibility of any particular school employee in Virginia for overtime, only the federal law need be consulted.

Is that right? I have read 40.1-29 and couldn't find anything that discussed this situation specifically.

 

[moburkes]

Most laws say what you can't do, not what you can. Yes, they can legally subtract it from your last paycheck. If they couldn't, they would have simply denied you the time off.