PA earned vacation not paid at termination

[LindaD]

PA- A group (5) employees voluntarily terminated employment with a company. The company refused to pay vacation time that had been earned and accrued. A special accrual bank had been established for vacation because they had not been able to take all vacation each year. They were verbally told by the HR director they had three years to use the accrued vacation and it would be paid if they left. There are no written policies about this accrued vacation. The PA Labor Dept. stated they have no jurisdiction over benefits and directed us to consult an attorney. IN fact- one employee was docked 18.5 hours on his last paycheck for vacation reimbursement because he had not yet earned it- even though he had 6 weeks in the accrual account. The company required all current year vacation to be used before the accrual account could be used. Do we have a case?

 

[cbg]

No.

In PA, there is no requirement that you be paid vacation at termination unless there is a policy that the company do so. Since there is no written policy of paying vacation out, they have no legal obligation to do so.

And before you ask, if the verbal notice from the HR director qualified as a policy, the Department of Labor and Industry would have taken up the cause. Since they didn't, clearly that is not sufficient to give you any legal case under your state's laws.

No Federal law requires the payout of vacation under any circumstances whatsoever.