paid out PTO hours

[cbg]

No company is going to offer such a payout unless it states somewhere that they are required to, be that the law or a contractual agreement.

With this statement you have proved conclusively and beyond any possible shadow of doubt that you don't know what you're talking about, since I personally know of many companies that do so voluntarily.

 

[Ronin]

With this statement you have proved conclusively and beyond any possible shadow of doubt that you don't know what you're talking about, since I personally know of many companies that do so voluntarily.

Then your personal experiences with these "many companies" must be limited to mom and pop operations that run their business with an unstructured management style, which is their perogative. I have worked with a range of large companies, and one common denominator is they all have a CYA approach to avoiding legal problems when it comes to managing employees and handling their benefits.

Bottom line is reputable companies with publicly traded stock do not have an arbitrary off-the-cuff approach to doling out benefits to their rank and file employees, much less whimsically paying out cash for accrued PTO.

Also, 401K, Pension Plans, (many) stock purchase plans, medical insurance, etc. are highly regulated by the government

Yes, but most of these are also "gifts" under your definition, in that they are not required by law to be offered at all. However, once such benefits are given, they are bound by contractual or other legal requirements.

 

[cbg]

I'll be sure to tell the tenth largest law firm in the country, as well as the major university with 10,000+ employees, that they are mom and pop operations.

And you are clearly not understanding my definition of "gift". It's not because the employer is not required to offer the benefit at all that I am calling it a gift. It is because they are offering a payout at termination that is not required by law or contract. Pensions, 401k's, and to a certain extent medical insurance may not be required by law (in two states medical insurance is required by law, btw) but if offered, the payout at termination is mandated by law. That is NOT the case, in your state or the OP's, with vacation time. The law does not mandate that the unused portion be paid out at termination. The employer has every right to withhold every penny of the unused time. They are not doing so, but paying it to the employee. THAT is why I am calling it a gift. Were the employee in my state, or in California, or in Illinois, or in any other state where payout is mandated by law, or if the OP had said that a contract were in place mandating the payout and at what rate, I would not be calling it a gift because in those instances it wouldn't be.

But in THIS case, where neither law nor contract requires that the employee be paid a single penny, THAT is a gift.