Paid Vacation

[merlin641]

What is the name of your state? Utah

My wife works for Wal-Mart Inc at one of their Sams Club locations. She has worked there for two years come October. Whenever she has needed to take sick time or when we have needed a few days off in order to take a break from work, the company/management has told her she just needs to take the time off work without pay. Come to find out, she has had one week of sick time available and one week of paid vacation available. We had been planning, for almost a year, on taking a vacation over the holidays to Brazil in order to visit her family. When she found that she had the paid time available she went to management to schedule it instead of taking the vacation without pay. She was told that in order for her to get time off during the holidays she would have to get a signature from every employee giving their permission for her to go while they worked.

In essence the question is: Is it legal for her employer to deny her use of her paid time off?

 

[cbg]

Yes. They have no legal obligation to provide paid time off at all; they get to make the rules about how and when it can be used.

 

[pattytx]

And, althought that's not illegal, it's certainly an abdication of management responsibilities by the employer.

 

[enjay]

I can't think of many retail establishments that allow vacations during their busiest time of the year.