PTO: Does an offer letter "trump" employee handbook?

[seattlegirl]

What is the name of your state? Washington

My offer letter when I started the company said I had X number of PTO days for the year. There was no mention of accruing them during the year, etc. (however this was specifically mentioned for the following year). When I left the company, I had used up all my PTO days (intentionally!!) and then had non-accrued days deducted from my final pay. HR quoted that the employee handbook says you accrue PTO days.

I say my individualized offer letter, signed by myself and the HR director "trumps" anything in the employee handbook because you can make special arrangements with individual employees, i.e., they could have given me twice the PTO time if they had chosen to do so.

I can't find ANYTHING on this, and am currently out about a week's salary as a result. Please help!

Thanks!What is the name of your state?

 

[mlane58]

Without seeing the offer letter and the specific language, no one can read it. However, an offer letter is not a contract and niether is an employee handbook. The employer can make changes to their polcies as they see fit and guess what? your trump loses.