Can Employer force you to take vacation time?

[GhostTX]

Texas, Exempt-Salaried

For some upcoming holidays, the business is shutting down the plant over a course of days. Some of those days are not counted as holiday, but they want to keep the plant closed rather than opening it for a short amount of time.

In order for you to get "paid" while the company has locked the doors, they are saying you must take your personal vacation time.

This doesn't seem right because the company is forcing you not to work, not a personal choice, especially with vacation time you suppposedly earn by following company rules.

Anything on the books?

 

[cbg]

Yes, they can force you to take vacation time under the circumstances you outline. The only exception would be that IF you are an exempt employee AND you have no vacation time accrued AND you worked at any time during the week they would still have to pay you.

That last sentence does not apply to non-exempt employees, employees of either classification who still have vacation on the books, and employees of either classification who do not work at all during the week.

 

[GhostTX]

So, what's to prevent the employer from rampantly forcing you to take vacation time whenever they feel like it?

Is there nothing to protect the employee's compensation that they earn following company policies? Does a company have to publish that they can do this?

 

[cbg]

A company CAN force you to take vacation time whenever they feel like it.

There is nothing in Federal law or any state law that makes it mandatory for them to give vacation AT ALL. Although they'd probably have a hard time keeping employees if they did, a company could legally have no vacation, no sick time, no personal time and no holidays.

In some states, vacation time is considered wages and in those states, there are a few restrictions on how vacation can be handled. But even in those states, there is nothing to prevent an employer from making vacation mandatory during certain periods of the year, or, alternately, from creating black-out periods where no one can take vacation. I know, because my state is one of them. Texas is not.

Although I have never worked for one, in some industries it is not uncommon for a company to close completely during certain periods (most commonly, the first week or two weeks of July, and also the week between Christmas and New Years) and all employees have to accept that as a condition of employment, those are the times they will be taking their vacation, period.

Basically, vacation time is a voluntary benefit and the employer controls how it can be used.