Paid Leave

HCCADC · May 2003

My company has replaced vacation, sick and personal leave with what we call General Leave. We have our employees earn it before they can use it. We also have stated in our Personnel Policy Manual that we do not pay out General leave if employment terminates. I recently had an employee tell me that her labor law compliance lawyer said that it is illegal for us not to pay out General Leave because it is part of the compensation due to the policy of earning it before using it. Does anyone know if this is illegal? I don't want to have Labor and Law come in. Thanks!! Have a good day!

Hatchetman · May 2003

Whether an employer may have a "use it or lose it" paid leave policy is set by individual state law. Some states do require the employer to pay out specific types of piad leave to the employee at time of termination. Others don't. So, you need to check Pennsylvania employment laws on this issue.

Sue · May 2003

Since you need to "earn" the time off first, it sounds as if it's accrued. Accrued benefits generally need to be paid when someone terminates. This does vary from state to state.

lnelson · May 2003

If PA is similar to CA then you would have to pay out any "earned" but not used time at the time of termination.

Leslie · May 2003

We have two types of accrued leave - sick and vacation. We pay out the vacation at term, not the sick.

Hatchetman · May 2003

California is the same way. The law requires that the employer pay out unused PTO and vacation but doesn't require the employer to pay out unused paid sick leave.

HCCADC · May 2003

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 05-29-03 AT 02:35PM (CST)[/font][p]Thank you all for the replies. I have checked with Labor and Law compliance, and we do not have a law in PA that regulates benefits. We do not distinguish between sick, vacation and personal. It is just generalized as General Leave. I was just worried about the 'earn it' before you use it. It does specifically state in our manual that 'General Leave does not vest and we do not pay out unused General Leave'.

Paid Leave

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