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Paid time off (PTO) is a kind of a benefit given to employees (by the employers) which lets the employees to take some time away from work without losing pay. Employers may offer many kinds of paid time off programs. Such programs may lead to issues when employees try to take undue advantage of the PTO program or when employers deny paying PTO. Below are a few questions that have been answered regarding PTO policies and laws: An exempt salaried employee has PTO days to his/her credit. Is it possible for an employer to threaten this employee with not paying for the PTO days?
An employer may regulate or restrict the employee’s ability to avail PTO. If an employee has not worked for a day, an employer may not pay the employee for that day even though the employee has a PTO balance. This would apply to an employee who is paid for less than a full day’s work (salaried exempt). As per federal law, payment has to be made for the work that has been done. If there is no work done, then the employer is not required to pay the employee for that day. In the event of the employer having a PTO policy, it is not necessary as per law for an employer to take pay from the PTO. It is up to the employer’s discretion on how the paid time off is going to be handled. As per law there is no requirement for an employer to provide paid time off to employee and the policy may be handled like any other fringe benefit (vacation time, sick leave or holiday pay). PTO time of an employee had not accumulated due to a clerical error in documentation. What would be considered, the actual paid time off time or the time when it was recorded?
Sick pay, vacation time or paid time off is not governed by any law. Depending on the company policy and the employer’s discretion, the leaves are either granted or not. Companies mostly consider the actual time taken as PTO as an accurate measure of PTO. Sometimes, if the company’s records are not updated; it may lead data to be inaccurate. However, if one has documentation of the accurate data to show the HR, companies would update it and this may avoid future errors. Is it legal for a company to not pay a part time employee, who has quit the company, his/her 30 hours of accrued PTO?
It would depend on the company policy as to who qualifies for a paid time off. Therefore, one would need to review the company policy hand book to verify if part time employees are eligible to receive paid time off. It the policy indicates that part time employees are not eligible to receive paid time offs; then there might be a clerical error that has taken place. On the contrary, if the policy states that part time employees are eligible for paid time off and the employee has not been paid, then one may file a wage complaint with the Department of Labour in the state. How would one arrive at the best way to implement a PTO accrual rate for employees?
A company would do well to use a leave accrual cap when implementing a new paid time off policy for PTO accrual. The employee will have a ceiling on the number of leaves that could be accrued (say 3 weeks in total) beyond which no leaves can be accrued. The leave balance will remain at 3 weeks until such a time that the employee uses some of the leaves after which the employee would be able to accrue further leaves. If paid time off was accumulated through the previous year, can an employer take it away?
If an employee is still working for the same company, then the paid time off that was earned through the previous year cannot be taken away. If it was taken away, an employee along with other co-employees may file a group complaint by approaching the local the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) and the Department of Labor Offices. Both the offices may take up the case depending on the details that were provided. If the case is awarded in favor of the employees, then the employees would be entitled to back paid time off and other compensation. The company may be fined and cited. Employees are provided an opportunity to get paid without them being at work through the paid time off programs. PTOs can be added to the existing vacation time so that the time off with pay may be extended by the employee. However, one would need to take note that the final authority on PTOs is the employer. If you have further questions on the subject, ask an employment lawyer.
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