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| 5/24 |
| 2005/1/20 [Recreation/Travel] UID:35819 Activity:moderate |
1/20 I've googled and haven't found anything decisive: is mandatory
vacation time legal in CA? If not, is there an exemption for small
companies?
\_ Do you mean "are companies required to give paid vacation time"?
http://lawzilla.com/content/ca-emp-002.shtml
\_ no.
\_ My gf's company pays out the remaining vacation hours at the end
of the year at your current salary.
\_ Lame, but sounds legal to me.
\_ Lamer is capping your possible vacation hours. I'd gladly
take a vacation time payout.
\_ You *have* to be compensated for paid vacation. If they're
capped you must be compensated for any hours above the cap.
\_ You can have a "no additional accrual" policy, but you
can't "expire" standing vacation time ("use it or lose
it"). The company I work for caps sick time, but not
vacation time. Sucks less, but both are legal
\_ No, I mean: "the company will be closed days x y and z, you can use
vacation time there or take unpaid time off." Applying to exempt
employees.
\_ Oh, plenty of companies to that. Even big ones. Applied
Materials does, for example.
\_ Which doesn't mean it's legal. This:
http://www.ztrace.com/sites/26jule01/abcnews/abcnews.htm
says that Sun backed off it a few years ago.
\_ You do realize that the same article quoted an attorney
saying "Most companies are well within their rights in
forcing workers to take vacation time."
\_ You do realize that the paragraph before says that CA
may be an exception to this, right?
\_ That's because CA DLSE issued an opinion that
contradicted federal law. The DLSE subsequently
withdrew that opinion letter and the IWE affirmed
CA's compliance to the federal standard.
contradicted federal law, but the opinion had no
force until it was adopted by either the IWC or
the court system. The DLSE subsequently withdrew
that opinion letter and the IWC affirmed CA's
compliance to the federal standard. The DLSE opinion
was withdrawn in 6/01, so at the publication of
the news story (assuming it was 26jul01), there was
no legal basis to think that CA had different
requirements than the rest of the country.
\_ Sun still does the "the company is shut down - use
vacation days or go unpaid" every year for the 4th of July
week. Has since the bubble burst.
\_ HP's had x-mas shutdown for the five years i've been here. I
would think they would've stopped if it was found to be illegal
by now.
\_ Is my employer required to give me vacation time?
No. (from that URL) |
| 5/24 |
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| lawzilla.com/content/ca-emp-002.shtml Premium Content Quick Summary Vacation pay benefits are voluntary in California. But, if provided as a n employee benefit, earned but unused pay cannot be forfeited and must be paid upon termination of employment. An employer can, however, cap t he amount of vacation pay that is earned. Law Review Vacation pay is not required in California There is no law in California requiring that employees be provided with paid vacation time. Of course, most employers provide this benefit to a t least their full-time employees so that they will attract and retain good employees. Vacation pay is considered earned wages When an employer does provide for paid vacation time, this time constitu tes earned wages. An employee cannot for feit earned but unpaid wages, and this principal also applies to vacati on pay. Vacation pay is earned daily Vacation time is earned proportionately as labor is rendered. Upon termi nation, an employee is entitled to a pro rata share of vested vacation pay. Vacation pay is not considered to be an inducement for future serv ices, but is instead compensation of past services. The Supreme Court held that the vacation time did not "vest" after one year, but instead "vests" on a pro-rata basis as it is earned . Thus, after six months, an employee would have earned one-half week o f vacation notwithstanding the company policy. This also means that if an employee is terminated mid-year, they are entitled to their accrued vacation pay up until the time of termination. However, an employer can have a policy that prevents vacation pay from v esting for a certain period of time. For example, there may be 60-day p robationary period during which vacation time does not accrue. Earned vacation pay may be capped An employer will often find it desirous to limit the amount of vacation time an employee can earn. Since earned vacation time is considered wag es, it is unlawful to have a use it or lose it policy. Likewise, earned vacation time cannot be waived by an employee for failing to use it. Even if an employee kno ws the employer has a use it or lose it policy and voluntarily refrains from taking vacation, the employee does not waive their right to be pa id for accrued but unused vacation. The rule is that unused vacation will automa tically accrue unless limited by a lawful company policy. An employer can thus prevent all of it s employees from taking vacation leave at the same time, and limit how much vacation may be taken at a time, in the event an employee has accr ued several months of vacation time. Vacation pay is paid at the employee's current wage Vacation pay is paid at the employee's current (or final) rate of pay, a nd not their rate of pay when the vacation time accrued. The employee then earns another 10 days of vacatio n while earning $15 per hour. The employer is obligated to pay the employee 20 days of vacation time at a $15 per hour rate. Of course, an employer cannot reduce an employee's rate of pay shortly b efore terminating them as a tactic to reduce the amount of earned vacat ion to be paid. Indeed, an employer can never reduce the amount payable for accrued vacation time by demoting an employee or reducing their wa ges, even for an admittedly proper purpose, because to do so would caus e a forfeiture of earned wages. ") Paid Days Off Some employers give their employees a set number of paid days off during the year, which may be used as vacation time, sick leave, or for any p urpose. These paid days off are considered to be vacation time and are earned wages. I want to take my vacation after Christmas but my employer will not let m e Is that legal? An employer must permit vacation time to be taken, but ca n reasonably restrict when and for how long, especially if there may be detrimental impact upon the business. Company policy is that ten days of vacation are earned after one year. I have accrued 10 weeks of vacation time, but my employer will only allow me to take up to 3 weeks at a time. I was paid for my vacation time, but at an $8 per hour rate. More Information is Available with a Premium Subscription Helpful vacation law interpretations by the Labor Commissioner: 87-7 an d 86-3 Text of pertinent statutes Legal resource of California cases discussing vacation pay law Use it or lose it, what does it really mean? Sample illegal vacation po licy and sample legal policy. Although earned wages, learn why a 30-year employee who has never taken a day of vacation does not need to be paid for 30-years of accrued vacation when their employment ends. But also l earn what can cause the employer to still have to pay the full 30-years of untaken vacation time! |
| www.ztrace.com/sites/26jule01/abcnews/abcnews.htm Working Vacation Are workers taking their laptops on summer breaks? An informal survery in dicates as many as four in 10 are checking in with work while on holiday . com July 6 Does the luggage you take on vacation feel extra heavy these day s? Maybe it's because of the laptop, batteries, extension cords, PDA, ce ll phone and pager you've stuffed into it. An informal survey by job counseling firm Career Builder found that even though only 22 percent of workers sa y they're expected to keep in touch with the office while on vacation, n early 40 percent actually do it. Nearly nine of 10 respond ents believe vacations help them relieve stress and stay healthy. When t hey return to the office, only 51 percent feel "re-energized and ready t o go back to work." "That m eans that people at work are on demand 24-7 and the challenges and probl ems tend to follow them when they leave the office." Another reason is what could be called the big cheese factor. If the boss is constantly logging in while on a holiday it signals everyone else th at they should do the same from their vacation, says Lawrence. Although current turbulent market conditions figure into changing time of f practices, Lawrence thinks blaming the economic downturn and rising la yoffs is almost too easy. It 's not the quantity that's suffering, but the quality," he argues. If you can't tear yourself away completely, Lawrence recommends establish ing a method and a time to check in before you go. "Be clear with customers and your company that you can be reached by e-mail between 7 am and 9 am The rest of time you'll be on the beach." Whether you need it or not, you're g oing to take a vacation! That refrain is one workers may start hearing more and more from their em ployers. And it's not out of concern for the bags under their employees' eyes. It's because of worries about the companies' own bottom lines. Sun Microsystems, for instance, were amo ng Silicon Valley stalwarts that sought to send staff home for an extend ed Fourth of July holiday in a bid to save money while waiting for the e conomy to improve. Bridgest one in recent months have also pressured employees to days off to contro l costs. Many of the companies employing these tactics had earlier taken the cost-cutting move of laying off workers. Schwab, for instance, encouraged noncustomer service employees to take of f three designated Fridays earlier this year as either paid or unpaid va cation. Motorola gave employees until June 30 to take an average of two weeks mandatory paid or unpaid vacation. In Sun's case, the firm later had to back off its mandatory vacation poli cy after it was warned that California state law may prohibit employers from forcing salaried employees who don't get overtime to use vacation h ours if they're ready and able to work. Even so, California would be the exception to the rule, says experts. Most companies are well within their rights in forcing workers to take va cation time, says Larry Lorber, an attorney with Proskauer Rose LLP in W ashington. And despite the potential for eroding employee morale, Lober added that salaried employees should get used to the idea of their compa nies closing the office on a whim and requiring them to use vacation day s if they want to get paid. "Companies are bringing the forced shutdowns common in manufacturing into the white-collar workplace," he says. The trend is being driven by an e conomic slowdown that sometimes makes it unnecessary for companies to ke ep producing products that fewer are buying. In addition, says Lorber, corporate bean counters increasingly are zeroin g in on accrued vacation time with an eye toward minimizing the exposure to a big payout when the employee leaves the company. Companies do this by forcing employees to use vacation time in the year it was accrued or lose it no more carrying forward unused days into the next year. |