Vacation Pay Being Withheld After Termination
As of Aug 31, 2009 my employment was terminated with a company I had been employed by for 7 years. I accrued 4 weeks vacation annually and because of the workload in 2008 was unable to take all my vacation time. In Dec I had over 25 days carried over. I was told by the then CEO that I had to take 15 days of the 25 by March 2009 as the company policy is to only carry over 10 days per year. Now there is a new CEO who terminated me and refuses to pay me for the carried over vacation. He also says the 15 days I took in March were for 2009 vacation. They are now only willing to pay me for one week of vacation. Is this legal? Should I obtain an attorney to fight this? Also, I was a whistleblower over misappropriated monies and I think this has something to do with the request for my termination. Not sure what I should do now.
Re: Vacation Pay Being Withheld - Virginia
Virginia law does not require the unconditional payment of accrued vacation at termination. Neither does the law prohibit the loss of vacation already earned. Whether or not the vacation carried over from 2008 (more than what the company policy allowed for) implies a contractual obligation to pay it out, only an attorney versed in employment law in your state could give you a qualified opinion.
When were you told that you needed to take the excess carry-over (15) days by March, 2009? Did you not take them? If not, why not?
Re: Vacation Pay Being Withheld - Virginia
I was informed by our HR Dept on Feb 03 2009 that my vacation balance as of 12/31/08 was 25.25 days. I was told I could carryover 10 days and that I needed to take the remaining 15.25 days before the end of Feb 2009. I immediately contacted the CEO on Feb 04 to schedule taking 10 days off in Feb and 5 days off in March of 09. This was approved by my supervisor and the CEO. This doesn't count the 4 weeks of annual vacation I receive on my anniversary date in Aug. I even worked during these days because of my heavy workload but not in my office. Also, I worked from a virtual office in GA so would I be under Virginia law? The corporate headquarters is in Virginia.
Re: Vacation Pay Being Withheld - Virginia
The law that would apply would be the laws of the state you physically work in, which sounds to me like Georgia. Georgia has absolutely NO laws regarding vacation or payout of vacation at termination. Where is your "home location"? What does corporate say?
Re: Vacation Pay Being Withheld After Termination
Neither GA nor VA requires the unconditional payout of vacation. Regardless of which state has jurisdiction (and if you were working in GA, then it would be GA regardless of where the corporate office is located) the only circumstance under which they are required to pay out ANY of your unused vacation would be if a legally binding and enforceable contract specifically said so.
You are free to show any documentation you may have to an attorney in your state.
Re: Vacation Pay Being Withheld After Termination
Thank you both for your help; I will follow up with an attorney here in GA this week. Much appreciated!