Human Resource Blog

Kansas Vacation Pay

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Is there any Kansas law that requires employers to pay terminated employees for accrued vacation time?

Currently, only nine U. S. states, including California, Maine and North Carolina, have laws that require payment of accrued vacation time. Kansas is not one of these states, and therefore does not mandate payout of accrued vacation time.

Under the law, employers are allowed to establish vacation time policy as they choose. If they enact a policy to pay for accrued vacation time, then the law requires them to honor that policy. (Vacation policies are normally detailed in the employee handbook.)

If no policy exists, but the company paid terminated workers for their accrued vacation time in similar circumstances, then it must continue to do. To selectively pay for accrued vacation time can open the employer to charges of discrimination. Benefits must be awarded without regard to race, color, gender, religion, country of origin, age (over 40), pregnancy or disability. If a company pays all male workers for their vacation time, but denied it to female employers, the employer would be breaking the law.

In the states with laws requiring payout for vacation time, the laws vary widely.

In the nine states with these laws, any accrued vacation time must be paid to the worker upon termination. Usually, this policy applies without regard to how employee left the job. Whether the worker resigns, is laid off or fired, he or she receive payout for his or her vacation time.

The courts in Indiana and North Carolina assume all employees are eligible for accrued vacation pay. Companies with a written policy stating that employees will not be paid for vacation time are exempt from this rule. The policy, however, must be specific about how and when the employee loses this pay.

Oklahoma doesn’t have a law that requires payment, but does mandate that any promises made to the employees must be kept. For instance, if the handbook guarantees payment for accrued vacation time upon termination, then the company is legally required to make that payment. The Oklahoma Department of Labor is in charge of enforcing this law. JH