Human Resource Blog

Accrued Vacation on Termination

	Termination
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I left a job after 10 months. My letter of employment states “You will receive one (1) week vacation the first year and two weeks paid vacation per year there after.” My last pay stub said I had accrued 37.30 hours vacation and 37.30 sick time. My employer says he reads it to say that after a year I would get a week’s vacation and has refused to pay me a week’s vacation. Do I have a leg to stand on to demand my vacation pay? I am not sure of how he paid prior employee’s because very few of them ever stay longer than a year.. He DID pay an associate for her vacation after 3 months of employment. She has now left the firm as well.

The answer to this question will depend on the state you are in. About 17 states require payment of earned but unused vacation upon termination.

However, there is often a difference between “earned” vacation and “accrued” vacation. In this case, the employee is not entitled to use the accrued vacation until he or she has been employed a year. So the vacation is “accrued” but not “earned.” Most states do not require payment of vacation until it is earned.

Normally, the employee in this case would not be entitled to payment for the vacation time.

This answer could be different, depending upon the state.