Human Resource Blog

Tennessee Annual Leave

	Benefits
Total Compensation Summary Performance Improvement Plan Performance Appraisal and Review Employee Payroll Status/Change Form Employee Change Form

We are fortunate to be able to carry the 96 hours over. The problem lies where long term employees accrue up to 192 hours. A partucular employee is sitting at 200 hours and the end of our fiscal year is June 30. She has been told to take time off, and yet still has all these hours. June is our busiest month for the person in question. She has also been told she could only have one week off in June and that it could not be the last two weeks of the month. Does the employer have the right make her forfeit those hours she does not use without paying her for the hours. She has not turned in any leave requests.

In Tennessee, Gamble v. Sonic Automotive d/b/a Crest Cadillac (Docket No. 20009-04/05) found that employers have the right to determine the method that is used to accrue vacation.   

 

If the employee quit or was fired before June 30, she would be entitled to payment for earned vacation. However, as long as she is still employed on that date, it’s perfectly legal for her to lose 100+ hours of vacation time.

It appears that in this case the employee has been urged repeatedly to use the 100+ hours of leave. She has disregarded this advice. So yes, it’s perfectly reasonable for her to lose the accumulated leave.

Many employees feel more secure when they “bank” lots of vacation time – but there’s no guarantee that they will actually be able to use that time. Vacation policies change, and most companies are moving away from allowing workers to roll over lots of vacation time.

This employee should file leave requests today to use any vacation time in excess of 96 hours. If those requests are denied, she may appeal to the HR department. But, by not filing a request, the employee is opting to lose the time.

By not turning in a vacation request, this employee is effectively saying to the employer “Thanks very much for your generous vacation plan, but I prefer not to use it.”

In general, employers who are contemplating this type of change in vacation policies should give workers at least 3 months notice.