Human Resource Blog

PTO/vacation bank and SDI, illness.

	Attendance Management
Vacation Request / Response Form Weekly Time Sheets Attendance Calendar for 2008, 2009, or 2010 Annual Attendance Tracker Vacation Request Form for 2008, 2009, 2010 (Calendar) Detailed Absence Report

my employer deposits all of my PTO/sick time in my account at the beginning of the year so when I recently had a bike accident and had to have surgery on my elbow. I had to take 4 weeks to recover. I showed a balance of 208 hours on my pay stub at that time as I didn’t take a vacation yet. They told me I had only accrued 73 hours and since the first week, 40 hours is a waiting period for SDI they said that I had no hours to intersperse with my SDI income so that I could continue my salary. Is this legal? How do I know what is vacation time and what is sick time out of my PTO??? They also made me apply for FMLA in spite of me telling them that my time off was for me and not a family member. They refused to pay me any more than the 40 hours of my PTO during my illness.

Many employers credit an employee’s account with PTO time at the beginning of the year, which the employee has not yet earned. The employer may set limits on how much of this time the employee can use, before it is actually accrued. The limit this employer has set seems reasonable. Yes, it is legal for an employee to have to get by on SDI without any additional income.

In most states, the employer is permitted to determine how much PTO is sick time and how much is vacation time.

FMLA is for an employee’s own serious health condition, as well as to care for a family member with a serious health condition or to bond with a new child. So the employer was entirely correct in having the worker apply for FMLA in this case. The FMLA runs concurrently (at the same time as) with the short term disability.