Human Resource Blog

Use it or Lose it vacation policy

	HR Management
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Do the states of Kansas and Missouri have any labor laws that prevent an employer from having a policy of “using or losing your accrued vacation” within a specified time period?

This policy is legal in both Kansas and Missouri. In fact, it is very common for employers to have a “use it or lose it” policy regarding annual vacation time. Often, paid vacation must be used by the employee’s anniversary date or it is lost. In other cases, the employer sets another arbitrary date, such as the end of the year or the close of the fiscal year. Ideally, such a policy would be in writing and distributed to all employees. If this is a change in policy, employees should be informed ahead of time.

Neither state has any law requiring employers to offer paid vacation to workers. If an employer does offer paid vacation, he or she can set the policies surrounding it. In Kansas, the employer only has to pay employees for unused vacation upon termination if the employer has a policy or past practice of doing so. Missouri law does not address the issue at all.

Naturally, an employer who enforced this policy in a discriminatory manner, would be guilty of discrimination.

For more on the Kansas law regarding vacations, see this site: http://www.dol.ks.gov/ES/HTML/laws_RES.html#fringe

Read more about the Missouri law here: http://www.moclaim.com/ls/faq/faq_general.htm