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Vacation Time

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An employee lives and works in Massachusetts. She has earned vacation time at her job. She has worked there for 6 years. The employer tells her that she cannot take vacation because she is the only one who knows how to do her job. Is this legal? Can the employer tell a worker she can’t take vacation, ever?

Obviously it is not a best practice in the HR field for an employer to offer paid vacation, but refuse to allow an employee to use it. However, it may be legal. The Massachusetts Minimum Fair Wage Law does not require employers to offer paid sick leave or paid vacation. Employers who do offer those benefits can set any policies they like regarding them. However, usually an employee who is terminated must be paid for earned vacation time.

It is very common for employers to approve the timing of vacation in advance, to make sure that there are enough workers to get the job done. It is very uncommon for an employee with earned vacation time to be told that she cannot use it, ever. That pretty much defeats the purpose of offering vacation time, and it is not a reasonable policy. But unless the employer is applying this in a way that discriminates against a worker based on race, color, sex, religion, pregnancy, or age, it is probably not illegal.

The best bet for this employee would be for her to volunteer to train someone else to do the critical parts of her job. Another option would be for the company to hire an employee from a temporary service to fill in while the worker is on vacations. If the employeeis willing to forego the vacation time, she could offer to be paid extra in lieu of taking the time off. Many employees in this situation would be tempted to tell their boss \\\”I am going on vacation 6 weeks from now. I have already bought my plane ticket, and if my vacation request is denied, unfortunately I will have to quit.\\\” The employee would need to be willing to follow through on that threat, though. The positive side is, if the employee quits, she is most likely entitled to payment for her vacation time. This is enforced by the Massachusetts office of the Attorney General.