Human Resource Blog

Taking all Paid Time Off at One Time

I’m working at a California company on a Business Continuity Plan and we are trying to figure out if it’s legal for an employee to take all their paid time off at one time without any warning. This would cause a huge inconvenience to the rest of our staff–they would have to pick up the slack and because we’re at a relatively small company, there may not be someone to take over their workload. What can we do to eliminate this issue? Any legal issues?

Thanks for posting a great question!! You are right to be concerned, because California has the strictest vacation pay laws of any state. In California, once an employee earns vacation, he or she must be paid for it. Even if the employee quits or the vacation policy changes, the vacation time is treated just like wages.

If a California employer does not permit employees to carry vacation time over to the next year, then the employee must be paid for the earned but unused vacation.

The good news is that the state of California recognizes that employers need to manage their vacation pay responsibilities. One way that they do so, is by restricting when employees can take vacation, requiring advance notice of vacation and even dictating when employees will take vacation. All of these vacation management tactics are legal under California law. The state also permits an employer to restrict the amount of vacation that an employee can take at any one time.

So, for example, you could require that employees request vacation at least 2 weeks in advance, that they can use no more than one week of vacation at a time, and that the vacations be approved by a supervisor to ensure adequate staffing. Most employers utilize such policies. Or you could even tell employees when they will use their vacation — a policy that is used only by a few employers.

Larger employers should be aware that under new federal FMLA regulations that go into effect on January 16, 2009, employees may in some cases be entitled to use any earned paid leave (vacation or sick time) while on FMLA. However, the employee must still follow company policy regarding notification for such leave, and limits on it. And FMLA applies only to employers with 50 or more workers within 75 miles.

Read more about this at: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Vacation.htm