Human Resource Blog

vacation accural rules

What vaction accural rules are commonly used in medical office practices in Connecticut?

Vacation accrual policies vary a great deal, but the best practice is for an employee to accrue a fraction of an hour of vacation time per hour worked. An employee who receives one week of vacation per year would accrue about 0.02 hours of vacation for each hour worked, resulting in about 40 hours of vacation at the end of the year. (Most computerized payroll programs do this automatically.) Usually employees do not accrue vacation time for overtime hours worked.

Using this system, an employee who works fewer hours accrues less vacation time.

Most US employers give one week of vacation after one year, and two weeks of vacation after two to three years.

Most small employers do not permit the employee to use their vacation time until the one-year anniversary, even if it has been accrued earlier. Some states require that terminated employees be paid for unused vacation — Connecticut does not. The state merely requires that the employer comply with his or her written policy regarding vacation time.

Employers have the right to authorize vacations in advance, and to require that employees schedule their vacations for the employers conveniance. Many medical practices require that all employees use their vacation time during the week(s)  the doctor is on vacation. Others permit the employee to take that time off unpaid, and to use their vacation at another time.

The purpose of paid vacations is to improve employee morale and productivity. For that reason, it is not wise to use vacation time punitively.