In PA, can employer terminate accrued vacation timebenefit in writing without compensating employees?
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In PA, can employer terminate accrued vacation timebenefit in writing without compensating employees?
My wife’s company has terminated a written benefit of being able to accrue vacation time without compensation to the employees. Has been a long-standing benefitover 2 decades. They have wiped the slate clean, without warning that they would do this, meaning the employees didn’t even have the ability to use the time, if they wanted to. Also the company has reduced my wife’s vacation time from 6 weeks to 5 weeks34 year employee, even though she was specifically grandfathered in last year to be able to keep the 6 weeks, when they decided to change the vacation policyshe’s the only one affected. Now the policy includes her. Is this legal?
Asked on January 5, 2017 under Employment Labor Law, Pennsylvania
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 7 years ago | Contributor
The only thing that the employer cannot do is take away accrued or earned vacation without first providing some "reasonable" (though admittedly, that is a subjective and not well defined term) amount of time or opportunity to use it. Employees worked in part for that vacation--to take earned vacation away without some chance to use is to deprive them of compensation they worked for. Taking it away without any chance to use might give the affected employees grounds to sue for its value.
However, it can be taken away, just so long as there is notice that it will be lost if not used before a certain date--the employer does not have to let them carry or accrue it forever.
In terms of not-yet-earned (future vacation), and employer can freely, at any time, without prior notice and regardless of past practice, change how much vacation employees get, how it is accrued, how long they can accrue it for, etc.--they could even eliminate it on a going-forward basis entirely. The law of your state does not require that employees get vacation--it is voluntary on the part of employers to offer it. Since it is voluntary for the employer, the employer can decide to stop offering it, or to change any and everything about how it is offered. That some employees are affected worse than others, or that it's been done differently for decades makes no difference: employers may still alter the vacation rules at will. (With one exception: if an employee has a written employment contract guarantying a certain amount, etc. of vacation, the employer cannot violate that contact.)
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