Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Non-investing personal finance issues including insurance, credit, real estate, taxes, employment and legal issues such as trusts and wills.
Topic Author
gator1
Posts: 187
Joined: Tue Sep 03, 2013 5:58 pm
Location: Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee

Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by gator1 »

My gf's employer gives them 20 days of vacation and sick time per year. However, if you leave the company the employer keeps the PTO and there is no payout for the time. This starts the second you give a 2 week(or however long you want to give) notice. A girl just gave a 2 1/2 week notice that she was leaving, but wanted to use 3 days of her vacation (which is part of the reason for the 2 1/2 week notice) and they won't let her. I know there is no requirement to give a notice, it's just respectful. But, if you had all this PTO and you knew you were going to leave in the near future, wouldn't you use it if you knew you would be punished by not getting to use it by being respectful and leaving a notice? Another co-worker found out what happened to the other girl and has been calling out every day because she is about to leave and just isn't going to leave a notice. I can't say I blame her.
User avatar
Edie
Posts: 129
Joined: Fri May 06, 2016 4:03 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Edie »

Previous employer allowed vacation cash out, but not sick days.

Current employer allows vacation cash out upon leaving, and if you've accumulated more than 500 hours sick time and are retiring, you can cash that out at 25%, but not for just leaving for another job.
MrJones
Posts: 773
Joined: Sat Mar 18, 2017 2:23 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by MrJones »

California law requires a payout upon leaving. In many other states, this is not a requirement, unfortunately.
fantasytensai
Posts: 475
Joined: Fri Sep 30, 2016 3:30 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by fantasytensai »

Check you state's laws. I know NY and Cal require PTO to be paid out.

Also, this is probably a good time to remind everyone to NOT tell your employer anything, no matter how nice your supervisor is to you, until you have everything figured out and in place. Too many young people (myself included) made this mistake.
Andyrunner
Posts: 856
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 9:14 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Andyrunner »

I have it good, really good. My employer allows PTO to accumulate over the years to a max of 1.5 years worth. They let you cash any of it out at the end of each year if you want cash rather than time off, and when you leave or retire, they pay it all out.

I'm actually shocked they keep doing this, the amount on the balance sheet has to be unreal.
User avatar
teen persuasion
Posts: 2319
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 1:43 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by teen persuasion »

Depends on employer policy, and policies can change.

When DH was planning to leave his former employer, he researched policies thoroughly since he had tons of sick time and a bit of PTO (they limited how much PTO you could roll over, and cashed out the difference each year). Policy at the time was that sick time was paid at 50%. As we were talking 5 figures, he requested that it be paid out over the next 5 pay periods (to reduce withholding) and as much as possible was contributed to his 401k (left a little annual room to capture a match at his future employer). The remainder covered expenses for the rest of the year.

A few months later, he heard thru the grapevine that future sick time payouts would be capped at $2500. I don't think it was coincidence.
an_asker
Posts: 4903
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:15 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by an_asker »

Andyrunner wrote:I have it good, really good. My employer allows PTO to accumulate over the years to a max of 1.5 years worth.[...]
I doubt that you have it "really good", unless you are saying that you can accumulate over 78 weeks of PTO! There should be many employers out there who permit rollovers.
ThisTimeItsDifferent
Posts: 332
Joined: Sat Jan 31, 2015 1:51 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by ThisTimeItsDifferent »

No cash out of accrued but untaken vacation, but they will subtract from the last pay check any vacation that was taken but not yet accrued. :(
MrNewEngland
Posts: 807
Joined: Sun Sep 28, 2014 11:38 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by MrNewEngland »

When I left my first job they cashed out vacation but not sick time. My second job only had PTO and didn't differentiate, but did cash that out.
CoAndy
Posts: 891
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2013 4:45 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by CoAndy »

I am allowed to cash out 80 hours of sick leave every December, provided I have at least 80 left. I do this and up my 401(k) contribution for that pay period. In regard to vacation time, that can be sold at retirement or one can simply take all their vacation time, and then retire. Same at separation of service...retired or not.
User avatar
8foot7
Posts: 4426
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:29 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by 8foot7 »

The last job I left paid out my accrued vacation per the employee handbook. They did not cash out sick leave. It did create a temptation to get the flu a couple of weeks before leaving but I was just glad to be out of there.
Andyrunner
Posts: 856
Joined: Thu May 03, 2012 9:14 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Andyrunner »

an_asker wrote:
Andyrunner wrote:I have it good, really good. My employer allows PTO to accumulate over the years to a max of 1.5 years worth.[...]
I doubt that you have it "really good", unless you are saying that you can accumulate over 78 weeks of PTO! There should be many employers out there who permit rollovers.
You're right I should have worded it better. 1.5yrs worth of my annual accrual level. So for me its about 10 weeks. Still really good, plus you can cash it out for full value.
Lou354
Posts: 787
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2016 10:51 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Lou354 »

Employer compensates for unused vacation, not for unused sick time.
downshiftme
Posts: 1142
Joined: Sun Mar 11, 2007 6:11 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by downshiftme »

No. No cash out of any kind.
User avatar
nisiprius
Advisory Board
Posts: 52105
Joined: Thu Jul 26, 2007 9:33 am
Location: The terrestrial, globular, planetary hunk of matter, flattened at the poles, is my abode.--O. Henry

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by nisiprius »

I assume it's a legal requirement on companies in my state, but in any case every place I've worked has paid out unused vacation days when I left. The mechanism as it was explained to me essentially amounted to my last days of employment being paid vacation. That is, I didn't receive it as a lump sum in a special check the day I had the exit interview. Rather, I continued to be on the payroll and receive payroll checks on the regular cycle until the vacation days were exhausted. (In my case it was never more than a few days).

I've never worked at a job where I was formally entitled to any specific number of sick days.
Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen nineteen and six, result happiness; Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.
User avatar
tuningfork
Posts: 884
Joined: Wed Oct 30, 2013 8:30 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by tuningfork »

When I retired a few years ago I received a payout for unused vacation days. The company never had formal "sick days" (it was up to your supervisor's discretion to pay you for sick days) so there was no such thing as unused sick days. After I left, the company switched to the flexible vacation model: take as many days as you want throughout the year as long as your supervisor approves. Hence, there is no longer such a thing as unused vacation days, and presumably no cash payout when someone leaves.
Broken Man 1999
Posts: 8620
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 11:31 am
Location: West coast of Florida, near Champa Bay !

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Broken Man 1999 »

Employees received vacation days owed, but sick days for management totaled 26 weeks, use them or not, they didn't cash them out. Understandable since the number was so generous.

Broken Man 1999
“If I cannot drink Bourbon and smoke cigars in Heaven then I shall not go." - Mark Twain
User avatar
Tycoon
Posts: 1625
Joined: Wed Mar 28, 2012 7:06 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Tycoon »

My employer will pay out my accumulated vacation, but not my sick leave.
Emotionless, prognostication free investing. Ignoring the noise and economists since 1979. Getting rich off of "smart people's" behavioral mistakes.
User avatar
dm200
Posts: 23214
Joined: Mon Feb 26, 2007 1:21 pm
Location: Washington DC area

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by dm200 »

Tycoon wrote:My employer will pay out my accumulated vacation, but not my sick leave.
Over the decades, that was the way it worked for me as well.

The latest trend is PTO (Paid time off - combination of sick and vacation).
User avatar
unclescrooge
Posts: 6264
Joined: Thu Jun 07, 2012 7:00 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by unclescrooge »

tuningfork wrote:When I retired a few years ago I received a payout for unused vacation days. The company never had formal "sick days" (it was up to your supervisor's discretion to pay you for sick days) so there was no such thing as unused sick days. After I left, the company switched to the flexible vacation model: take as many days as you want throughout the year as long as your supervisor approves. Hence, there is no longer such a thing as unused vacation days, and presumably no cash payout when someone leaves.
My company changed to a flexible vacation policy a couple of years ago.
I'm planning on taking 6 weeks off this year! :mrgreen:
User avatar
jhfenton
Posts: 4754
Joined: Sat Feb 07, 2015 10:17 am
Location: Ohio

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by jhfenton »

We get paid out for earned, but unused PTO, but it will never amount to much since we cannot carry it over from year to year. All unused PTO expires after December 31. (We accrue it prorata on a monthly basis. So at 4 weeks vacation, I accrue 13.33 hours per month.)
User avatar
JonnyDVM
Posts: 2999
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2014 5:51 pm
Location: Atlanta, GA

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by JonnyDVM »

Old company had PTO only (No sick days) and paid it out. Got the equivalent of a months pay when I left which was great. New company has both PTO and sick days and pays neither when an employee departs. I see it as encouragement to keep the balance low. Not a fan of that policy but still like current job much better. I feel like it encourages people to be sneaky about using up all their off time before abruptly leaving.
I’d trade it all for a little more | -C Montgomery Burns
User avatar
iceport
Posts: 6048
Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 4:29 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by iceport »

Wow, I never realized how tough it has gotten out there. Lots of brutal policies. Seems like my workplace is on the other end of the spectrum. I just retired from a public sector job, and will be paid for the maximum 60 vacation days I was allowed to carry, plus another 60 days of unused sick leave — altogether about 5.5 months of pay. (The sick leave accrued at 15 days/year, and they pay for 1/4 of the balance up to 60 days, maximum. However, when I checked a few years ago, I had only used an average of 2 sick days/year over more than a couple of decades. So I literally had several hundred days of sick leave piled up by the time I left.) What's more, the 60 unused vacation days get converted to calendar days (1.4 calendar days/work day) and added to service time for the pension calculation.
"Discipline matters more than allocation.” |—| "In finance, if you’re certain of anything, you’re out of your mind." ─William Bernstein
User avatar
Sage16
Posts: 276
Joined: Sun Mar 27, 2016 11:06 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Sage16 »

when I retired the end of 2015, my employer paid me for all my unused accumulated vacation hours and my unused sick leave hours was paid at about 1/4 my salary equivalent hourly rate.
Bogle on investing: Diversify, focus on low costs, invest for the long term. Don't speculate and don't be distracted by volatility.
CashConfessions
Posts: 147
Joined: Sun Apr 02, 2017 10:24 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by CashConfessions »

Have left two employers (one Big 4 consulting, one an academically-affiliated think tank and got about a months payout from each). Big 4 paid all PTO (no sick time), while the think tank paid vacation, but not sick leave). Both were quite generous with the amount of leave accumulated - although I clearly didn't have time to take it at either location!
Jags4186
Posts: 8198
Joined: Wed Jun 18, 2014 7:12 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Jags4186 »

My company is awful with this.

They pay out nothing. If you don't use by 12/31 you lose all PTO (sick, personal, and vacation).

You accrue all of your PTO days on the last day of the month starting March 31. You're allowed to take what you haven't yet accrued as long as it's in your "package".

For example:

Say you are entitled to 5 sick days, 5 personal days, and 10 vacation days. On March 31st you accrue 1/10th of each of those, 0.5 sick, 0.5 personal, and 1.0 vacation days. You can take a week off anytime you want but if you leave before 12/31 and haven't accrued enough they will dock you.
lynneny
Posts: 231
Joined: Sun Apr 15, 2012 10:23 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by lynneny »

Our PTO is use-it-or-lose-it so no one accumulates much, and a lot of us lose a few days most years on Dec. 31. People have to be careful not to use more PTO days than they've earned if they plan to leave, because they'll have to pay for days taken but not yet earned.

I second someone else's comment that no matter what your company's policy is, it can change any time. I had factored our company's severance payments into my if-I-get-laid-off financial planning/projections. A few months ago, the company cut the severance formula in half. Which also makes it much cheaper to lay off long-term employees like me. The company didn't announce this change; I heard about it on the grapevine and confirmed it with HR.
User avatar
Thrifty Femme
Posts: 562
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 1:54 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Thrifty Femme »

I get 28 days of PTO. My company will pay out a max of 20 days minus however many days I have taken prior to the two weeks notice, and you can't take off any time during the two week notice period.
BW1985
Posts: 2079
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:12 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by BW1985 »

Last company paid out vacation, that was a nice unexpected $1000.

Not sure about current company - only have vacation there are no set number of sick days allotted.
Chase the good life my whole life long, look back on my life and my life gone...where did I go wrong?
BW1985
Posts: 2079
Joined: Tue Mar 23, 2010 6:12 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by BW1985 »

Thrifty Femme wrote:I get 28 days of PTO. My company will pay out a max of 20 days minus however many days I have taken prior to the two weeks notice, and you can't take off any time during the two week notice period.
Dang, that's a lot!
Chase the good life my whole life long, look back on my life and my life gone...where did I go wrong?
fsrph
Posts: 1604
Joined: Sun Jul 26, 2009 7:54 pm
Location: Pa.

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by fsrph »

My employer cashes out vacation and personal time but not sick time.

Francis
"Success is getting what you want. Happiness is wanting what you get." | Dale Carnegie
JGoneRiding
Posts: 1973
Joined: Tue Jul 15, 2014 3:26 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by JGoneRiding »

Andyrunner wrote:I have it good, really good. My employer allows PTO to accumulate over the years to a max of 1.5 years worth. They let you cash any of it out at the end of each year if you want cash rather than time off, and when you leave or retire, they pay it all out.

I'm actually shocked they keep doing this, the amount on the balance sheet has to be unreal.
probably not bec they limit how much you are allowed to accrue. Mine is similar. You can accrue about 1.5 years worth of PTO (I am assuming that means the amount of PTO you would EARN in 1.5 years if you could accrue that much time off that is a different story.) so for me its about 240 hours max and then they start paying it out.
User avatar
leeks
Posts: 1451
Joined: Thu Apr 07, 2011 4:33 pm
Location: virginia

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by leeks »

My last employer allowed unused PTO to be cashed out annually or rolled over. All employees (no matter the circumstances of their departure) were paid for any unused PTO when they left.

My husband has a very generous employer and he gets an annual allocation of sick and personal days (no cash out or rollover when unused) along with "unlimited" vacation time. Unlimited doesn't mean you could take half the year off, it means that vacation requests are negotiable and approved at the discretion of supervisors, but there is no specific cap on the number of days. No vacation or sick time could be cashed out upon leaving the company.
User avatar
Thrifty Femme
Posts: 562
Joined: Sun Apr 12, 2015 1:54 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Thrifty Femme »

BW1985 wrote:
Thrifty Femme wrote:I get 28 days of PTO. My company will pay out a max of 20 days minus however many days I have taken prior to the two weeks notice, and you can't take off any time during the two week notice period.
Dang, that's a lot!
I negotiated well :happy
User avatar
randomizer
Posts: 1547
Joined: Sun Jul 06, 2014 3:46 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by randomizer »

Interesting question. I hadn't thought about "banking" PTO in anticipation of cashing it out before leaving a company. I just might have to do that.
87.5:12.5, EM tilt — HODL the course!
travellight
Posts: 2892
Joined: Tue Aug 12, 2008 5:52 pm
Location: San Diego

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by travellight »

I have to cash out vacation time each year when I exceed 90 days banked. I have exceeded it by a considerable amount the past few years and got large payments. I have to consider though that I pay 50% in taxes of this excess money so it is like I only got to take half of each vacation day so my goal is to take my vacation days this year and not get paid out for excess days accrued.
364
User avatar
whodidntante
Posts: 13089
Joined: Thu Jan 21, 2016 10:11 pm
Location: outside the echo chamber

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by whodidntante »

I do not get sick time. Vacation time must be paid due to state law where I live, but employers can enact a cap.
User avatar
teen persuasion
Posts: 2319
Joined: Sun Oct 25, 2015 1:43 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by teen persuasion »

randomizer wrote:Interesting question. I hadn't thought about "banking" PTO in anticipation of cashing it out before leaving a company. I just might have to do that.
DH hadn't planned to bank PTO and sick time in anticipation of cashing it out. He was accruing it more as a disability insurance, of sorts. If he ever needed extended time off for surgery, or as paternity leave when I had babies, it was there.

Of course, as a teacher, he rarely used sick time - it was just way too much trouble catching up when you got back. He also never got snow days off, either - his school was a residential alternative school, so he was considered "essential services" and had to report, even when there was a travel ban!

So, over a dozen years, lots of time accrued.
ponyboy
Posts: 1224
Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2015 9:39 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by ponyboy »

My current job cashes out vacation but not sick time. Actually we get 10 sick days per fiscal cycle...use or lose them. Funny how I always seem to use all of my sick time...5 years in a row.
keq1381
Posts: 57
Joined: Wed Mar 23, 2011 7:07 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by keq1381 »

gator1 wrote: My gf's employer gives them 20 days of vacation and sick time per year. However, if you leave the company the employer keeps the PTO and there is no payout for the time. This starts the second you give a 2 week(or however long you want to give) notice. A girl just gave a 2 1/2 week notice that she was leaving, but wanted to use 3 days of her vacation (which is part of the reason for the 2 1/2 week notice) and they won't let her. I know there is no requirement to give a notice, it's just respectful. But, if you had all this PTO and you knew you were going to leave in the near future, wouldn't you use it if you knew you would be punished by not getting to use it by being respectful and leaving a notice? Another co-worker found out what happened to the other girl and has been calling out every day because she is about to leave and just isn't going to leave a notice. I can't say I blame her.
My previous company had the same terrible policy. I wouldn't be surprised if these kinds of policies get challenged in court soon.
User avatar
Earl Lemongrab
Posts: 7270
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:14 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Megacorp pays out all vacation time and 50% on sick leave (I have 722 hours there, so like an extra nine weeks of pay).
User avatar
8foot7
Posts: 4426
Joined: Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:29 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by 8foot7 »

gator1 wrote: My gf's employer gives them 20 days of vacation and sick time per year. However, if you leave the company the employer keeps the PTO and there is no payout for the time. This starts the second you give a 2 week(or however long you want to give) notice. A girl just gave a 2 1/2 week notice that she was leaving, but wanted to use 3 days of her vacation (which is part of the reason for the 2 1/2 week notice) and they won't let her. I know there is no requirement to give a notice, it's just respectful. But, if you had all this PTO and you knew you were going to leave in the near future, wouldn't you use it if you knew you would be punished by not getting to use it by being respectful and leaving a notice? Another co-worker found out what happened to the other girl and has been calling out every day because she is about to leave and just isn't going to leave a notice. I can't say I blame her
Two weeks' notice is a courtesy. Courtesy works both ways. I'd do the same.
Wakefield1
Posts: 1059
Joined: Mon Nov 14, 2016 9:10 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Wakefield1 »

Let's try to remember-there might be a difference between retiring and just quitting or getting "terminated"
Vacation leave could be accumulated up to a maximum yearly carryover,then the excess got converted to sick leave
sick leave could literally reach a balance of a year's worth or more
Upon retirement you got paid for your unused vacation leave-I believe all of it
Up to a certain number of sick leave hours were not paid,perhaps the first 100? First 300?
then remaining hours of sick leave were paid at I believe one third
that total could reach as much as $20,000 or $30,000
you could roll much or all of that final payment into the 457 deferred comp. plan,it might have helped your Social Security "FRA" number. (Social Security tax was paid but not regular income tax on the amount rolled into the 457)
User avatar
Earl Lemongrab
Posts: 7270
Joined: Tue Jun 10, 2014 1:14 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Earl Lemongrab »

Wakefield1 wrote:Let's try to remember-there might be a difference between retiring and just quitting or getting "terminated"
At Megacorp, as long as you weren't terminated for cause, then the same rules apply.
erock139
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Mar 30, 2017 12:55 pm
Location: NoVA/DC

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by erock139 »

Back to your original question: your girlfriend should be very careful who she talks to and what she shares. Even if her boss is quote "cool" and understands, bosses are still company folks - their loyalty is with the firm. Don't be fooled by cool bosses. She doesn't want to learn the hard way. That said, if she isn't paid out her remaining PTO, take a two week vacation and have her submit the notice upon her return. Of course, this is assuming she has obtained AND accepted (aka signed) an offer somewhere else. Until she has signed the offer, she doesn't have full acceptance.

Good luck and keep us posted!
wfrobinette
Posts: 1879
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:14 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by wfrobinette »

Andyrunner wrote:
an_asker wrote:
Andyrunner wrote:I have it good, really good. My employer allows PTO to accumulate over the years to a max of 1.5 years worth.[...]
I doubt that you have it "really good", unless you are saying that you can accumulate over 78 weeks of PTO! There should be many employers out there who permit rollovers.
You're right I should have worded it better. 1.5yrs worth of my annual accrual level. So for me its about 10 weeks. Still really good, plus you can cash it out for full value.
I'd rather take the time off.
wfrobinette
Posts: 1879
Joined: Fri Feb 20, 2015 2:14 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by wfrobinette »

keq1381 wrote:
gator1 wrote: My gf's employer gives them 20 days of vacation and sick time per year. However, if you leave the company the employer keeps the PTO and there is no payout for the time. This starts the second you give a 2 week(or however long you want to give) notice. A girl just gave a 2 1/2 week notice that she was leaving, but wanted to use 3 days of her vacation (which is part of the reason for the 2 1/2 week notice) and they won't let her. I know there is no requirement to give a notice, it's just respectful. But, if you had all this PTO and you knew you were going to leave in the near future, wouldn't you use it if you knew you would be punished by not getting to use it by being respectful and leaving a notice? Another co-worker found out what happened to the other girl and has been calling out every day because she is about to leave and just isn't going to leave a notice. I can't say I blame her.
My previous company had the same terrible policy. I wouldn't be surprised if these kinds of policies get challenged in court soon.
Depends on how the vacation is eraned. If it's given the it can be taken away. If it's earned(accrued) then it's usually paid out.
Traveler
Posts: 848
Joined: Fri Aug 30, 2013 9:07 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by Traveler »

My megacorp company's policy is different for a formal retirement vs just leaving. If I leave, I believe they do not pay out the PTO days so I would make sure to use those five days prior to giving notice. They do pay out accrued vacation days. We don't have sick days (just don't go to work if you're sick, doesn't count against PTO or vacation days) so that's not an issue.
niners9088
Posts: 77
Joined: Mon Jul 07, 2014 9:50 am

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by niners9088 »

At my megacorp they recently gave unlimited PTO with manager approval. Everyone thinks this is a great benefit but the reason they did this was exactly to eliminate the accrued balances off of the books so they don't have to pay when you leave the company or retire.
an_asker
Posts: 4903
Joined: Thu Jun 27, 2013 2:15 pm

Re: Does your employer let you cash out your Vacation and/or Sick time upon leaving the company?

Post by an_asker »

niners9088 wrote:At my megacorp they recently gave unlimited PTO with manager approval. Everyone thinks this is a great benefit but the reason they did this was exactly to eliminate the accrued balances off of the books so they don't have to pay when you leave the company or retire.
I can see how this is a downgrade for folks who love to accumulate across years. But for those who are in the "use it or lose it" hierarchy with limited vacation, it is a big upgrade!

Needless to say, management probably expects everyone to be using less vacation by comparing with teammates and trying to one up them - typical human mentality - or will let go those who take too many vacations, or both! :oops:
Post Reply