The company I worked for has been sold as of January 2011, I have been with the company for over 13 months, and have earned 5 days of vacation. We were told that nothing was changing with the transition. Paychex still has my hire date as July 2010 but now the owner is saying that he does not owe me the whole 5 days??? I was not asked to sign a form to be paid out vacation time or have it rolled over. Am I legally entitled to the full 5 days?
If you accrued the 5 days of vacation time then you are entitled to it.
The question is whether you should have been paid when your employment with the prior owner possibly terminated in January, or whether the new owner still must made good on your vacation wages.
Unfortunately, there is not enough information, in my view, to answer that question. For instance, what type of business entity is this? What was the sale: An asset purchase? Stock purchase?
The answers to those questions would be helpful in answering your ultimate question about your vacation time.
If I understand the question right you no longer work for this company. So I would say someone does owe you vacation wages, but it is unclear who that is.
Yes. In California, an employee who is discharged must be paid all of his or her wages, including accrued vacation, immediately at the time of termination. (Labor Code Sections 201 and 227.3.)
However, an employee without a written employment contract for a definite period of time who gives at least 72 hours prior notice of his or her intention to quit, and quits on the day given in the notice, must be paid all of his or her wages, including accrued vacation, at the time of quitting. (Labor Code Section 202.)
An employee without a written employment contract for a definite period of time who quits without giving 72 hours prior notice must be paid all of his or her wages, including accrued vacation, within 72 hours of quitting. An employee who quits without giving 72-hours prior notice may request that his or her final wage payment be mailed to a designated address. The date of mailing will be considered the date of payment for purposes of the requirement to provide payment within 72 hours of the time of quitting. ( Labor Code Section 202).
Under California law, earned vacation time is considered wages, and vacation time is earned, or vests, as labor is performed. For example, if an employee is entitled to two weeks (10 work days) of vacation per year, after six months of work he or she will have earned five days of vacation. Vacation pay accrues (adds up) as it is earned, and cannot be forfeited, even upon termination of employment, regardless of the reason for the termination. (Suastez v. Plastic Dress Up (1982) 31 Cal.3d 774)
Under California law, unless otherwise stipulated by a collective bargaining agreement, whenever the employment relationship ends, for any reason whatsoever, and the employee has not used all of his or her earned and accrued vacation, the employer must pay the employee at his or her final rate of pay for all of his or her earned and accrued and unused vacation days. (Labor Code Section 227.3.)
Assuming the employer did not adopt a Paid Time Off (PTO) policy, then the employer owes its employees for the earned and accrued vacation. Unless sick leave is defined as part of PTO, sick leave does not accrue.
Employees who believe they have been deprived of any earned/accrued vacation time can file a claim with a local office of the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE) or seek help from an employment law attorney.
Ann A. HullEmployment / Labor AttorneyNorth Hollywood, CACA licensed ·
You also may likely be entitled to "waiting time penalties" of your daily pay, up to 30 days. Please filed a complaint with the California Labor Board.
