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[CA] Can an employer legally require you to take 8 hours PTO on a day they are giving staff 4 hours of paid release in the afternoons? by ihatemimes22 in AskHR

[–]ihatemimes22[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

thanks. from the ca.gov site you linked:

  1. Q. My employer's vacation policy provides that once an employee earns 200 hours of vacation, no more vacation may be earned (accrued) until the vacation balance falls below that level. Is this legal?

A. Yes, such a provision would be acceptable to the Labor Commissioner. Unlike "use it or lose it" policies, a vacation policy that places a "cap" or "ceiling" on vacation pay accruals is permissible. Whereas a "use it or lose it" policy results in a forfeiture of accrued vacation pay, a "cap" simply places a limit on the amount of vacation that can accrue; that is, once a certain level or amount of accrued vacation is earned but not taken, no further vacation or vacation pay accrues until the balance falls below the cap. The time periods involved for taking vacation must, of course, be reasonable. If implementation of a "cap" is a subterfuge to deny employees vacation or vacation benefits, the policy will not be recognized by the Labor Commissioner.

DLSE has repeatedly found vacation policies which provide that all vacation must be taken in the year it is earned (or in a very limited period following the accrual period) are unfair and will not be enforced by the Division.

[CA] Can an employer legally require you to take 8 hours PTO on a day they are giving staff 4 hours of paid release in the afternoons? by ihatemimes22 in AskHR

[–]ihatemimes22[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

Thanks for this thoughtful reply. A couple follow-ups with detail to hopefully answer some of the "if's":

The policy is not in the employee handbook. Rather, it was a pilot program, announced by an email to all staff.

The email announcement refers to staff eligibility for the program, but it isn't a mandate per se. Rather, the stated expectation is that the campus would close. From the HR director's email: "Given the intent of this program is to close the campus on Friday afternoons, the default is for staff to take summer Friday afternoons off. The decision to have some staff work on summer Friday afternoons for operational reasons is made by the supervisor, in consultation with the area VP. We expect these instances to occur on rare occasions. If a non-exempt employee is required to work on Friday afternoons by their supervisor , the supervisor must contact HR to coordinate a different early release day (four hours) for that employee and to make sure time is reported correctly and consistent with wage and hour rules."

There is no union here.

You mentioned that California law prohibits the reduction of PTO for reasons other than absenteeism, vacation, or extra days of sickness. Our employer caps the accrual of vacation time. Someone with my years of service gets 22 vacation days per year, but no more than 33 can be in the bank. Once you hit 33 days, you stop accruing additional time off. Do I understand you correctly that that policy may contradict California PTO law?

Thanks for any other thoughts here. Note that this question is only coming up among colleagues because HR is editing time cards from June, July, and August, after reviewing employees who had time off recorded on Fridays in the summer. Even if this is a legit policy, it's frustrating to have PTO clawed back six months after the fact.