Vacation paid?

Question

Upon the resignation, is it the employees right to get paid for unused vacation hours? Or is it just a benefit to be used during the employment? My friend did not get paid.

Answer 1

Depends on many factors. Some employers do but others dont. Most of them require you to put in 2 weeks notice though to get paid. If you havent gotten paid for accurued vacation hours its a good bet thats not their policy

Answer 2

Depending on Company policy. Some policies provide that an employee has to be "actively" employed on January 1st, in order to be eligible for vacation. If the individual quits during the year, s/he is entitled to unused vacation "accrued but not taken" for that calendar year. However, s/he is not eligible to claim vacation for the following year.

For example, if your friend was employed and eligible for vacation in 2006 and quit in November, 2006 with 2 weeks of unused vacation, s/he is entitled to compensation for those days.
However, since s/he was not "actively employed" on January 1, 2007, then he has no claim to any "accrued" vacation.

Other Companies "pro-rate" an employee's vacation based on the month of hire. They use an "employment year" rather than a calender year. Same principle applies - pay for current year, nothing for following year.

Still others say no work, no benefit. I think it is a policy an organization would have difficulty defending before the Wage and Salary investigator.