Does your employer take away your vacation if you go out on disability?

[momz]

how is the title of my thread misleading? I asked a question. This is the first year they are doing this in the over 100 years they have been open. Well at least for 57 years since my dad worked there for 47 years and been retired for 10 years and they never took the vacation away from you when you went out on disability.

The title suggests your employer is charging against your paid time off bank, when in fact they are not. Vacation time ceases to accrue when you are not working. When/if you return from your medical leave, your vacation will be there to use.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

Do you have to use PTO as well to cover the waiting period before disability kicks in?

When I had PTO, this is what my company did. Use up your PTO, then go on short term or long term as necessary. Now that my company uses DTO (manager-discretion time off, no set number of days), I don't know how it works.

 

[dclpluto]

The title suggests your employer is charging against your paid time off bank, when in fact they are not. Vacation time ceases to accrue when you are not working. When/if you return from your medical leave, your vacation will be there to use.

always did before until this year. That’s why my title is not misleading. Maybe to you it is.
We get all of our vacation on January 1st. That’s why most people wait until the beginning of the year until they retire. I know it won’t be like that when I retire.

 

[Karin1984]

Not allowed by law in the Netherlands.

 

[fla4fun]

My last company gave is ten sick days per year, and if you had sick time available, you would use it for the gap week or to supplement the disability, which was 60% of salary. PTO was either accrued or given in one lump sum, depending on your position, and this could also be used the same way, after any sick days were depleted. IIRC the use of sick time was mandatory, at least for the gap week, but use of PTO was voluntary.

 

[tzolkin]

I think I had to use 5 sick days before STD kicked in. But you better not mess with my vacation days!!!

Pretty much everyone I know now just has PTO (paid time off). Most companies no longer separate it out as vacation/sick/personal.

 

[starry_solo]

I’ve never heard of accruing vacation leave or PTO when out on disability

 

[MrsPete]

Does your employer take away your vacation when you go out on disability? My employer just started this year taking away our vacation if we go out on disability. Luck has it I have never been on disability and the year they start it might have to go out for a knee surgery. Example I get 208 hours of vacation a year. That comes out to exactly 4 hours a week. So every week I’m out 4 hours of vacation is taking away from me. Nothing I can do about it just wondering. Never heard of it before from anywhere.

I'm not clear on what you're saying. Which is it?

Possibility 1: You have X number of hours of vacation accrued, and they are withdrawing 4 hours of your previously earned benefits each week. That would be unfair, and the 4 hours a week would be weird.

Possibility 2: You are out on disability, not working, and you are not accruing new vacation hours while you're out. This is fair. If you're not working, you can't expect to add to your earned benefits.

Pretty much everyone I know now just has PTO (paid time off). Most companies no longer separate it out as vacation/sick/personal.

I accrue hours in three different categories: sick leave, annual leave (which is vacation time), and personal days. I agree that one pot of PTO is easier, and it removes the problem of employees lying about being sick. Easier.

 

[prairie_girl]

It’s sounds like vacation time is accrued for the OP (x hours of vacation for y hours worked). I guess the argument is that, since the person on disability isn’t working, they aren’t accruing.

My vacation time is accrued, and I am currently on loa. I’d be ticked off if they tried to take my vacation. It’s not like I’m sitting on a beach somewhere.

 

[GreatLakes]

I'm not certain about long term disability which we have an insurance policy for but short term (including maternity/paternity leave) you use PTO until it is gone then switch to disability.

 

[mommasita]

I was on LTD for 15 months, and No, did not lose any vacation time. I didn’t come back and start to take it right away, but I came back In January, had my 5 weeks as per usual, and in May took my first week. I would not have been pleased either, as stated, I definitely was not on a beach.

 

[disneychrista]

Does your employer take away your vacation when you go out on disability? My employer just started this year taking away our vacation if we go out on disability. Luck has it I have never been on disability and the year they start it might have to go out for a knee surgery. Example I get 208 hours of vacation a year. That comes out to exactly 4 hours a week. So every week I’m out 4 hours of vacation is taking away from me. Nothing I can do about it just wondering. Never heard of it before from anywhere.

Doesn't sound like it is "taken away" sounds like you are not working so you are not earning it. Most vacation is earned based on hours worked. If you don't work, you don't earn. It is pretty standard.

 

[dclpluto]

Doesn't sound like it is "taken away" sounds like you are not working so you are not earning it. Most vacation is earned based on hours worked. If you don't work, you don't earn. It is pretty standard.

its not earned on hours worked. I could work over 100 hours in a week means nothing more in vacation than if I would work 20 hours.

 

[disneychrista]

its not earned on hours worked. I could work over 100 hours in a week means nothing more in vacation than if I would work 20 hours.

Every employer I have work for it is based on hours worked (or paid) but excludes OT. So as you said you earn 4 hours of Vacation per week for each week you work.

 

[Jnjtrio]

At my place of business non exempt/hourly workers earn 3.1 hours in vacation and personal absence every 2 weeks, they also get 120 hours of holiday time at beginning of year. While on medical/fmla/bonding you do not accrue these hours. We only have 1 waiting week that you may use personal absence to cover if your medical leave is less than 2 weeks. If you are out over 2 weeks short term disability will pay you from first day you were on leave. My husband works for same company and just had knee surgery out 8 weeks, he was paid for all 8 weeks by short term disability and accrued no vacation/ personal absence during the time.

I am actually exempt/salary with same company and get 28 days vacation/holiday. No set amount of sick time. We only apply for medical leave if it will go over 2 weeks, most exempts can do work from home while sick and normally do.

Short and long term disability are not taxed, so it has normally been within $100 -$250 of our normal paychecks. Disability paying out at different rates if short or long and length of time.

 

[ronandannette]

its not earned on hours worked. I could work over 100 hours in a week means nothing more in vacation than if I would work 20 hours.

Our employees are all salaried so yes, hours worked do not matter - it’s calendar days worked that the calculations are based on. We don’t punch a clock or get paid any overtime.

My vacation time is accrued, and I am currently on loa. I’d be ticked off if they tried to take my vacation. It’s not like I’m sitting on a beach somewhere.

So then are you still accruing vacation while on leave? I think most of us have agreed the OP’s idea of having vacation “taken away” is quite different than simply not continuing to accrue, which is the common situation for most of us. I’ve got a staff member currently on medical leave which began last October. When she returns (Lord willing) in August, she will have whatever was in her bank when she left but will not have added to it over the past 10 months. Her paid sick days (7 per calendar year) will have renewed in January 2021 and will all be there for her use.

 

[dclpluto]

So then are you still accruing vacation while on leave? I think most of us have agreed the OP’s idea of having vacation “taken away” is quite different than simply not continuing to accrue, which is the common situation for most of us. I’ve got a staff member currently on medical leave which began last October. When she returns (Lord willing) in August, she will have whatever was in her bank when she left but will not have added to it over the past 10 months. Her paid sick days (7 per calendar year) will have renewed in January 2021 and will all be there for her use.

I disagree. In the beginning of the year my paycheck said 248 hours. I carried over 40 hours. So 208 hours of this years vacation was showing on my paycheck. Now pto hours are accrued up to a maximum of 40 hours. I know some people call pto and vacation the same thing I see it as being different. A person can retire in January and have all of that years vacation paid to them. Don’t see that being there when I retire thou. Either way people see it I’m going to be missing out on 4 hours of vacation for every week I’m off. So probably 32 hours. I usually sell a couple weeks back anyway. It’s not going to be a big difference just wanted to know what other companies did. This is the first year my employer have done this.

 

[RedAngie]

Pretty much everyone I know now just has PTO (paid time off). Most companies no longer separate it out as vacation/sick/personal.

Yes, most companies, but mine clings to the old-fashioned method. Separate accounts for sick, personal, vacation, and holidays.

It was in 2007 that I had to go out on STD, (NOT for a STD ), and they used 5 sick days before disability kicked in. I supposed if I was out of sick days, they would have used vacation or personal days.

 

[disneychrista]

I disagree. In the beginning of the year my paycheck said 248 hours. I carried over 40 hours. So 208 hours of this years vacation was showing on my paycheck. Now pto hours are accrued up to a maximum of 40 hours. I know some people call pto and vacation the same thing I see it as being different. A person can retire in January and have all of that years vacation paid to them. Don’t see that being there when I retire thou. Either way people see it I’m going to be missing out on 4 hours of vacation for every week I’m off. So probably 32 hours. I usually sell a couple weeks back anyway. It’s not going to be a big difference just wanted to know what other companies did. This is the first year my employer have done this.

So when you went out on leave your check said 248 hours and when you go back it will say 216? So I can see why you are saying it is "taken away" but the concept is the same, you are not working so you are not "earning" the leave. It seems like the employer would be better off to just allocated the leave time over the year. So they are not having to mess with the accrual banks so much.

 

[sam_gordon]

I disagree. In the beginning of the year my paycheck said 248 hours. I carried over 40 hours. So 208 hours of this years vacation was showing on my paycheck. Now pto hours are accrued up to a maximum of 40 hours. I know some people call pto and vacation the same thing I see it as being different. A person can retire in January and have all of that years vacation paid to them. Don’t see that being there when I retire thou. Either way people see it I’m going to be missing out on 4 hours of vacation for every week I’m off. So probably 32 hours. I usually sell a couple weeks back anyway. It’s not going to be a big difference just wanted to know what other companies did. This is the first year my employer have done this.

So your company changed it's policy. Why does it matter what other companies do? As you can tell by this thread, it varies. I'm pretty sure you do not accrue PTO if you are on disability at my company.

For us, although you have access to all of your PTO time for the year on January 1, if you take it immediately and don't stick around to accrue it, they will withhold that time from your final check. So, for example, if you would have earned 10 days off for the year, take one week in January and one week in March, then leave the company in June, they would withhold 5 days from your final paycheck. It's expected you need to work through the year to "earn" the 10 days. If you only work half of the year, you only earned 5 days.

It's the agreement you make as part of working there. If you don't like the policy, find some place else to work.