Legal Question in Employment Law in California
Creative Accounting w/ Vacation
I work for a small office. Only 10 employees. Here is some back ground info my handbook states that I accrue after the first year 2 weeks vacation, and each year after that I acrue 1 week. We cap at 8wks. (been here 5 yrs) In January they decided that they wanted to change it to cap at 4 weeks. We all agreed no one had accrued more than 4 it is plenty. Well today the owner decided that per our payrol guy that it is not a good idea with signs of a recession to continue to offer this much time we have only 2 people who have been here for 5 years??? So they want to immediately amend our handbook and only give us 3 weeks vacation and take 1 week from our sick as well. My question is can they do this? Wouldn't it have to start next year when the new vacation calendar starts. Most employees already have made plans and have request in and approved.
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Creative Accounting w/ Vacation
Your employer can amend the vacation policy at their discretion. However, they cannot eliminate vacation that has already been earned. Earned vacation is treated like wages and once earned it cannot be divested from the employee unless it is paid out or used.
Good Luck!
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