Legal Question in Employment Law in Illinois

Since exempt employees are typically not hourly workers, I will assume for the purposes of your question that the reason the employer requires timesheets to be turned in is for some other kind of accountability, or for the ability to bill and/or rebill and get payment or reimbursement from third parties (like a salaried attorney being required to keep time sheets to bill clients). If this is a job requirement and you have not met it, then the employer may in fact have the right to withhold certain benefits until you comply but once you do the benefits should follow. If this factual assumption is not correct, then this may be of no value to you and you should consider rephrasing the question or providing more facts.

An employer is responsbile for keeping accurate records of an employee's work hours. If there is a dispute, the DOL will defer to the employee if the employer has kept sloppy records. So the answer is that the employer must pay the vacation pay if proven.