Legal Question in Employment Law in New York

i appreciate any help you can give me with this matter. it is a small thing, but it is one more in a serious of ways that i feel i am being kind of cheated at my job, where as in many companies, many employees were laid off, the workload was shifted to the remaining employees, and with a freeze on raises no added compensation is in sight.

So: i was given a weeks' extra vacation time in lieu of a salary raise in negotiations I was engaged in with my manager when I received a job offer at another company. This was a verbal agreement, and I took the vacation as agreed for several years. My manager did not put this in writing and said not to mention it to human resources because there was no policy that would permit it. I agreed.

Recently human resource found out about it and said that because it was against policy, I was no longer permitted to have it.

I protested, saying that it was an agreement my boss made with me and has been permitted for several years.

When my manager was asked about it, he wrote in an email that he had no recollection. i responded to all parties concerned that i did have a recollection and proceeded to give all the details, etc.

Then my manager "remembered" it as I described it.

The human resources person said that if I could produce evidence that there was such an agreement, I might be able to keep my extra week. I told her that I had this email from my manager affirming the agreement.

Then she said that that was not sufficient. I would have to produce more, etc.

My question is, do i have any legal claim to this week of vacation which was given to me in lieu of a raise in order to encourage me not to take the other job?

Is human resources free to rescind vacations that have been negotiated by a manager with explicit instructions to keep it "off the books"?

Is my manager in any sense breaking a law by giving me a vacation off the books for which I am paid even though it is not reported to human resources?

Is there anything I can do to keep them from taking this extra week away?


Asked on 12/04/10, 8:39 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Jason Stern Law Offices of Jason Stern

First, you should print out all correspondence and keep it safely at home and not on your employer's mail server. You need to decide if this is worth making a fuss over. In this financial climate, employers routinely let go of 'difficult' employees, so you should strongly consider either filing a formal complaint with the Department of Labor (which would provide some degree of protection if they were to fire you) or just accepting your employer's position.

Best of luck!

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Answered on 12/09/10, 11:50 am


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