Legal Question in Legal Ethics in Ohio

Paid Time Off (PTO)

I have accrued 116.57 hours of pto. I informed my supervisor of my resignation on Dec 3. She stated ''give your letter to nurse consultant, she would be in or Wed. or Thur). I hand my letter to the nurse consultant on Thur. when she arrived at work. The nurse consultant gave it to the Director of Nursing on 12-6-07. The Director of Nursing wrote on the letter recieved and accepted on 12-6-07. I was told that I wasn't getting my pto d/t failure to give proper 2 weeks notification(this was stated by Administrator & HR Coordinator). I recieved a statement from the Director of Nursing stating that she received my notification on Dec 3, 2007. The Adminstrator said she would look into as of 1-17-08. As of this date 1-22-08, I haven't heard from her. I have left nlumerous messages(phone & e-mails) with no answer. Please let me know if you need anymore information. Are they allowed to withhold my PTO?


Asked on 1/22/08, 9:40 am

1 Answer from Attorneys
Richard Cline Office of the Ohio Public Defender

Re: Paid Time Off (PTO)

There are two issues raised by your question, but neither one is a Legal Ethics or Professional Responsibility issue.

The first issue is whether your employment is governed by a written contract or a union agreement. If so, then the contract (agreement) governs when accrued paid time off (PTO)can be cashed out and when it is forfeited.

The second issue is whether the PTO was a form of compensation (i.e., PTO accumulates in lieu of overtime). If that is the case, the employer may be required to cash out the PTO, despite what the contract says, because otherwise the employer may be violating wage and hour standards.

Assuming that the contract did require two weeks notice, I cannot tell from the facts in your question whether you actually gave notice because you do not state your last date worked. Certainly, the question implies that you did give two weeks notice.

I would make an appointment to talk with the HR person and, if that fails, file a lawsuit to recover the money owed to you.

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Answered on 1/22/08, 10:15 am


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