Legal Question in Employment Law in Washington

Withholding of Vacation

I work for a company on a team of 4 people. One member of the team has had to take 12 weeks off through FMLA. Due to this, the rest of the team was just notified that we cannot take any vacation time while the other member is out (for the next three months). Is this legal for them to do this and withold our vacation? Basically we are not allowed to take vacation all summer (when most people take vacation). The company does suggest we have all of our vacation requests in by March, but it is NOT required. There is a requirement that the request is sent 2 weeks prior to the date that is being requested off.

Thank You!


Asked on 5/19/08, 12:19 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Susan Beecher Susan L. Beecher, Atty at Law

Re: Withholding of Vacation

Yes, this is legal, as long as the policy is not applied in a discriminatory manner.

Try to look at this from the prospective of your fellow team members. Normally there are four of you. Now there are three. Would you like to be one of the ones handling the workload if there were only two of you?

It is a disappointment, I know, but unless it violates a collective bargaining agreement, it is not illegal.

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Answered on 5/19/08, 2:46 pm


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