In two months, I am quitting my job (woo!) to begin a new job with my old employer. By that time, I’ll have around 102 hours of PTO accumulated. I’ve looked around in our employee handbook (useless), employee compensation summary (under revision and not available for viewing), and Google, and I can’t find an answer to my question. Maybe I’m searching under the wrong terms.
Anyway, my question is, are they legally required to pay me for those PTO hours, or can they require me to take the time off? Or can they just stiff me? I don’t want to ask my supervisor or coworkers, because I don’t want anyone to know I’m quitting until I give notice (I’m on good terms with everyone and I don’t think they’d find reason to terminate me early, but just to be safe, I’m waiting).
I live in California and work at home for a company in Tennessee (but I believe they must obey California laws).