Is anybody familiar with labor laws regarding vacation time in Wisconsin, or can they direct me to a resource on such?
In specific, I’m curious about what kinds of restrictions an employer can put on how an employee uses personal vacation time (versus sick time). Could an employer in Wisconsin require that an employee use their personal time off in specific chunks? E.g., could they say, “You must take PTO for a full shift, regardless of how much time you worked”?
Considering that “paid time off” to my knowledge is not a right, but exists as an agreement between an employee and the company, I doubt there are any laws in Wisconsic regarding the terms of how vacation time can be used. Company’s are not required to provide any vacation time. It is a perk that most companies offer. It would be subject to the company’s policy that would have been agreed to by the employee when they chose to work there.
So if the company’s policy is to require that vacation be taken in entire shift alotment, that is what would be required.
If you don’t like it…and the company won’t change the policy…then go find a company that has a policy that you like.
My answer confirmed: http://www.dwd.state.wi.us/er/labor_standards_bureau/publication_erd_4906_pweb.htm#21%20Vacation_
It’s not *my *company. This came up at dinner with a friend last night, and I was curious.
This is also not the original vacation policy; it’s a new one. Is there any kind of warning that has to be given for changing a policy like this? Or is it pretty much a “we’ll do what we want, and if you don’t like it, you can find a different job” situation?
Does your friend have a written contract, letter of agreement or employee handbook (that wasn’t updated) that says anything differently?
FWIW, I worked at one job in an industry with a very high turnover rate. The owner sweetened the pot for new hires with a promise of a lot of vacation time after we’d been there for eight years. Son of a gun if he didn’t wind up with a bunch of employees who liked their jobs and intended to stay there forever. After several of us had passed the five-year mark the promised extra vacation time simply disappeared.
kunilou, would it matter if he had the previous policy in writing? Is there any kind of procedure that must be followed for changing the way vacation time is allowed to be taken, when there’s a documented standard?
For employees hired at will (no labor union contract) the company can change their policy as often as they like. If you have a significant grievance the employee could contact Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development to assist in settling. I highly doubt that anyone would take up someone’s issue over a 5-6 hours of vacation time, as you described in the OP. Again, company’s don’t even have to offer paid vacation, it’s considered a benefit.
I’m a little curious about this last part - if someone is working, they are paid for work. Is the scenario that a person would work for 4 hours, be off for 4 hours, and be paid for 4 hours of work and 8 hours of PTO?
Icarus, I don’t know the company’s policy, but I could imagine it being.
EE worked 4 hours and took 4 hours off.
They will be paid for 8 hours, and 8 hours of their vacation time will be counted as used.
They are still being paid for the time they worked, they are also losing 4 hours of vacation time they didn’t technically use because of the policy. There are no laws governing how vacation is given or used, and since the EE is being paid for the time they worked, the Company is not in violation of any FLSA rules.
Laws vary from state to state, but the general jist is this: Unless there is a law that says you CAN’T do something you can do it.
In Illinois there are only a few laws regarding wages. Vacation time can be given anyway an employer wants. So long as it’s not done in violation of discrimination. Yes, your employer can tell you how to take your vacation.
Sick time is a bit different from vacation. Vacation time is acrrued on the books and is earned and must be paid, IF it is on the books as accured. The courts have ruled that since the company has already accrued for it, there’s no cost to them.
Sick time and holiday time are considered conditional benefits. One is not entitled to sick time unless they are sick. One is not entitled to Christmas off, unless Christmas is here.
Since you didn’t meet the condition no benefit needs to be paid. Again a huge exception is how the benefits are delegated. If an employer lumps all time off in to a PTO (paid time off), they have to pay it all. If they put the PTO into seperate buckets, they may not have to.
I say may not because again, accuring makes a huge difference in some states. In Illinois people denied their owed sick leave and who sue have won. Illinois courts have ruled that since the time was accrued for on the books, it must be paid regardless of the condition, because accruing for it means in reality it’s not a conditional benefit.
Of course other states vary with their laws.
As for designating use of time off, yes the employer can make you take the time off as they see fit. They can require the use of doctor notes to get sick time and such. As long as these rules are not discriminitory against a protected class of people (women, the various races, and such) they will hold up.
It’s common for employers to require at least a half a day off to be used for vacation or to even requre vacation to be used as one lump sum.
My dad had a unique requirement for his vacation time. He had to take it all at once. No “I need a day off in October” or “I want to take a long weekend”. Nope, one big chunk out of the summer, when my sister and I would get thrown in the “way-back” of the station wagon and off we’d go to look at Civil War sites.
Interesting note 1: He was a banker, and they wanted to see what happened when their officers took off, whether any book-cooking would show up.
Interesting note 2: This was in … Wisconsin. [cue polka version of Twilight Zone music]
This a common practice of banks. IIRC, National banks regulated by the OCC (national Office of the Comptroller of the Currency), require at least annually, for employees to take 5 consecutive days off.
There are certain industries that do this kind of thing. Back in the 70s my father was the manager of a lumberyard in Montreal, so he was on the periphery of the construction industry. Back then, and I think now as well (though I haven’t lived there in a long time), the whole construction industry took two weeks for vacation in the middle of the summer. So we always knew when our summer vacation would be, years in advance, and we had no choice about it.
A lot of factories do the same thing too - they schedule a 2 week shutdown (or 2 one week shutdowns) per year for maintenance, and everyone required is to take vacation then. Hell of a lot easier than trying to schedule around vacations when you’ve got OSHA mandated staffing levels.
I used to work for an OCC-regulated bank, and it wasn’t all employees, just employees in certain critical positions. (I sure wasn’t subject to that requirement!)
Yes, that’s my understanding. They would use–and be paid–a full shift’s worth of PTO, plus whatever part of the shift they actually worked.