UPDATE: Vacation Payout In Louisiana

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A friend of mine was leaving his place of employment in Louisiana and his company was not going to pay him out for his accrued vacation. I thought that the labor laws required companies to pay out accrued vacation time?

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if you are terminated, your employer owes you vacation. if you quit, that's on you


at least i think that is the law

Here is the link to Louisiana law:

LINK

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if you are terminated, your employer owes you vacation. if you quit, that's on you


at least i think that is the law

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I dont think that is right. It looks like the employee can do whatever they want regarding vacation pay upon termination/resignation, as long as it is stated in a policy:

D.(1) For purposes of this Section, vacation pay will be considered an amount then due only if, in accordance with the stated vacation policy of the person employing such laborer or other employee, both of the following apply:
(a) The laborer or other employee is deemed eligible for and has accrued the right to take vacation time with pay.
(b) The laborer or other employee has not taken or been compensated for the vacation time as of the date of the discharge or resignation.
(2) The provisions of this Subsection shall not be interpreted to allow the forfeiture of any vacation pay actually earned by an employee pursuant to the employer's policy.

Thank yall for the help!

Okay so we don't have enough information here. I'm also confused by some of the responses. But I'll say that I'm a bit of a former/recovering SME.

Vacation pay is payable regardless of the nature of or reason for separation (whether via termination, by resignation, etc). The timing should not extend past typical reasonableness (IE-If your employer owes you a month of vacation and it's a smaller shop of 1-2 paid employees, don't expect them to be able to cough up the entirety of the amount by the next payday).

Sick pay is not payable upon separation from employment, regardless of the nature of or reason for the separation. Regardless of the moving party, with sick leave you are SOL in Louisiana.

Now someone mentioned PTO. I can guarantee you for a 100% fact that PTO is treated as sick leave in Louisiana. Not really interested in going into it, but let's just say I literally know the page number in the policy manuals where this is mentioned specifically.

PTO is not payable upon separation from employment, regardless of the nature of or reason for separation. Regardless of whom the moving party was. You may fight for it, but you won't win. PTO ain't payable.

ETA: From a previous post

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Our company “awards” PTO at the beginning of an anniversary year for our employees in Louisiana. This includes vacation AND sick time. At the time of seperation, do we have to pay out any unused time to them? We do not allow for carry over each year either. Use it or lose it. Yes, Louisiana is one of about a dozen states that alway requires employers to pay workers for earned, unused vacation time at termination. Termination includes being fired, laid off or quitting. This is state law, so even if a company with employees in several states has a policy of not paying vacation, they must make an exception for Louisiana workers.

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PTO is absolutely, positively not the same as Vacation Time. This is well-established in Louisiana and if you attempt to collect it upon termination you won't get it.

Thanks GFunk... his sick time is separate so I'm pretty sure this is true vacation. I think he started day 1 with 2 weeks vacation. This was years ago but I was wondering if that was their justification is that he hadn't earned it.

UPDATE: The company, axiall, claims they don't have to pay it out bc it is written in the handbook.

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LSU1018

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Give this to your friend. Point blank his company is wrong

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Vacation pay is considered “wages,” and once vacation time is accumulated, it is the property of the employee. Thus, unused earned time for paid vacation must be paid at termination. Penalties for violating compensation for vacation at termination are the same as for failure to pay last wages within 3 days of termination. Written or other policies requiring the forfeiture of such accrued rights are not enforceable (Beard v. Summit Institute, 707 So.2d 1233 (La. 1998)); (LA R.S. 23:631, 23:634, and 23:636).

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I think a little over 2 weeks

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bubbz

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What if pto was considered vacation time and sick time at your employer? Ex all we have is PTO, it's our sick time and vacation and

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The entire point of PTO is to not have to worry about accrual rates for two separate amounts or types of leave while giving employees more flexibility in their total leave amounts. You use PTO however you like, whether vacation or sick time.

For example, let's say you schedule for a week off for a vacation in July and you get 5 days of paid vacation per year along with 5 sick days per year. If you end up with a sick day or two by April, and then took off for a week with an extended battle with the flu, you're out of sick leave.

If you get sick again or have to miss work, then you have leave left and many employers will allow you to use vacation time. But guess what happened to that vacation in July? It's either shorter by a day or two or you're only going to get paid for 4 days of work that week. If you're lucky.

PTO allows you the flexibility to use the entire amount of leave you're awarded by the employer in whatever form or fashion the employee sees fit. This flexibility in the favor of the employee makes things easier for the employer's back end for record keeping in terms of accrual rates, time sheet coding, etc.

It also ends up being favorable towards the employer when separation of employment occurs. PTO is not vacation. It's not sick. It's PTO, and Louisiana law as well as long-standing established precedent dictate that PTO is not payable to the employee upon separation from employment.

Period. Point blank.

If you have vacation? Yes.
If you have sick leave? No.
If you have PTO? No.