PTO payout not given?
Asked by Pooh
I had a balance in my PTO when I quit my job. I inquired about an exit interview but never did get a reply and one was never done. My termination was never processed and my status was changed to parttime several weeks later to develop reports on backlog. I provided free assistance to new employees on work I did as a fulltime employee at the beginning. There was never a discussion on how I was to be compensated and no new assignment given. After several months, I requested a termination and a PTO payout. Neither the manager, his supervisor, nor HR informed me of the new policy regarding current year accured PTO. After several phone calls to HR, I finally was told those hours are forfeited. I again requested an exit interview to discuss a resolution. What can I do legally? Will I be able to get my PTO payout? Or having a policy in place whether I am aware of it or not determines whether I will get it?

Best Answer:
This is a very odd situation. As I understand it, you quit, were never terminated, and then went to a part-time status. Now you are being told that you cannot be paid out your PTO hours. Get a copy of this policy and find out how long it has been in place. If hours were being paid out at the time of termination, and now they aren't "a few months later", what has changed? Once you have earned PTO it cannot be forfeited under most cases - if they are saying that you lost it because you want to part-time, they are incorrect. Visit www.dol.gov and file a claim for lost wages. The case law that supports this is Suarez vs. US Plastics (1986 I think) if you need it to support your position. Good luck!