Is it legal if my company was taken over and my accrued PTO has been reduced?

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Is it legal if my company was taken over and my accrued PTO has been reduced?

After working 40 years with a non-profit company and accruing 6 weeks paid time off my company partnered with a for profit company that said that while I will keep my seniority I will only acrue 2.5 weeks time off now.

Asked on January 17, 2016 under Employment Labor Law, Michigan

Answers:

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

Unfortunately, this is legal permissable under the law. That is true unless you have a union agreement or employment contract that guarantees how much PTO could be accrued.
Absent any of the above, an employer is free to change its PTO policy to reduce the amount of such time that can be accrued by its employees. Accordingly, the new owner of your company can set this policy as it likes regardless of what previous policy allowed. 
Note: If your treatment constitutes some form of actionable discrimination, then you would have a legal claim.

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 8 years ago | Contributor

It is perfectly legal, unfortunately, unless you had a written employment contract guarantying how much PTO you could accrue. When there is no written contract, a company is free to change its PTO (vacation, sick, and personal days) policy, and may reduce the amount accrued by employees at will. The fact that you have a substantial amount of seniority or that the company previously gave you 6 weeks is irrelevant--going forward, an employer may set any policy it likes.


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