Is my employer allowed to force me to take unpaid leave?
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Is my employer allowed to force me to take unpaid leave?
I’m a salaried, exempt state employee. I was forced to take 7 days of unpaid leave over the past year. Each
of those 7 days were because I was out of leave I only earn 9.3 hours of each annual leave and sick leave per month and either myself or my son was sick or my husband had just had surgery. Each of those days, I had worked most or all of the rest of the week. Are they allowed to make me use unpaid leave?
Asked on October 14, 2019 under Employment Labor Law, South Carolina
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 4 years ago | Contributor
If you missed work when you did not have PTO to cover it (or had used up you paid time off) they could have terminated you: there is no right to miss work without using PTO, even if you were sick or were caring for a family member, unless your employer is covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), you are eligible for it, and the condition and absence met its criteria. (You can find information about FMLA on the U.S. Dept. of Labor website.)
Even if they choose to not terminate you, there is NO obligation to pay a salaried exempt employee for any days that she misses in their entirety (i.e. if you did not work at least some part of the day, they did not have to pay you for that day; if you work, for example, 3 days in a week and missed 2 days, they had to pay you for 3 days, but would not have to pay for the other 2).
So you could have terminated you. and them letting you take unpaid leave instead is actually more generous than the law required.
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