Does my employer owe me a waiting penalty for PTO?

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Does my employer owe me a waiting penalty for PTO?

I worked for my employer full-time and decided to go to on-call status. During my
full-time status, I accrued over a week of PTO. I did not request this as cash
out since I was staying as on-call. During that time, 2 months or more passed and
I only worked one on-call shift, but stayed on the list and still did not request
PTO cash out, just in case I was offered a shift in the future that I could take.

I recently contacted my employer asking for them to take me off of the on-call
list as my schedule would not allow for me to work any of their shifts and that I
wanted to cash out my PTO. On day 2 after the email, my manager fowarded my email
to HR asking for them to help me, but did not directly reply to me. I have not
heard from either my manager nor HR and 6 business days have passed. I live in
California and would like to know what the law is before I continue.

Asked on April 3, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, California

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

While you are employed, you have no right to "cash out" accrued but unused PTO. In your state (but not in many states), if and when your employment ends, at that time, they have to cash out or pay you for any vacation PTO (but not sick days) you had earned but had never used.


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