I was told by HR that I would be paid my accrued sick time when I terminate employment and now 2 weeks later after my formal resignation I am being told no I am not eligible for sick time pay out? Do I have any legal recourse?

Get Legal Help Today

Compare Quotes From Top Companies and Save

secured lock Secured with SHA-256 Encryption

I was told by HR that I would be paid my accrued sick time when I terminate employment and now 2 weeks later after my formal resignation I am being told no I am not eligible for sick time pay out? Do I have any legal recourse?

I work for a large healthcare facility in Arizona as a Registry RN – I
work as needed and due to AZ law put into effect July 1, 2017, I have
been accruing sick time.

I checked with our HR 2 and half weeks prior to my formal resignation
if I would be eligible to be paid the sick time when I leave since I
am not a Staffing/Registry employee – the HR representative sent me an
email stating ‘I verify that you are eligible to accruing AZ sick
time. If you were to terminate your position with Banner your AZ sick
time will be paid out to you.’

After submitting my resignation letter today I am being told that even
thou state law requires them to give sick time while working for them
does not require them to pay me out – and does not matter what
previous employee told me – they were wrong.

My question is what if any legal recourse do I have? It’s not much
pay for a huge company but for a lowly working stiff would have been
about 960 .. and had I known I wouldn’t been paid I could have
continued working for them a few more weekend days before the month
was out.

Thank you

Asked on April 11, 2018 under Employment Labor Law, Arizona

Answers:

SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 5 years ago | Contributor

No state, including yours, requires the payment of accrued but unused sick leave unless you have a written contract requiring that it be paid. (Some states require that accrued but unused vacation days be paid, but vacation is different from sick days and is treated differently in the law.) Your employer is not required to pay you these days under the law, unless you had a written contract guarantying you the pay, and legally is free to not pay. Even if a company representative told you that it would be paid out and that statement affected the timing of your resignation, since the company did not get anything of value from you resigning earlier, they did not receive any "consideration" and therefore this would not have formed an enforceable agreement or obligation (an enforceable agreement requires that *both* sides get or be promised something of value; a one-sided promise is not enforceable in the law). Based on what you write, it does not appear that you have grounds to require the payment of the sick day money.


IMPORTANT NOTICE: The Answer(s) provided above are for general information only. The attorney providing the answer was not serving as the attorney for the person submitting the question or in any attorney-client relationship with such person. Laws may vary from state to state, and sometimes change. Tiny variations in the facts, or a fact not set forth in a question, often can change a legal outcome or an attorney's conclusion. Although AttorneyPages.com has verified the attorney was admitted to practice law in at least one jurisdiction, he or she may not be authorized to practice law in the jurisdiction referred to in the question, nor is he or she necessarily experienced in the area of the law involved. Unlike the information in the Answer(s) above, upon which you should NOT rely, for personal advice you can rely upon we suggest you retain an attorney to represent you.

Get Legal Help Today

Find the right lawyer for your legal issue.

secured lock Secured with SHA-256 Encryption