new vacation policy implemented at work

[yourkiddin]

was wondering if this is legal. i work for a major textiles company. they held a meeting and told us that they are changing our vacation days to hours. im sure this benifits them some way not sure yet how. also that if they give us 30 day notice and they shut down for the 4th or christmas and we have vacation days we have to use them and if we dont have any we dont get a check that week. now some managers that are close to the employers have stated they have to pay unemployement these weeks if no vacation days available. i work a week of 1st then week of third. then have 5 days off. they are even saying if one of those weeks fall on my days off i still lose my vacation. smells fishy. this kinda takes away when u can take vacation.

 

[kenmyfam]

Re: new vacation policy implemented at work

I don't fully understand what you are saying here. Look up the labor board website for wherever you are and see if you can find what you are looking for.

 

[TilliamWe]

Re: new vacation policy implemented at work

Mitsubishi did the same thing here in Illinois with a previously unscheduled plant shutdown. The guys had to use their vacation time first. Or they could go to work and get paid, they just wouldn't be running the assembly line. If they didn't use their vacation, and didn't report for work, they just didn't get paid. And they have a UAW contract, so I would imagine that what your company is proposing is completely legal.

Regarding the hours of vacation instead of days, the advantage to them is that you accrue the hours as you go along. Instead of just having 5 days vacation after a magical point (say Jan 1) you start earnign the hours off then. So if they shut down on February 15, you won't have very many hours to use as vacation, where in the past, you would have had the whole 5 days already. See what I mean?

 

[tashasdaddy]

Re: new vacation policy implemented at work

i think the majority of companies have gone to vacation hours, for paid vacation. this way, you do not take 2 weeks in April, and the quit in May.

 

[jay_merrill]

Re: new vacation policy implemented at work

The latest trend in benefits is "Personal Time, instead vacation, sick days, etc. It is typically accumulated in hours, rather than days.

Vacation time is a benefit, not an entitlement. As long as previously earned vacation time is not being taken away from you, I wouldn't worry about the switch on accumulation basis. The business about making you take vacation time during shutdowns is obviously a ploy to reduce unemployment compensation claims. Off the top of my head, I can't think of any labor rules that might come into play, but if there are some, they most likely have to do with unemployment compensation rules, not wage and hour laws.

Just a quick guess on my part. BTW, what state do you live in?


PS: Kennyfam brought up a good point - if your employment is governed by a collective bargaining agreement, that agreement might have something on the matter. That said, I would think that your Shop Steward would have brought the matter up to the Business Agent already.

 

[BoatBuoy]

Re: new vacation policy implemented at work

For many years, I got my vacation time as an accumulation - so many hrs. per pay day. I wouldn't have it any other way.

 

[wajajaja02]

Re: new vacation policy implemented at work

In NJ any week that you don't work a full 40 you and work less than 32 you can claim partial unemployment for the difference in wages, based on the wages for the last 18 months of employment. worked very well when I switched from being a engineer for the phone company to a full time school bus driver. made 12 k driving the bus and 18 on unemployment simultaneously.
school bus is not seasonal, nor part time, even though it would appear to be.

IF YOUR NOT UNION ,, YOU NEED TO BE.