Failure to Pay Vacation and Personal Time in Tampa
As an employee, you work hard every day and it is expected you will be compensated for your efforts. Compensation comes in the form of currency, but paid time off is valuable as well. If your employer has not given you the time off that you deserve, get in touch with an attorney. Work with a skilled employment lawyer that could help you hold your employer accountable for their failure to pay vacation time and personal time in Tampa.
Explaining Paid Time Off
Different companies have different ways of calculating paid time off. Businesses set out what their own paid time off and vacation time are. In some cases, there is unpaid vacation or paid time off that is not properly reimbursed to the employee when they either quit or when they are fired but this depends on how the employer sets it out in the employee handbook.
The FLSA does not entitle an individual to a certain amount of vacation time or a certain amount of paid time off. An individual’s business may state in the employee handbook or otherwise that they will receive a certain amount of paid time off whether they use it or not, and gives rollover rates and other things like that, such terms are all set out in the employee handbooks.
Responsibility to Pay Employees the PTO They Are Owed
If the employer does not state in the employee handbook that they will reimburse the paid time off, then they are not bound to pay an individual for any personal time off or vacation time that the person gained. If an individual quits, then they may lose that vacation or personal time that they accrued.
If there is nothing about paid time off in the employee handbook or any written document that is given and signed off by the employer, then they do not have to pay an individual for those vacation days or that paid time off. If the person does not use their paid time off, or if they quit or are fired, and they have accrued time off, they are not entitled to them under the FLSA.
Steps to Take If You Are Owed Paid Time Off
The first step a person should take if they have noticed their employer’s failure to pay vacation time and personal time in Tampa, is notify their employer to see if the employer will give them paid time off. If not, they should hire an attorney and bring the documents that show exactly what they are owed for paid time off or vacation time that they have accrued, and let the attorney file the appropriate paperwork to try to gather that information from them.
If it is considered to be unpaid wages, while those wages are not liquidated which means double because of the penalty, an individual could still be reimbursed for the attorney’s fees and costs and the wages that they are owed for this paid time off and vacation time.
Value of an Attorney
If you have noticed your employer’s failure to pay vacation time and personal time in Tampa, you should contact an attorney as early as possible. The attorney could file the appropriate paperwork, analyze the handbook or documentation that you have as an employee that shows what you are owed for that paid time off. As soon as the attorney gets involved, the attorney’s fees and costs provisions that may be included in these wages claims usually will help the employer pay you what you are owed sooner, rather than later. Work with a skilled paid time off lawyer that could work towards a positive outcome for you.