I am an exempt (salaried) employee of a large company in California and I accrue 160 hours of vacation every year. Due to California law allowing rollover, I’ve accrued over 400 hours of vacation. My HR team just informed me that starting January 2025, they will force a payout of any excess vacation hours over 160 at the end of each year. Can my company do this? I’d prefer to keep my vacation hours to use as vacation.
Yes, this is completely legal. You are not forfeiting wages; you’re just being compensated for hours accrued beyond your limit. Your preference doesn’t affect company policy.
Exactly. They owe you for the excess hours you’ve earned. They just want to manage their liability and avoid having a huge vacation balance.
Yup, they can do that.
Yes, they can enforce this policy.