01 Jul Can we deny an employee’s use of accrued vacation time?
Question: Can we deny an employee’s use of accrued vacation time?
Answered by the HR Experts: Yes, the decision to approve or deny the use of accrued vacation time is up to you, assuming you do so in a consistent and nondiscriminatory manner. It would be acceptable, for example, to deny a vacation request because approving it would leave you without adequate coverage or because the employee asked with less notice than is required by your time off policy.
You should, however, ensure certain employees are not denied vacation disproportionately. For instance, if an employer’s administrative staff (who are all women), or their software engineers (who are all men), are consistently denied vacation because arranging coverage is difficult and deadlines are abundant, this could lead to claims of discrimination.
If you have “use it or lose it” vacation policy, you may want to change it (permanently or for 2020) to a system where hours roll over from one benefit year to another (up to a reasonable cap) so employees don’t feel like they need to use up their vacation by a certain date or risk losing the benefit. If you already roll over hours, you might consider raising the rollover cap for this year in response to COVID-19. In any case, be sure to notify employees of any changes to your policy.
Original content by the Mineral Platform. This information is provided with the understanding that Payroll Partners is not rendering legal, human resources, or other professional advice or service. Professional advice on specific issues should be sought from a lawyer, HR consultant or other professional.