Do vacation hours count as overtime? This is a common question among employers and employees alike. If an employee takes 8 hours of vacation or PTO on a week where he works more than 32 hours in that week, will those hours over 40 be counted as overtime?
(Before I answer that, I wanted to share a link to our free accrual calculator in case that comes in handy.)
The answer is no. Overtime is calculated only on actual hours worked and not simply the hours on the timecard. If the employee doesn’t physically work 40 hours in the week, then he/she should not be paid overtime.
For example, if the employee works 35 hours Monday through Thursday and then takes another 8 hours vacation on Friday, the employee won’t be owed any overtime at all, even though he/she will be getting paid for 43 hours.
Note, the situation can call for overtime if the employee works in California and works more than 8 hours in a day. But California overtime is more complicated than it is in most other states so this may not apply to you. When calculating daily overtime, the same situation as above would call for 8 hours of overtime, or 2 hours for each day the employee worked more than 8 hours.
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88 Responses
Can a company pull from your overtime to pay for vacation time ?
That’s what we call compensatory time (a.k.a “Comp Time”). After payroll is closed, the value of your overtime hours are placed into a time off category. You will want to speak to your supervisor to see if you have a comp time policy at your workplace. Your employers just have to make sure that they are following FLSA regulations: https://www.flsa.com/overtime.html.
What about if there was a paid holiday for 8 hours and you worked 38 hours . Should you get 6 hours overtime?
That’s up to your employer, so I would suggest that you bring up your question with your HR representative or supervisor. Under federal law, overtime is only required when you actually work– which means that you don’t get overtime when you have any type of PTO. Still, your employer might have a different policy in place, so it’s good to check with them.
Is it legal to take a vacation day, and then work overtime hours ON THAT SAME DAY?
If a worker took vacation time and then worked that same day, it wouldn’t be overtime. Overtime counts for time worked, not time paid.
Could the employer still take the vacation time from the employee if they took 1/2 day off but still worked over 40 hrs for the week?
That’s a good question. Since employers are not required to grant vacation time at all (just sick time in some areas of the country) I suppose they could do whatever they want. That being said, a good employer will have a defined policy and will execute the administration of paid time off according to the letter of the policy. This allows everyone to play on an even field, so to speak, and for employees to know in advance what’s permissible and what is not. In this case, even a defined policy might not have an answer to this question – I know ours doesn’t specifically address this. I would say you have good reason to argue for no time-off deduction if you put in 40 hours.
I work part-time (32 hours/week) and am exempt. I regularly work over 32 hours/week. Within a recent 2-week pay period, I would be committed to work 9 days (72 hours). I already put in 70.5 hours with one day (8 hours) still left in the pay period that I would normally work. I also requested a partial day of PTO (6 hours) because 2 meetings were scheduled that I needed to attend on the PTO day. Would I be required to report the 78.5 hours worked *plus* the 6 hours of PTO even though I exceeded the # of working hours in the pay period by 6.5 hours?
I seem to be a bit confused about your scenario. Regular hours worked and PTO hours worked are not the same thing, therefore they cannot replace one another. If you work 78.5 regular hours, then you need to report that you worked 78.5 hours. If you used 6 hours of PTO, you will report using 6 hours of PTO. Your time report will show that you worked 78.5 hours and used 6 hours of PTO during that specific pay period.
I put in for 8 hours of PTO. It’s not put on my check, due to supervisors not paying attention when my papers filed. I asked for my PTO and was told I could only get 6 hours of my PTO due to the fact this would give me overtime. Can they do this to me?
Time off does not count as actual hours worked, therefore, your 8 hours of PTO will not affect your overtime calculations. Overtime is only calculated from hours that an employee actually works, so that extra 8 hours of PTO doesn’t go towards any overtime. Here’s an example of how your situation would be calculated: Let’s say that your overtime policy is 1.5X pay over 40 hours in a work week… if you worked 38 hours in one week and took 8 hours of PTO, your paycheck will state that you have 46 hours of regular pay. You wouldn’t get any overtime for your PTO hours because you didn’t actually work those 8 hours. Your employer should not adjust your hours for overtime purposes, because you don’t get overtime based on PTO anyways. You realistically should have gotten paid 8 hours of regular pay on top of total hours you worked that week.
Would overtime be permissible when a government employee who is on vacation is told to report to work for an emergency? Does it matter if the time they were told to report to work was inside our outside their normal work hours?
Overtime is earned only when you are working regular hours. Vacation time (or any other sort of time off) does not count towards overtime because they are not “regular hours worked”. If you were on vacation and had to report to work, you were no longer using your vacation time during the time that you were working. As soon as you started working, your hours counted as regular hours worked. If your employer has you work, all time you spend working should count towards your regular hours and overtime. As far as normal work hours is concerned, this is really dependent on your company policy.
I live in Arkansas. I work 40 hours a week Mon. through Friday. I was asked to Sunday. I worked 7. 50 hours which is overtime. However, Wed. Thurs. And Fri. Was PTO for a funeral. My brothers. My job paid me regular hours for 7.50 on Sunday and the other .50 they put on Wednesday to take from PTO to make even 8 hrs. And an even 40hrs at regular pay. Is that even allowed? Should I still have been paid 7.50 overtime? Moo
Hello! I’m assuming that your overtime policy is this: 1.5X pay after 40 hours in a workweek. First of all, PTO hours never count towards overtime, only actual hours worked count towards overtime. That being said, if you only worked Monday, Tuesday, and Sunday, you’re at a total of 23.5 hours worked. If you count your total hours worked with your PTO, you earned 47.5 hours of normal pay (which is 1.0X pay).
My place of employment counts vacation time and holiday hours as “time worked” and it counts for overtime if you end up with over 40 hours.
My employer pays a bonus of time and a half on shifts that are picked up during the week that weren’t on your schedule called a “called in” bonus. However no overtime is paid on 40+ hours and it is justified because they already paid time and a half for the picked up shift. Is this kosher?
That’s very interesting. I’m unfortunately not entirely sure if they are allowed to do that. According to the FLSA, overtime must be calculated at 1.5x the regular rate of pay after 40 hours in the workweek. Since your employer is already paying you 1.5X the normal rate of pay after 40 hours in the workweek, makes sense that they wouldn’t have to pay double time on top of that. I would suggest that you speak with your local labor board or even a legal counsel to check to make sure that this is a legal practice.
Is it allowed for an employer to make their employees take PTO for mandatory overtime? For example, if I was going to be out of town for a week and that week includes mandatory overtime of 8 hours, do I have to take 48 hours of PTO?
You can find these and other legal answers from your labor board. There are laws governing what an employer is allowed to do. Usually you’re owed overtime instead of PTO because it’s paid at a higher rate.
I have a question I live in Arizona if I took a vacation day Monday for 8 hrs then worked my regular work week and hit 40hrs by Friday then took an on call weekend then proceeded to work sat and Sunday until I hit 51.75 hrs am I entitled to the 11.75 hrs overtime?
Arizona follows normal FLSA overtime regulations: “The FLSA requires employers to pay non-exempt employees a rate of 1.5x their standard rate of pay for any hours worked over 40 in a single workweek.” Overtime is calculated on regular hours worked only, you should not get overtime for any PTO hours that you use because you did not actually work those hours. You said that you had a total of 51.75 hours for the week including your 8 hours of time off… 51.75 reg hours – 8.0 PTO = 43.75 regular hours worked. 43.75 reg hours worked – 40.00 = 3.75 overtime hours. Although your time card will show 51.75 hours, only 3.75 of those hours will be considered overtime.
How is vacation paid for 12 -hour shift workers ( 48 hours a week) ?
Hi there. You would have to speak with your company about your vacation time policy to see how your vacation time works.
If you have a negative PTO and you used your vacation can the employer not pay you because his using your vacation to pay for your negative PTO HOURS
There’s no difference between PTO and Vacation time except maybe how your boss allows you to use them. There’s also no legal right to paid vacation. So, it sounds like your boss used one type of type to even out the other, which was in the negative. While our opinions here are not legal guidance, it sounds like there’s nothing wrong with what your boss did – assuming I understood your question.
If an employee works a total of 52 Hours and uses 4 hours vacation time would the remaining 8 hours be considered overtime?
Yes, employees do not get overtime for any vacation hours because those hours weren’t actually worked. 52 hours-4 vacation hours= 48 regular hours worked. This comes out to 40 regular hours and 8 overtime hours.
For example, if the employee works 35 hours Monday through Thursday and then takes another 8 hours vacation on Friday, the employee won’t be owed any overtime at all, even though he/she will be getting paid for 43 hours.
In your example here, should the employee put only 5 hours of vacation hours instead of 8 hours to make it 40 instead of 43.
Hello, that is not how the employee should put vacation time on the time sheet. Employees should always enter their exact hours in the correct places. If the employee took vacation time, the hours should be placed under “vacation time”; if the hours were regular hours worked, those hours should count as “regular hours”. The employee shouldn’t only 5 hours of vacation on their time card if they actually took 8 hours. If your employees put their hours in the wrong place your time records would not be correct, and this can hurt your business in the future if you get audited. In this specific scenario, the employee would put 35 regular hours on the time sheet and 8 hours of vacation time on the time sheet. This would bring the employee’s total to 43 hours for the week, without any overtime. Since the 3 extra hours were vacation hours, they will not count towards overtime.
However, this is completely up to the Employer. Correct? If they feel necessary and want to pay the OT even if there is a vacation day involved. They may do so, right?
We wouldn’t recommend doing that because you would end up overpaying your employees for hours they didn’t even work. Imagine your employee works 40 regular hours and then takes 8 hours of vacation. The employee would have 48 hours on the time card, but only 40 of those hours were actually worked. This means that those extra 8 hours are not going to be paid at 1.5X pay (overtime), those hours will be calculated at the normal 1.0X rate. The federal government has overtime regulations and states do as well. You will want to follow the legal guidelines.
If you get paid by weekly and you take half a vaca day the first week of the pay period; would it affect any time worked over the next week. Example If used 4 hours vacation on Tuesday last week (worked 36 hours). But this week worked 48. Would I only have 88 regular total or 76 reg, 4 Vaca & 8 over. In Kentucky.
According to my research of Kentucky law, it looks like you get 1.5x pay over 40 hours in a work week, much like the DOL regulations. You shouldn’t get paid overtime for any vacation hours, you’ll only get overtime for any regular hours that you work. The first week you just will have 36 regular hours and 4 hours of vacation time. The second week will give you 40 regular hours and 8 overtime hours at 1.5x pay. Putting all of this together: 36 + 40 = 76 regular hours. In conclusion you will have 76 regular hours at 1.0x pay, 4 hours of vacation time at 1.0x pay, and 8 hours of overtime at 1.5x pay.
I live in CA and am paid hourly plus commission. I am also awarded overtime when I work over 8 hours a day. This pay period I earned commission , used vacation time, and had overtime. Does the overtime pay include the vacation hours when finding out how much I am paid per hour of overtime on the commission or only the hours I worked?
Overtime pay is only calculated based on regular hours worked. Regular hours do not include vacation time, sick time, or any other time off.
If we have an employee that gave herself overtime on PTO, is that against the law or just something she shouldn’t do company specific
First and foremost, your employee shouldn’t be calculating their own hours because it will cause confusion. A manager or supervisor should review that employee’s hours to ensure that they are correct before submitting payroll. You should also have a clear overtime and time off policy mapped out so all employees understand what is to be expected. Overtime hours never include the hours from sick time, vacation time, or holiday time; it is only calculated with hours actually worked. There are no federal laws for paid time off, but you may have state or local laws in your area. You will have to check with your local labor board to check the legalities of this situation.
I work in Indiana,, if I work 44 hours with eight hours of PTO can My employer take my four hours of overtime (straight time) and deduct it from PTO Hours..
I’d rather get paid for the 4 hours but they in fact take them
Hello. I’m not sure what your Time Off policy is, but let’s assume that you have weekly overtime and get 1.5X pay for every hour over 40 hours that you work. If you’re saying that 8 of your 44 hours are PTO, then realistically you only worked 36 regular hours and the 8 extra hours were PTO only. PTO does not count towards overtime because they are not “regular hours worked”, therefore you would really get 44 hours of normal pay. Your employer can technically replace overtime with time off, but that’s under very specific rules. You need to have a written bargaining agreement with your employer about the replacement and must provide at least replace your hours at a rate of 1.5X (whatever your overtime rate is). If you feel as though your employer is wrongfully replacing hours, you may want to speak with a legal counsel.
Hi.
From CA and been hearing all sorts of answers from my HR, so I’m lost..
Let’s say Monday was a paid holiday (8hrs), Tuesday I was sick and used a PTO (8hrs), then worked 9 hours Wednesday thru Friday.. would working Saturday for 7 hours be counted as overtime?
Thank you
Time off generally is not counted towards overtime calculations.
Hello I manage an accounting department. One of the staff is asking for overtime the week before and the week after so she can prepare for vacation and catch up so to speak. Is she entitled to do so?
Hi there. It’s entirely up to management/employer if you allow the employee to work overtime. You just have to remember that the employee must get paid for all hours worked, and you must apply any overtime according to your state’s regulations.
so if my employer allows my vacation time, sick time, personal time and comp time to count towards overtime is that ok?(legal)
Your state has certain overtime laws, so you will want to check with your local labor board to see what your policies are. Typically, under the FLSA and DOL, an employee should receive overtime pay at one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked over 40 in a workweek. Vacation, sick, and comp time are not “hours worked” because you did not actually work those hours. Overtime is only calculated with hours that are actually worked by the employee.
I worked 48 hours one week and 24 hours the next week. I took two days of PTO the following week, which would equal out to a 40 hour work week. I am being told that we can only have 80 hours so I am being paid for the overtime but they are not going to pay me 1 day for PTO. Is that legal?
According to the FLSA, you must get paid for all hours that you work and overtime must be placed properly. Keep in mind that states have their own overtime policies, so I would check with your local labor board to make sure that your employer is following the law correctly. You said that you worked 48 hours in week 1, and 24 hours in week 2 with 8 hours of PTO. So, in that case, you technically worked 80 hours with 8 hours of overtime. I assume that your OT policy is 1.5X pay after 40 hours in a workweek. This means in week 1 you would have earned 40 hours of 1.0X pay and 8 hours of 1.5X pay (because 8 of those hours were overtime). In week 2 you would have earned 40 hours of 1.0X pay (because you’re adding the hours you actually worked along with the PTO you took). In total, you would have earned 80 hours of normal pay (1.5X pay) and 8 hours of overtime.
I get paid bi-weekly one week I worked 4, 9 hr days i took a vacation day that week the following week I worked 4, 9 hrs days and had a holiday I work Saturday of that week 9 hours how many hours of overtime should I gotten paid I’m in Texas
According to my research, it looks like Texas follows the same law that the FLSA requires, which is 1.5X pay over 40 hours in a workweek. In regards to Holiday time, some companies will pay their employees time and a half for working on federal holidays but the decision to do so varies from company to company. Unfortunately I don’t know how many hours of vacation you took the first week and you didn’t explain what days you actually worked the second week or first week, so I can’t give you a clear answer; however, I can tell you this: Overtime is only calculated based on the hours that you actually worked– this doesn’t include any sick or vacation time. So, if you worked over 40 hours in week 1, you would probably didn’t get overtime rates because you worked 36 hours and then had a few hours of vacation time. All of those hours would have been normal pay.
If an employee works one 9 hour shift and then is on PTO for 32 hours in a 40 hr work week, Can the employer use 31 hours and pay for 9 hours worked
Your employer should always track your attendance and time off accurately, and pay you accordingly. If you’re using paid time off, that should be paid time. Therefore, if you worked 9 hours and then used 32 hours of paid time off, you should get paid 41 hours of normal pay (1.0x pay). You don’t get overtime for time off, you only get overtime for hours that you actually work, so you should have gotten paid for 41 hours without any overtime.
I work in NYC. If my company pays for holidays and PTO (8 hrs a day). If in a given week, I have one day PTO and work 35 hours, I should be paid for 43 hours at straight time, correct? Right now, they are taking the stance I receive my normal 40 hour pay and that is it.
Hello there. If you have paid time off available, those hours should certainly be paid. That’s the whole point! Those are hours that should still be paid, no matter what. If you worked 35 hours and took 8 hours of PTO, your total for the week should be 43 hours or normal pay.
Hello,
I work a 12 hour rotating (day and night) shift schedule at a power plant in New Jersey. My employer started taking pto time from their employees for not working mandatory overtime. So if I worked 48 or even 72 hours in one week (4 or 6 12 hour days) But I didn’t work mandatory overtime that the company scheduled me for they would take away pto and pay me straight time.
Can an employer take away pto time because I only worked 72 hours one week and not 84? And if they did would they have to pay me overtime or take less hours because the overtime hours and straight time hours do not have the same value?
If an employee has planned vacation in a week (say 8 hours) and then ends up working more than 32 hours on the remaining days – (say 34 hours) – can the employer chose to only deduct 6 vacation hours from their balance? Or could the employee make the choice? Thanks!
I work in Ohio and work Monday thru Friday 8 hr days 40 hr weeks. Paid biweekly on Thursdays. My new employer has this policy that overtime is calculated on the 40 hr week and vacation/off time is based on the 80 hr pay period. Meaning if you work 48 hrs in week 1 (8 of those paid at the OT rate) in week 2 you work 32 hrs and have a scheduled 8 hr vacation day you will not be paid for the vacation day because you had OT in week 1. So they are giving you the day without pay. Surprise! You’re missing a days pay on payday. This seems to be a big win for the employer and a lose for the employee. At my current rate of pay if I work those 8 OT hrs and vacation one day the following week my gain is only 2 hrs OT & a saved vacation day. Save too many vacation days and you start losing those too. Employer got 6 hrs of free labor. In a business that struggles to keep good employees this seems to detour them from staying too long after they get this wake up call. They state it’s their policy and the law. I’ve worked in Ohio many years and have never had this.
Hi, there. Do you have paid time off? If so, those vacation days that your taking should count as normal pay. In your scenario, you explained that you worked 48 hrs in week 1 and 32 hours with 8 hours of vacation time in week 2. If that’s the case, you should have 40 hours of normal pay and 8 hours of overtime in week 1, and 40 hours of normal pay in week 2. This would be a total of 80 hours of normal pay and 8 hours of overtime for the entire pay period. Your employer’s job is to accurately track your hours worked nad pay you overtime properly. An employer is not supposed to alter hours for their own gain. Now, your law requires an “employer to pay overtime to employees, unless otherwise exempt, at the rate of 1½ times the employee’s regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in a workweek”. If your employer isn’t paying you proper overtime, thats’s not lawful. If I were you, I would contact your local labor board or a legal counsel to get this cleared up. You can also contact the Bureau of Wage & Hour Investigator at (614) 644-2239 to review your situation or you can file a minimum wage complaint to see if you have a claim.
In California, if an employee takes 2 days of PTO but works two 12 hour shifts that week, would they still get OT from the Double time shifts?
In California, an employee gets double time if they work more than 12 hours in a day and 1 1/2 time pay after 8 hours in a work day. So, if your employee worked two 12 hours days (and didn’t go over 12 hours), they would earn overtime pay after the first 8 hours and that’s all. If your employee worked over 12 hours during those two days, they would earn 1.5 time pay after 8 hours and double time for any hour after the 12-hour mark.
The company where I work is paying for the time the employee goes to the doctor per a WC incident. He went to the doctor this week for 4 hours. Would this 4 hours count towards OT?
Thank you,
This depends on how the employer is having the employee use the time. If the employee has to use PTO while he goes to the doctors, then those hours will not count towards overtime. If the employer is counting those hours as “normal hours worked”, then those hours will count towards overtime.
I am taking a Monday off using my vacation time/PTO next month. Would it be permissible to, say, work 2 hours extra Tuesday-Friday that week, and then use this time to nullify my PTO, therefore resulting in a regular 40 hour work week in which I do not use up any vacation time but also am not paid any overtime?
That would be a question for your employer. They may or may not agree with what you want to do, but ultimately it’s up to them.
We would like to implement a PTO policy that would require employees to forfeit 2 PTO hours per hour missed if they don’t show up for work that day without a valid excuse–we have a medical facility and short-notice absences are detrimental to our business. This is in Wyoming and as far as I can research, Wyoming law lets empoyers set their own policies regarding PTO as long as there is a written acknowlegement from the employee. Can you tell me whether we are in our legal right to implement a policy like this?
The answer is ‘probably’. There’s no legal requirement in a lot of places for time off, although some states have sick time requirements now. So you can usually design your own policy as long as you don’t run up against a minimum requirement like that. Timesheets.com could help you track that kind of thing.
Hi, from Washington state. I worked 76 hours in 2 weeks, was paid 8 hours for holiday pay and I took a sick day. This is the first sick day I have taken since working at this company. Instead of giving me a full 8 hours for my sick pay they only gave me 2.75? I have plenty of sick time available. It is like they added the 2.75 to the 76 trying to make it equal out to 80 hours. Is that legal? Shouldn’t they have paid me my regular rate for the 8 hours?
Hi Nicole. Your company policy should clarify how sick time is used, and time off is typically given at your standard rate of pay. In most situations, an employer should pay you for the amount of hours that you worked and should include sick/PTO in your payroll report. An employer should not adjust your hours for the company’s interest. That being said, an employer should stay compliant with the law and should pay employees based on the actual hours employees work. I suggest speaking with your local labor board to clarify what the law is and let them know about your situation. They can tell you whether or not this is a legal practice.
If I worked 47hours in a week and I used 1 hour of pto time on Monday for being late, will I still get paid 7 hours of overtime?
Hello, PTO does not count towards overtime. Overtime is only calculated based on the hours that you actually worked. If you worked 46 hours hours and used 1 hour of PTO time, you would get 6 hours of overtime. Vacation and sick time never count towards overtime balances.
My brain thinks vacation and sick time should only be used to make you achieve 40 hours in a week. If you work Monday – Thursday you get 35 hours and take off Friday you would only use 5 hours of vacation or sick. Some feel they are being cheated the 3 hours if not paid 8 hrs like the suggested work day.
One reason I see this as an issue is they will be work 45 hours Monday – Thursday and then take Friday off and want to collect vacation pay since it is a normal work day.
So if the employee doesn’t make overtime for the 8hr vacation day, can the employer still bill the customer for overtime hours?
Employees only obtain overtime for any hours that they actually work. Therefore, if an employee takes 8 hours of vacation time, they will receive 1.0x their pay for those hours. There aren’t any regulations on overtime and billing; the federal government only requires that an employer to pay an employee overtime based on state laws (or federal law). Billing is most likely a contractual agreement between the customer and the employer. If the employer has a rule for overtime, then that might constitute the employer to bill the customer more than the normal rate. For instance, the employer might bill the customer $50/hr during the first 6 hours of work and then might bill the customer $75 for any hours after that. In summary, the billing rate is most likely up to the employer’s policy/contract.
What if my work week is typically mon – fri 8 hrs each day. Last week I worked 10hrs each day moday through thurday, and took a day off Friday. My employeer put in 8hrs if vacation time for my day off on friday. If i work on saturday, will the entire day be over time? Technically I already physically worked 40hrs in the building by the time Thursday came so I figure it should be paid overtime.
That would entirely depend on your state’s overtime policy. However, let’s assume that your overtime policy is 1.5X pay after 40 hours in a work week and that your work week starts on Sunday at 12:00am and ends on Saturday at 11:59pm (because a work week is 168 hours). You said that you worked 10 hours a day M-T, which means that the 40 hours you worked were all 1.0x your normal pay rate. The vacation time you took that week will also calculate as 1.0x your normal pay rate. So, by Friday you’re looking at a total of 48 hours of normal pay. If you work on Saturday, and you are already past 40 hours in the workweek, the hours you work on Saturday will count as overtime at 1.5X pay. Now, if your overtime policy is a daily policy, your numbers will be different and you would not achieve overtime throughout the entire shift on Saturday.
I have a question. I work in Southern Georgia. The company we work ten hour days. With a few exceptions this has been the norm for decades (even when we were purchased by new companies). Now the company is trying to implement (I think without higher authority. We are a world wide company and it is only the local managers doing this). They are trying to make us take PTO for a day off even if we have 40 hours on the clock already ie: work Monday through Thursday 10 hours a day = 40 hours. Now to take Friday off the are trying to force us to take PTO. This is being coordinated with the local HR representative. I know and understand there are no specific laws to cover this. But is it even ethical.
Hi Michael. The FLSA doesn’t have requirements for time off policies, so technically an employer can do whatever he/she wishes, as long as they’re complying with state rules (if applicable). It’s actually quite common, especially working for companies like Tesla and other big corporations, to work 10-hour days 4 times a week instead of a normal 9-5 schedule. But, they’re forcing you to use your PTO hours if you already met your 40 hours in the workweek? That seems interesting. Technically an employer can require employees to use PTO, so that’s not technically illegal. You may want to have a conversation with your HR department
A coworker took a week of vacation on PTO at the beginning of a pay period. The following week, the employer forced her to make up the time from her previous week of PTO. We are non-exempt and our overtime is based on a point system for productivity. For example, we are required to get 64 points per pay period. If we go over-points, there is a bonus for each point we go over that amount. She was told that they could require her to work longer days and still Require her to meet her full bi-weekly productivity without getting overtime since it was within the same pay period. I can understand no overtime, but can they require employees to “make up” time spent on PTO? We are in North Carolina.
PTO policies are technically set up by employers and are agreements between employees and employers; therefore, there aren’t any FLSA rules regarding PTO. So, your employer can somewhat make up whatever policy they please. I suggest that you speak with a professional HR representative about your situation.
So if I worked 34.72 actual hrs and since the office had no PTO request forms so I left my boss a note saying I wanted my 2 remaining shifts in PTO since I was not working. I was given one day of 5.28hrs is that legal and if not how should it have gone?
Time off is an agreement between you and your employer; therefore they can typically do what they see fit with your time off (as long as it doesn’t break contracts). You may want to speak with your HR representative or supervisor about your time off policy to give you clarity as to how your system works. Additionally, your boss shouldn’t report your time incorrectly– if you worked 34.72 hours and had 2 8-hour shifts, they should report that correctly for payroll.
I work 32 hours/week and paid bi-weekly. If I work 32.5 hours week one and 26 hours week 2 plus 8 hours of PTO, can my employer change my time card to read that I only took 7.5 hours of PTO to make it equal 64 hours? I live in Wisconsin.
Hi Kimberly. It’s common for an employer can pay the employee for their time and deduct hours from their PTO banks. You said you worked 32.5 hours during week 1 and 26 hours during week 2. I’ll assume that you have a weekly overtime policy that gives you 1.5X pay for every hour you work over 40 hours. If that’s the case, 32.5+26=58.5. That’s 58.5 hours worked. Now, once you add the 8 hours of PTO, you’ll get 66.5 hours of 1.0X pay. If they gave you 7.5 hours of PTO instead of 8, you would end up with 66 hours of 1.0x pay, not 64 hours. I’m not entirely sure why your employer would change your PTO, but you must get paid for the hours that you worked along with the PTO you took because that is supposed to be “paid time off”. If you’re an hourly employee, you need to get paid what you earned. From what you told me, this may have been recorded incorrectly. To be sure, I recommend that you speak with an HR rep about this specifically, because they’ll know Wisconsin law– they’re experts.
If an employee works their regular shift in a week, but wants a 40 hour check, can the employer add PTO to their check to make it a full 40 hours even though no time off was taken?
Generally yes, an employer can require you to use PTO even when it was not actually used. Your state may have specific rules regarding this practice (so you may want to check with an expert who knows your state labor laws), but it’s overall a legal act.
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Do Vacation Hours Count As Overtime?