State Representative Mary Jo Daley (D-Merion Station) speaks with a colleague in the House of Representatives.
A bill is being introduced that would make Pennsylvania the fifth state in the US to ban “Use it or lose it” Vacation policies.
Rep. Mary Jo Daley (D-Merion Station) is circulating a memorandum to co-sign a bill she authored that would end paid leave rules that prohibit workers from rolling over or cashing out paid leave at the end of the year. The bill itself is still being drafted.
“Employees may be granted new vacation, but under these policies, any time earned but unused will be forfeited without compensation,” Daley wrote.
Daley said many workers’ vacation requests are denied multiple times until it is too late in the year to take all of their paid vacation, while other workers, such as construction workers, are often told they cannot take vacation during the summer construction season.
Nebraska, Montana, Colorado and California prohibit “use it or lose it” leave policies, with Colorado’s policy, originally passed in 2015, being the subject of lawsuits and several clarifying regulations in the years since. Connecticut Legislature: No state currently requires employers to offer paid leave, although there are three states that require some employers to offer paid leave that employees can use for any reason. Employers who choose to offer paid leave often do not have state laws governing how that unused leave is paid out or forfeited, as states leave that decision up to companies.
“In these states, employers may set caps on vacation and other leave, but unused paid vacation is generally considered wages that cannot be taken away from employees once earned,” said Daley. “I plan to introduce legislation that would impose similar restrictions on employers’ ability to enforce ‘use it or lose it’ policies.”
