Top Employment Labor Law Attorney, Rodney Mesriani, Esq., Provides Employees with Guidelines in Determining Their Year End Unused Vacation Leave Benefits
Los Angeles, CA (PRWEB) December 28, 2013 -- Best Employment Labor Law Firm in Los Angeles, California, established by Rodney Mesriani, Esq., wants to help each and every employee in California determine the year end benefits they may receive from their employers from their unused vacation leaves and other forms of compensation as mandated by California employment and labor laws, rules and regulations.
California law does not impose any legal requirement that an employer should provide its employees with either paid or unpaid vacation time. However, if the employer, as a matter of practice, agreement or policy, provides paid vacation, then these become part of an employee's wage and, thus, cannot be arbitrarily withheld by the employer. (http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Vacation.htm)
California Labor Code Section 227.3 states that, "Unless otherwise provided by a collective-bargaining agreement, whenever a contract of employment or employer policy provides for paid vacations, and an employee is terminated without having taken off his vested vacation time, all vested vacation shall be paid to him as wages at his final rate in accordance with such contract of employment or employer policy respecting eligibility or time served; provided, however, that an employment contract or employer policy shall not provide for forfeiture of vested vacation time upon termination. The Labor Commissioner or a designated representative, in the resolution of any dispute with regard to vested vacation time, shall apply the principles of equity and fairness." (Emphasis and underscoring supplied).
Mr. Mesriani opines that if you are provided by your employer with paid vacation leaves, these leaves are earned incrementally, meaning, you earn a portion of the vacation leaves as you work through the months and this cannot be forfeited even if you get terminated. (Suastez v. Plastic Dress Up (1982) 31 C3d 774). "The reason for this is that the pro-rated vacations pay already accrued already formed part of the employee's wage or hours worked and hence, this cannot anymore be denied the employee even if he is terminated for whatever reason", adds Mr. Mesriani.
Using the above-mentioned labor code provision and existing case laws on vacation leaves, Mr. Mesriani of Top Los Angeles Employment Attorney, identifies the usual unlawful policies by some employers in preventing or limiting employees' claims of granted vacation leaves, which include:
1. Take it or lose it policy - which means that an employee is forced to use all the granted vacation leaves within the same year, otherwise, the unused vacation leaves are deemed waived;
2. Lose your vacation credits if you resign or quit your job - which means that if an employee resigns or quits his job, any accrued vacation leaves shall be forfeited and not be paid; and
3. Floating holidays - which means that employers call accrued vacation leaves as other terms and either withholds or deny these "me time" or "personal time".
Finally, Mr. Mesriani of the Mesriani Law Group, P.C., stresses that, "If your employer lumps both sick leaves, which are technically not reimbursable or convertible to cash and vacation leaves, then those sick leaves or other benefits lumped together with vacation leaves will all be taken together as creditable leaves and any unused benefits lumped up together should be paid to you by the end of the year or upon your resignation or termination."
Mesriani Law Group's best Employment Labor Law Firm in Los Angeles, California are well respected in the legal community for their commitment in helping all California employees resolve labor law violations and issues, to include: Labor Code retaliation, meal and rest break violations, minimum wage violations, overtime violations, tip violations and wage and hour violations. They also help represent all employees with their employment and labor law concerns with: California Department of Labor, California Labor Commissioner, California Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Labor Standards Enforcement, Fair Labor Standards Act, Labor and Workforce Development Agency.
About Mesriani Law Group, P.C.
Mesriani Law Group is a Los Angeles, California based employment and labor law firm founded by Rodney Mesriani, Esq., with decades of experience in helping wrongful termination and employment discrimination and harassment victims, as well as victims of labor law violations obtain the highest compensation they deserve. The law firm's best Los Angeles employment and labor law lawyers, based in 5732 Melrose Ave., Suite 250, Los Angeles, CA 90038, specialize in handling all types of wrongful termination cases; violation of retaliation laws; violation of whistle blowing laws; and employment discrimination or harassment, to include age discrimination, racial discrimination, gender discrimination, disability discrimination, religious discrimination, pregnancy discrimination, national origin discrimination and workers compensation discrimination, as well as labor law violations to include: Labor Code retaliation, meal and rest break violations, minimum wage violations, overtime violations, tip violations and wage and hour violations. To learn more about the firm, call 1.866.998.2545 for a free case evaluation or email them or take advantage of their free on-line case submission.
Rodney Mesriani, Top Employment Attorneys, http://www.topemploymentattorneys.com/, +1 (310) 921-7050, [email protected]
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