Thread regarding Kmart layoffs

1. I have accrued vacation time that I will not use before leaving my company. Is the company required to pay me for that time?

It depends on your employer and where you live. 24 states—Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island (after one year of employment), Tennessee, West Virginia, and Wyoming—and the District of Columbia have laws regarding payment of accrued vacation time. However, in those states, you are only given a legal right to challenge an employer over unpaid accrued vacation time in your final paycheck if the employer promised payment of unpaid accrued vacation time in your final paycheck. In the rest of the states, there is no state law that requires your employer to pay you for accrued vacation leave, although your employer may do so voluntarily, or may have to do so if required by a policy or contract.Though no state has a law requiring employers to promise to pay for accrued vacation days, some states do hold employers accountable if they make the promise and break it. To learn more about your final paycheck, visit our Final Pay page.

Not in all states.

illegal to not pay vacation earned.

You won't get paid for any personal days that you have not taken. They will be gone. You will receive all your vacation time. It has been earned and shows on your paystub as banked. Go online to 88sears or whatever it is and find the latest copy of the employee handbook. It might not have been updated in a year or two (LOL) but it states that when you leave the company you are paid for unused vacation time. You will at least have it in writing if they try to screw you out of it. Then you can talk to an attorney if they try it.

I'm sorry to hear about your job and how they handled it. The lack of compassion is astounding. Best wishes.

CORRECTION FROM BELOW POST: Not sure what happened here. "I received 8 weeks severance and was payed my 4 weeks saved in my vacation bank in a lump. I had a hunch that something like this would happen that's why I used my PH Days and saved as much vacation as I could.

My job was eliminated in March after 38 years. Some of the other QMT's across the country that were let go had 2 PH Days due them. They were told on a Wednesday that their job was eliminated and Thursday and Friday would be counted as their PH Days that were due them. I had already taken my 2 PH Days so I was not told until Friday that my job was eliminated. I received 8 weeks severance and was payed my 4 weeks saved in my vacation bank in a lump Doehad a hunch that something like this would happen that's why I used my PH Days and saved as much vacation as I could. Not sure about what my state requires. The QMT's were told on a conference call that our jobs were eliminated, no face to face. I guess you could say we got the "WOW" experience Eddie keeps pushing. I have not since set foot in a Kmart or Sears and never will again. I refuse to give my money to a company that thinks so less of their employees.