2 week notice questions

[k3am]

I'm not sure how this varies from state to state or company to company. I tried google, but didn't get a whole lot of clear advice. (I'm sure it's there somewhere, just like maternity leave was, but apparently employment law is something I'm just completely daft about).

If you provide two weeks notice, and your employer elects to walk you out that day (or have you work only a few days), do they still pay you for the two weeks you provided notice for? I assume if you had vacation time, they would just force you to take it, but if you're out of vacation time, how does that work?

I have 11 sick days and 23 vacation days banked right now. (Freaking amazing for a working mom, right?!?!) If I ever find another job, I'm not sure if it's better to burn down my vacation time first, or just get paid out on it. If I can take my vacation time now and keep myself from quitting or having a nervous breakdown in the interim, and then get paid out for two weeks after I provide notice, that would be awesome.  (If I have a new job and don't get paid out on the two weeks notice, I'd still be pretty stoked and we can swing it financially), but not sure how this kind of thing works. Taking a cash payout for vacation time would be nice, but I'm not sure the next few weeks are something I can get through without going batty. 

[frozenpeas]

I'm not sure of the laws related to this. In my experience (a large bank I used to work for), people giving notice but walked out would receive 2 weeks' pay, regardless of how much vacation they had left. I'm thinking back to one time in particular when there was a mass exodus, so I don't know if this is standard or just implemented at the time to avoid a PR nightmare.

In your situation, I would take at least some of the vacation days you have available now, no matter if you can get paid out or not. Sounds like you might need a few mental health days and maybe the timing of your departure from this job is a little up in the air. You can always delay the start date at your new job so you have a few (unpaid) days off between jobs, right?

[2chatter]

I think you get paid out your vacation time, but do not get paid for time not worked - ie, the termination date is the effective date your salary ends, and that date is the date you last work for the company. FWIW I live in a right to work state, so it might be different in other places.

[mustardseed2007]

There is no federal law that requires them to pay you vacation time or sick time. There may be a state law where you are that says you're vacation time vests as you accrue it (Colorado has a law like this, California surely does too). I'm in Texas and we have no state law like that. However, as a matter of policy our company will pay out your vacation (not sick) if you leave on "good terms", which means you give two weeks notice, whether or not we elect to have you work it out.

ETA: And our company doesn't pay out the 2 weeks if an employee offers to work but we let the employee go sooner.

[k3am]

I know for sure that in CA they're required to pay for any accrued but unused vacation - it's treated the same as wages.

I'm just not sure about the two weeks notice portion.

[ericalee27]

I may have missed this, but k3am, did you get your offer letter?!

[k3am]

ericalee27, no. I basically got a "we really want to hire you, but it's not in our budget until April." Not sure why they were interviewing and telling me they'd get me an offer letter when it wasn't in the budget, but it is what it is.

[ericalee27]

Feb 24, 2015 11:31:56 GMT -5 k3am said:

ericalee27, no. I basically got a "we really want to hire you, but it's not in our budget until April." Not sure why they were interviewing and telling me they'd get me an offer letter when it wasn't in the budget, but it is what it is.

Boo, that stinks.  Hope something else great comes your way!

[ECB]

Feb 24, 2015 10:56:30 GMT -5 k3am said:

I'm just not sure about the two weeks notice portion.

I don't think you're finding anything because there is nothing to find!  I don't think there is any law that says a company has to pay you for your 2 weeks if they make you leave.  Some might, just to be nice.  But this is at their discretion.

If you NEED the $$ and can't go 2 weeks w/o pay, then I would simply sit on 10 days of your leave to protect yourself just in case.

[helenahhandbasket]

In my experience, I have worked somewhere that you got walked out when you gave your notice due to security issues. This might vary by state (I am in NY) and by industry (it was diamonds). You did get paid for the 2 weeks, but I don't remember getting paid out for my remaining vacation.

I would subtly find out if you will specifically get paid out for your remaining vacation time (that would be my concern-- losing all that time you have banked). Maybe you could reach out to HR? Typically inquiries like that are confidential. If not- I would burn through my days if you are sure you will get an offer by April.

I'm job hunting right now too (currently employeed full time, just looking for something closer to home) so I have all of these questions running thru my mind too. GL!

[liziz]

My experience is that you get paid for the two weeks, as long as you are willing to work them - it's the company's choice to have you working or not during that time.

When I changed companies, I got my vacation time paid out, but not my sick time, so it would have been to my advantage to be "sick" during the last 2 weeks I was working.

[kendraj426]

I don't believe that there are any laws about this, it seems that it's based on the company's policy.

We had an employee who gave his 2 week notice, then started taking sick days and vacation days. My boss let him go a week early, and he actually had money taken out of his last paycheck because he hadn't accrued as many days as he had taken. (our company allows us to use our vacation time at any point in the year, but it is still technically accrued over time) He wasn't paid for the last week. They will pay any accrued vacation time that the employee hasn't used as long as the employee leaves on good terms.

I would talk to HR and find out what the policies are. Good Luck!

[anewadventure]

Feb 24, 2015 11:31:56 GMT -5 k3am said:

ericalee27, no. I basically got a "we really want to hire you, but it's not in our budget until April." Not sure why they were interviewing and telling me they'd get me an offer letter when it wasn't in the budget, but it is what it is.

ahhh that's bullshit! what a run around, especially with the times you followed up and they didn't just tell you that. lame.

[emmyg65]

My understanding is that they don't have to pay you for the two weeks but that you can collect unemployment for that time.

[beevol]

In my experience, the company has a written policy about how they handle this. I worked one place where you got all your vacation time paid out so long as you gave *and worked* at least two weeks notice. At my last job, you were entitled to cashing out up to 120 hours of vacation time as long as you gave 4 weeks notice, but you could not use any of those vacation days during that month - you actually had to work the entire time. It was weird, but whatever. If you give 2 weeks notice and your employer says thanks but leave today, then I would think you would be entitled to whatever vacation time pay out they have in their policies, but not any pay for the time you offered to work but did not actually work.

[ss265]

I think it really depends on the company culture. At my last company, I informally told my boss 3-4 weeks before I left, worked until the last day I wanted to work until and they paid out all the vacation I had accrued.

At my current company, they recently changed their policy where they will not pay out vacation if you leave, even if you have accrued it (I'm in Texas and there is no state law forcing them to pay out accrued vacation time). If I ever intend to leave, I plan to take a long vacation to use up my accrued vacation time, come back and then give my two weeks notice. It would be up to them if they want me to work until my last day or not. Generally I think it's common courtesy to work the entire notice period so that you can transition tasks before you leave.

[Deleted]

Its in our company handbook.  They will not escort you off the property and they will pay out vacation. 

DH's company previous company did not say they escorted you off, but they did anyway, so he gave 1 day notice knowing that if he gave 2 weeks he would be asked to leave anyway.  He did not do it to be mean.  He did it because they had a history of being jerks about people leaving and made them leave right away, and he couldn't afford the time off and didn't care if he burned that bridge because the whole industry knew they were like this.  I believe his vacation was paid out, but he hadn't accrued much if I remember correctly at that time. 

[k3am]

Our handbook is surprisingly mute on the issue. Vacation will be paid out per CA law, sick days won't. They request 2 weeks notice when you leave, but I know for a fact most people are walked out same day. They have made some exceptions recently, letting them stay 2-5 days, but never for the full week. I'm just not sure how/if they handle pay when walking someone out.

[arkansasmom22]

Like many people have said, it really depends on the company and industry as to what they do with those two weeks if they walk you out same day. Many will want to term you immediately and not continue to pay as you would also still have access to benefits (health insurance, life insurance, etc) that they may not want to cover any longer. Usually finance and sales type roles will be walked out as their access to customers and money concern an employer. Especially if you work in private banking or investments, they don't want to you take your book with you so they don't want to give you time to do that.

I would make sure you clean up your work computer and remove anything personal (pictures, files, etc) and save anything that belongs to you on a flash drive before giving notice. This way if they ask you to pack up right away you won't have to worry about it.

[k3am]

arkansasmom22, this part I already know.

It's pretty pathetic actually. Almost everyone who gets walked out for fear of them taking client lists, etc. has already taken it if they were planning to take it. And with the rise of LinkedIn, it's not very hard for clients to find out where someone's landed or for someone to get in touch with a prior client.

My bigger concern is usually cleaning up emails. It's not uncommon for our IT department to just transfer an entire email box to a different employee if someone leaves. I have (not so rarely) talked shit about everyone at least once.

[sandandsea]

Feb 24, 2015 10:56:30 GMT -5 k3am said:

I know for sure that in CA they're required to pay for any accrued but unused vacation - it's treated the same as wages.

I'm just not sure about the two weeks notice portion.

They have to pay out your accrued PTO time.  Employment is at will, so they are not required to pay for the two weeks notice time if you leave or are asked to leave that day and do not work the 2 weeks.  I have no idea about sick time as mine was all lumped together.  I was paid out for 23 accrued PTO days, took a week off between jobs, and used the money/time to remodel our kitchen.    

[junewife]

Feb 24, 2015 11:50:17 GMT -5 ECB said:

Feb 24, 2015 10:56:30 GMT -5 k3am said:

I'm just not sure about the two weeks notice portion.

I don't think you're finding anything because there is nothing to find!  I don't think there is any law that says a company has to pay you for your 2 weeks if they make you leave.  Some might, just to be nice.  But this is at their discretion.

If you NEED the $$ and can't go 2 weeks w/o pay, then I would simply sit on 10 days of your leave to protect yourself just in case.

Given that you're protected by CA law to be paid out for vacation time, I second this advice. And if you can afford it, use some of that extra vacation time you have to take a few mental health days before you give your notice. Sounds like you're at your wits end and could use some 3 day weekends

[cagey]

You've gotten good advice already
but... DANG girl, you are sitting on nearly 7 weeks of PTO...
TAKE SOME.
You so deserve it.