Susan Lessack

Pepper Hamilton LLP
Berwyn, PA
www.pepperlaw.com
lessacks@pepperlaw.com
(610) 640-7806

Susan K. Lessack defends employers in litigation of employment discrimination claims, wrongful discharge claims, and claims under federal and state employment-related statutes, such as the Family and Medical Leave Act and the Pennsylvania Wage Payment and Collection Law.

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Q. One of our employees is out sick and has already used up all her sick leave hours. Can we legally subtract from her vacation time instead?

A. It depends on your policy. You may want to consider a policy that counts sick, vacation and personal time as one bank of paid time off. That way, your employees can use the time for any of those purposes.

To do what you propose in your question, you should have a policy that requires the use of vacation time if an employee on sick leave has no sick leave days remaining.

You can also include language in your FMLA policy that requires employees to use any accrued paid leave during their FMLA leaves. (If you operate in states other than Pennsylvania, check those states’ laws to determine whether that practice is permissible.)