Must unused ‘floating holidays’ be paid?

Q. We gave eligible employees a “floating holiday” in lieu of having Dec. 31 as a paid holiday. We generally pay employees for all unused vacation, sick and personal time upon termination, but we have no policy regarding an unused floating holiday. Do we have to pay workers for any unused floating holidays upon termination?

A. There is no legal obligation to pay workers for floating holidays (or other holidays) at all, so you have no obligation to pay for unused holidays upon termination, unless you have a policy that says otherwise or you have a practice of making such payments.

If you do not want to let employees “cash out” their floating holidays upon termination, you should state that in your holiday policy.