Employers are not required by federal or state law to provide vacation benefits to their employees. There are no laws that require an employer to give an employee a specific amount of vacation time and there are no laws that specify how vacation time is accrued. But if the company offers vacation benefits, ensure that the handbook clearly states the employee’s eligibility for vacations and vacation pay policies are communicated to all employees or a lawsuit could arise.
Example - In Cheeseman v. Jackson & Perkins Wholesale, Inc., the Oregon Court of Appeals reversed a lower court ruling in favor of the employer on the issue of how vacation and holidays should have been paid to commissioned employees under the vague terms of the employer’s policies. Specifically, the employer’s policies provided paid holidays and vacation to salaried and hourly employees, but the policy did not state how commission-based employees would earn a paid holiday or vacation (if at all). The Cheeseman holding demonstrated that a clearly written and communicated time-off policy addressing how vacation benefits are paid to all classes of employees would have...
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