Do employers have to compensate employees for vacations they haven’t been able to take?

ShaLynn: Do employers have to compensate employees for vacations they haven’t been able to take?
I’ve been working at a store that provides a week vacation for every year spent full time. It does not say in the handbook that you have to pick designated times to receive vacations. I’ve been there for over two years and have a vacation I have not received. I have found a different opportunity and have not received my vacation. I have put in my two weeks and worked until they found a replacement for me whom I trained. Do they have to compensate me for that time?

Answers and Views:

Answer by rojo
Possibly different states have different laws regarding that, but where I live theres a common knowledge that you either use it or lose it. I doubt theyll owe you, but they may give you the pay anyway. Probably at the discretion of management.

Answer by Chanteuse_ar
It really depends on where you work, though employers do usually give you compensatory pay to cover any unused vacation days you have when you leave. Often it takes 2 to 8 weeks after your departure to get the payout, but you should make sure now while you’re still there that you’re supposed to get it.

Answer by Stuart H
In the United States No

Answer by Jeanbug
Probably not.
Vacation time is not accumulative, which means if you don’t use it up, you lose it. It’s this way at every place I’ve ever worked at.

Answer by michr
where are you?
laws vary greatly by location………

in the US in almost every state the payment of accrued unused vacation is a matter of policy but a few states do require that it be paid under certain circumstances and California mandates the payment under all/any circumstance