A California employee earns 19 PTO days during a calendar year. A company policy states that only 10 PTO days can be carried over to the next calendar year. Is this legal ?

We are aware that "caps" are allowed, but carryover is earned time, our interpretation of this is that any PTO time must be carried over, the 10 day limit is not correct. We also interpret the carry over has no limit on usage. Yet "cap" time has a maximum usage policy of nine months ?

Are we correct in our interpretations ? Can a company in California limit carry over on PTO time earned ? Is there a usage limit on carry over time ?

Thank you!

This is an illegal "use it or lose it" policy. A legal cap policy would be something like, "if you have 38 days accrued, you don't earn any more until you have used some leave."

Go to this link: http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Vacation.htm

It should answer questions about your vacation issue.