I am a salary employee and want to take off a day and a half. I only have one vacation day built so far. My employer says that I will need to work the 39hrs before my time off to cover for the half day or I will be docked pay bc I only have 1 vacation day. Is this right/legal?

If you take time off for a personal reason and do not have vacation time available to cover it, yes, you can be docked in full day increments only. That is one of the few exceptions when an exempt (salaried is only a pay method) employee can have their salary docked. You CANNOT be docked for a half day, only a full day.

However, your employer may refuse to allow you to take time off until you have the appropriate amount of vacation time available to cover it.

You CANNOT be docked for a half day, only a full day.

Assuming you are exempt and not salaried, non-exempt. I can't tell by the post which is the case.

I can't either. That's why I specified that exempt and salaried are not the same.

I can't either. That's why I specified that exempt and salaried are not the same.

Yes, you did.