I work in San Francisco, California.

I am paid a salary to work for a web site associated with a newspaper. I work for the parent company and am paid an annual salary with benefits that include per year: 10 paid holidays, one paid personal day, 10 days of paid vacation, 12 days paid sick leave. Other newsroom employees work for the newspaper rather than the parent company and are paid hourly. They do not get paid holidays but they do receive overtime for working holidays.

Recently I started working under the auspices of the newspaper's executive editor, though I am still an employee of the parent company and am paid a salary by them. The executive editor has told me that I may no longer take holidays nor may I have comp days for having worked them. Since I am salaried I am not paid overtime either.

He has also told me I cannot have a vacation (I have accrued 10 days now) because he has no one to do my work when I am gone.

Is this legal? What are my rights? Do I have any recourse?

Since I am salaried I am not paid overtime either.


Actually "salaried" is just a payment basis and by itself does not mean much. Under federal law (FLSA) "Exempt" employees have no legal right to paid overtime and "Non-Exempt" employees however must be paid overtime. Either Exempt or Non-Exempt can be paid on a salaried basis, so your statement (as is) is not correct.

Under law, no employer ever has to be paid holiday, vacation or sick per se. However, Exempt Salaried employees only have certain restrictions on having that salary docked. No such restrictions exist for Non-Exempt employees including those paid on a Salaried basis. It would be worth your while to formally find out if you are Exempt or Non-Exempt to see exactly which set of rules you are subject to.

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/main.htm

Past that, while employers are not required to offer vacation/PTO, in California vacation earned must be either paid or taken. I am unclear based on what you said if you are still working for what is the same legal entity or not. I am not asking what hat your boss is wearing but rather or not when you get your W-2 at year end if the Federal ID number of your employer has changed? And did you have any accumlated vacation at your prior employer (assuming there legally is a prior employer)? And if so, what happened to it? You can find the CA vacation rules at the following.
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Vacation.htm

Many employees of newspapers have unions and collective bargining agreements. If this applies to you, you will need to talk to your union.

Lastly, most employers can legally make most employees work almost any hours the employer wants. This would include never letting the employee take a vacation or a holiday (absent a contract or CBA or company policy which is written in such a way as to be enforcable). In CA, the employer can legally work most employees 24 of every 28 days.

And to state the obvious, sometimes the best solution to a bad employer is a different job with another employer. I have quit better jobs then what you describe.

Thank you for the information. I appreciate it. I will find out tomorrow whether I am Exempt or Non-Exempt. I have been told that I am not eligible for overtime, so I assumed I was Exempt.

I am unclear based on what you said if you are still working for what is the same legal entity or not. I am not asking what hat your boss is wearing but rather or not when you get your W-2 at year end if the Federal ID number of your employer has changed?

No, the Federal ID number of my employer has not changed.

And did you have any accumlated vacation at your prior employer (assuming there legally is a prior employer)? And if so, what happened to it?

I have accrued/accumularted 10 days of vacation. It is "on the books" and shown on my pay stub, along with 8 hours of paid personal time off.

Lastly, most employers can legally make most employees work almost any hours the employer wants. This would include never letting the employee take a vacation or a holiday (absent a contract or CBA or company policy which is written in such a way as to be enforcable).


There is a written company policy/description of benefits that declares the benefits I mentioned including vacation, personal time off, holidays and sick leave. My new "boss" simply does not abide by it.

Assuming that you are indeed Exempt Salaried, then there are federal rules on docking (not paying) part or all your salary. These rules do not directly address vacation/PTO balances, and certainly do not address employees being allowed to take time off.

http://www.dol.gov/dol/allcfr/ESA/Title_29/Part_541/29CFR541.602.htm

Past that, take a hard look at the CA vacation page I referenced. That also will not allow you to take time off, but does address the earning of vacation accruals.

There is no rule in any state that says that employees are allowed to take time off.