I was laid off in June, but recalled in August. When I returned to work, vacation/sick time was never discussed. I was given new benefit forms to complete. During the time of my lay off, the company distributed a new employee handbook, which I still have not received and wasn't made aware of its existence until I requested time off. At that time, I was informed by my employer that because of my lay off and the new handbook, I lost all of my accrued vacation/sick time and I would have to "start over". Is this legal? Do they owe me what I've worked for?

That would depend on many factors not in your post; what the old policy was, what the new policy is, and whether you had any time paid out to you during the layoff.

Both policies, old and new, were never addressed and I'm not familiar with them. I was not paid for any time (vacation, sick, or otherwise) during my lay off with the exception of unemployment. If the company doesn't want to pay vacation and/or sick time, what prevents them from laying people off and recalling them a week or two later? I would think there would be a law or something in place.

I just found out that the old handbook did not address layoffs at all. The new handbook that was distributed while I was laid off states that if an employee is laid off and is recalled, he/she loses all accrued time. My opinion is that while I was laid off, I was still under the old policy and should be entitled to my accrued time off. The new policy would be effective for me once I was recalled.