I've worked for the same small company in Indiana for over 15 years. When things were slow, I'd use a vacation day or two to help with the schedule so there was work for the newer employees who didn't have the vacation time. Maybe later in the week things would be busy & the company would need me for over 8 hours a day & maybe even the weekend. The company policy was always to pay the vacation hours plus what I worked to get 40 hours & anything else was overtime (time & a half).

Now the company has fallen on hard times & is in bankruptcy (the workers really don't know the exact truth, no one will tell them). The owners still own the stock but there's a new CEO. Not sure who put him there.. the owners.. the bank.. again, no on is saying anything.

As I saw the company going down, bills not being paid & creditors demanding their money, I cashed in much of my vacation time a little each week. The company has always paid in the same manor through out my years there, add it with time worked & anything extra was paid as overtime.

Now to my question. This new CEO has gone back through the past one years payroll & anyone who received any overtime pay while using any vacation time, that OT ("half" of the time & a half) pay is being taken away from the employees existing vacation time. For those who don't have any vacation time left but fall under this new CEO's rules, are being billed for the "over payment" of overtime.

Just wondering.... can this be done legally?

Contact Indiana's Department of Labor right away and ask about this.

While it's true that an employer does not have to include any time paid but not worked (vacation, paid sick or personal days, holidays) when calculating overtime, retro-actively changing their practices and now taking payroll deductions for the previously paid overtime is probably prohibited. The DOL can advise you and if you wish, you may file a complaint if this is prohibited by State law.