I work in connecticut and the weather can get pretty bad in the winter. My question is if you request paid time off, and the company does not open do the weather, is it legal for them to charge your pto bank when they weren't open for business?

Yes, it is.

thanks for the info, although it doesn't seem to be fair to the employee. I just lack the understanding as to why the business gets to charge your pto bank for 8 hrs when they were even opened. Are you able to point me in the direction in the part of the labor law that speaks on this?

TC, there is no specific provision in any law that says an employer may charge vacation time in lieu of paid emergency time in the case of a business closing. Mostly, the law does not delineate what employers or employees may do. It provides for what is prohibited, with the underlying assumption that other actions are allowable.

You're asking to prove the existance of a negative. While that may work mathematically, it often does not in a practical sense.

The law requires that employees be paid for all time worked. Any payment beyond that is at the discretion of the employer, and that discretion may be modified by state or federal regulation, collective bargaining agreements, employer policies, or individual agreements.

In a few cases, the Fair Labor Standards Act provides that employees who are exempt from its overtime coverage must be paid for time in which the employer is closed, but employers are still able to use a qualified plan of paid time off (vacation) to account for that.

You speak to the idea of fairness. That's well and good, but is not legally mandated. Employers often don't feel it's fair to have to fund vacation time, pension plans, or to allow employees to take off 12 weeks for FMLA time. It becomes a question of the ownership of the gored ox.

With that said, and a better understanding of the labor law just addressing what is prohibited, my dilemma is as follows: The company states that if the weather is too bad and you feel unsafe coming in that it will not be held against, but on the other side of that same coin they say that if you call in during bad weather you will be charged with an unscheduled pto day and that it maybe used against you in your review. In anticipation of the bad weather I chose to schedule the day off. The company decided to close and because I scheduled the day they are charging my pto bank, but those who were not scheduled for that day are getting paid without having their banks charged. Now knowing what I am facing at my work place, do you have any suggestions on what I can do in the event of bad weather? Thanks so much.

Save your PTO.
Look into some cheap motels or find out if you can sleep on a friend's couch if the weather is expected to be bad.