My current management position has a total compensation package that includes a sick bank of 720 hours annually as well as a PTO bank which accures at 7.389 per pay period for eligible hours. My question is this, if I resign from my position can I cash out my sick bank as well as my PTO bank? I know I can cash my PTO bank out, but I was also told by a more senior executive that the sick bank can be negotiated since it is listed as a cash benefit on the total compensation statement I receive annually. Is this true for the state of Michigan? If so, how do I go about this without repercussions?

Michigan law only requires the payout of fringe benefits as dictated by policy or contract. If your company has a policy of paying out the sick time, then they need to pay it out to you. If they don't have such a policy, they don't. The same applies to your PTO, by the way. NO state, to my knowledge, requires the payout of sick time under the law. The fact that it appears on your total compensation statement does not make it automatically payable.

The organizations policy does state that PTO time and sick bank hours will be paid out upon a leave of absence or upon termination. As I said before the compensation/benefit statement lists "sick bank hours" as a cash benefit and have attached an amount equal to 720 hours times my hourly wage. When I questioned the HR representative about this bank she said that "they" are just being nice by letting management use this bank for any type of "sick day". She stated that they will have to change the wording on the policy because it is really a short term disability bank they just haven't named it that. This HR rep. stated that since I am voluntarily resigning from employment with them to accept a position elsewhere she is unaware of any situation in which they have paid out "sick bank" hours to any manager. I do know for a fact they have paid the sick bank out to a director that left voluntarily for a position elsewhere. Do I have any legal ground to stand on since it is clearly stated in the policy manual but they state they aren't interpreting it in that way.

If it really is a short-term disability policy (which most plans titled "sick bank" are), then the policy needs to be revised. However, even having said that, unless the employee handbook rises to the level of a bona fide contract, which the great majority of them don't, especially if they are written properly, then they have no legal requirement to pay it out.