One of our employees is going on maternity leave soon and would like to use her accrued sick and vacation time. Our company policy allows for this, but it doesn't state how the accrued sick and vacation is to be paid out.

Should we pay it out in a lump sum on the day she starts her leave or do we pay it out over the period the accrued sick and vacation is being used? Is it just a matter of preference or are there any labor laws that that we need to follow? Thanks.

Every time I answer a CA question I find that CA has a provision that makes them different from any other state, so feel free to confirm this with the state DOL (no hard feelings! :))

But I can't imagine anything in the labor law would require you to pay it out all in one lump sum. It would make much more sense to pay it out over the period that it is being used.

I would also pay it out as it was used (in lieu of regular pay).