New Law or Bill on how PTO is accrued North Dakota

[Stella1978]

The company I work for recently told us that as of January 1, 2009 our PTO will accrue on a quarterly basis and we can only use what we have accrued in the quarter. If we used more that what we accrued we would have to take the additional time without pay.

Example of this would be I get 2 weeks (10 days) each calendar year Paid time off. Starting January 1, 2009 I will get 2.5 days each quarter. If I were to take 5 days off in January I would only be able to use 2.5 days and then I would have to take 2.5 days without pay.

I have been searching and reading through the North Dakota Labor Laws but don't see anything on this new law or bill. Has anyone heard of this change to the North Dakota Labor Laws?

thank you for your help and feedback

[DAW]

Did the employer say that there is supposed to be an actual law, or is this just a change in the company policy unrelated to any actual laws?

It is very common for employers to not make the entire years vacation/PTO accrual up front. I have never worked for an employer who made the entire years vacation/PTO accrual available up front. I have also however never heard of any state that has laws spelling this sort of thing out. Most state laws just say that the employer can be required to follow their policy.

[Stella1978]

Yes they did state North Dakota Law about PTO (I had to look back at the notes I took) which surprised me. This is the first company I have worked for that actually gives you the PTO up front.

Apparently the ND law addresses how PTO can be paid out. The company would give the PTO up front but when a person would leave they would get a prorated portion of the PTO. So based on this ND law they are changing allowing people to accrue per quarter. Which to me is even stranger. I have worked for companies that you earn PTO on the hours worked so your pay check stub would show how much PTO you had accrued.

The company has offices in other states and we are the only state that was affected. We were suppose to get a email memo after our supervisors talked to us about the change. I have not see it yet. But I will be asking for a copy after everyone is back after the holidays.

Thank you for your help.

[DAW]

Color me surprised then. ND is not my state, but this law sounds strange enough that I would have expected to have heard about it. Perhaps one of the other responders has something on it.

[Betty3]

Originally Posted by DAW

Perhaps one of the other responders has something on it.

Not me - nothing on a new law or bill on how PTO is accrued North Dakota as she makes reference to in her thread title.

[DAW]

It is not unheard of for employers to falsely claim that a law exists. Does the employer have the actual name of the law? Or the bill number? Or something? It is not hard to find things on the Internet given a reference. At least assuming that the thing actual exists.

[Stella1978]

Thank you Betty3 and DAW for your responses.

I hope to find out the name of the law or bill after my supervisor get's back from vacation or at least get a copy of the email communication that was to be sent out after the supervisors meet with there people. Once I find out the name I will post it.

I did try searching, but did not find anything that addressed the law and then I stumbled on to this site and though I would try and see if there was someone out there that might have heard of it.

Thank you both again for your responses.

[cbg]

If ND has such a law then they are the first state to implement an actual law dictating how vacation time may be applied. Not saying they have or haven't - just saying it's highly unusual for such a law to exist.

If you are able to get an actual statute number or name of a case law please do post it. It would be good to know for future reference.