When I retired, I had 2 choices concerning accumulated sick leave, either it could be applied to my time employed (to increase pension payments marginally) or as a lump sum cash payout (as time worked). Now keep in mind that this was about 17 years ago so times have changed quite a bit when it comes to employers (bleeping) workers.

That’s up to your employer’s official written policy. You should have access to the employee handbook. You leaving?

I have honestly never seen sick leave paid out as cash in a (last?) check.

I have seen some generous employers who offer retiree medical allow unused sick leave to be turned into a credit and applied toward premiums in retirement. Beyond that, nothing else comes to mind.

"That’s up to your employer’s official written policy."

^^ This.

@Ally De I rhink it’s more common with union jobs, I’ve heard of teachers and cops cashing out at retirement.

What does your HR say?

We don't know anything about your employer or its policies to give an accurate answer.

My husband’s job was with a large publicly traded company. His job was in management - not union. At his retirement they paid out his sick leave - it was a huge bank he’d built up. The key words for his receiving this pay out are non-union & retirement.

To your question rob, I’d bet the bank there are no federal - or state - rules about whether a company pays out unused sick leave to employees leaving the company. And, I’d also bet that if a company does pay out it’s likely at retirement not just a leaving for any personal reason. Well, maybe as part of a severance package for layoff or company closure.

I would say you have it backwards. Vacation time they often pay you some of. Sick leave, never. PTO is a combo of both. It comes down to each employer.

My last company had pto, so you coulduse those days off if you were sick, on vacation or just didnt feel like going to work that day. I had accumulated a ton of pto when I retired and was paid for all of it.

As others have said, look it up.

That’s how mine was. PTO was whatever you used it for. It accrued throughout the year, so you could leave owing money if you took time before accrual, or owed for whatever was accrued and unused. Unfortunately we were only able to carry over ten paid days, so it was never going to be a lot.

That company went to unlimited PTO after I left, which is nice but nothing accrues to be paid out. My wife’s job is like this.

The only people I've ever known to get paid for unused sick time were all teachers, both union and non-union. They don't have combined PTO because their work schedule already has lots of built in vacation time.

There are no universal rules or laws regarding company policy on this. Your HR department, company benefits handbook or union contract, if applicable, has your workplace specific answer.

I know for sure they don't pay PTO. Had a friend who just left and she didn't get her PTO. I have grandfathered sick time that other people don't have because I've been there so long. No one gets sick time, should you be hired nowadays. It's all PTO.

You guys are giving me food for thought.

I'm not sure if I get to stay. That's where it stands. The study group didn't even review our grant, much less fund it???! Which was amazing because this is an existing, very high profile grant among us Harvard and a couple of other universities. We're all flabbergasted. Not in a million years would we have ever thought it wouldn't be funded.

I'll see what my options are. HR manuals are readily accessed, as far as I know. I'll go look.

I've been goofing off today, because I was using up vacation time, just in case it didn't get funded. Actually, I was off all week 😯 I might be able to milk another week out of it, but then there wouldn't be any more time left, I don't think. I'm pretty sure I'm not going to waste very much vacation time should I have to go out the door.

I worked many years at a public higher education institution and received a check for accumulated unused leave time (sick and vacation leave lumped together) when I retired. Guidelines were spelled out in our personnel policy manual.

It was a nice one-time check just under $10k.

@HU-787167202 - Your post just after mine ”I would say you have it backwards. Vacation time they often pay you some of. Sick leave, never. PTO is a combo of both” If you were responding to my post about paid out sick leave at retirement - I don’t have that backwards. My husband’s employer didn’t have PTO. My company did so I do know exactly what the difference was.

Where I worked, in the beginning, we accrued both vacation and sick leave starting on January 1st. We could carry over 5 days into a new year of either (not both) but not over that.

Over time, the Union side of the business created PTO and that combined the vacation and sick leave, and it was granted on January 1st for the whole year. No more accruing. Those of us who were non-union were changed to match. You could receive access to your week(s) of time off, on the 1st of January and leave on the 5th of January and get paid for it all.

Rob, since you have been at your business long enough to have sick leave "grandfathered in," I will guess your HR department will need to make a determination on what to do with your time. Whether to pay it, or not.

If it turns out that they don't lay you off due to the grant issue, I think I'd be taking some of that actual sick leave, to see if you can use it up before another situation arises.

KW,

It is response. I'm not saying you're confused. I'm saying this is different. I have a friend who went through the same thing a month ago. She hasn't been here long enough to have grandfathered sick time. She did not get her PTO. That's how it worked, for her. I assume it's the same, for me. I don't think you're wrong. I just know how it worked for that part of it. 🤷🏻‍♀️

There will not be time to use any of the sick time. I'm sure it will be within the month. Our division also acquired another division. Which means there's duplication in the admin staff. There's a meeting that we're all required to attend July 8th, before this even happened. Too many hurdles to overcome. Let's just say I might have something lined up.

Sorry to hear this, Rob. I hope you will be able to keep your job, if that's what you want. Is retention based on seniority?

My employer separates vacation time and sick time. Vacation time is payable at 100% when you leave, but you can only bank so many hours every year before you stop accuring it, so it's not a huge payout even if you banked the max, especially not after taxes are taken out. So really it's silly not to use the vacation time you get every year. We don't get paid out for unused sick time at all. It's a sure sign someone is planning on leaving or retiring if all of a sudden they're out "sick" for a long stretch of time LOL!

there are so many ways companies deal with time off. one place i worked had sick ”instandes”. each instance, didn’t make a difference if it was a day or a week. the obly scenario here that i can’t wrap my head around is payimg for sick time but not vacation upon separation. not saying i don’t believe it, just saying it makes no sense to me at all.

My previous employer does not pay for accrued sick time.

I retired in January and had about 400 hours of sick leave accrued. I should have taken more of it. LOL!!

I also had almost as much PTO accrued. (I retired from a small private university, so the school holidays were great, and I didn't have a need to take PTO very often) That being said, they were only going to pay me for 2 weeks.

20+ years of faithful service and crappy pay didn't mean squat to HR. --- until my boss stepped in. He pointed out to them how many times they had made "special concessions" to other higher up employees. And whadda ya know!

They didn't pay out sick leave, but they DID pay out my PTO.

When I retired from a public university in 2014, I was able to apply my unused sick time to my COBRA medical plan premium. I ran out of sick time money shortly before I became eligible for Medicare.

Maybe that will be an option if the termination happens.

The primary employer where I worked for 37 years didn't have stated sick-leave or PTO benefits. I didn't have two consecutive days off for the first seven years. The concurrent second job I had for nine years didn't have formal sick-leave but did, after a few years, arrange for an annual week of vacation time ... which I never took because there were tasks I did every day that no one else could do, so I was paid the equivalent five days. That business closed due to the owner's ill health, no pay-out of accumulated vacation time was given.

I have a case that I submitted. We'll see what HR says, but we all know HR only has HR interests. Surprisingly, I didn't keep my original handbook. Drat!

I will say, if I get the new job, it doesn't really matter. It's a raise. It's in a posh place. It's in a place that doesn't worry about funds. I'm excited about it. Crossing my fingers, toes, arms, hands, legs, hair... everything I've got! I've asked for prayers from all over. I'll take good vibes along with any of it.

Each employer is different. That's what we know. 30 years teaching, three different schools, no teacher got paid for unused time off of any sort. DH could get vacation pay out at half pay if he didn't use it. That all changed as has been experienced by others. Know your situation. Read your contract or company policies. It's not a secret. Its information that's readily available.

There are not only differences from company to company, but also state to state. I lived in California and moved to Pennsylvania while working for the same company. In California PTO carryover was not allowed to be capped. PA - it does get capped. California also required that all PTO be paid upon leaving. Due to the rules, I was paid a lump some for accured PTO when I moved.

I worked for DoD. I quit when I had children and annual leave was paid out, but sick leave was forfeited. Several years later I came back and was pleasantly surprisedto have the sick leave reinstated. When I retired my sick leave was used to calculate my time in service and annual leave was paid out.

Good luck, Rob!!

It's so subjective. I worked for a school district, and my job was eliminated. I had 100 sick/personal days that I hadn't used. I was paid $5 per day for them. THat was the terms of the contract. In retrospect, I should have taken them. In contrast, the district recently got a new superintendent. Nearly all the principals "retired" in protest. They were allowed to go on leave, using all of their accumulated days (at their regular salaries), months and months in some cases, and then retire. And the district had to double pay, by having to hire interim principals for the time of the leaves. But that was their contract. Go figure.

Good luck, rob! I will keep everything crossed. I hope you get the job!!

Comgrats Rob!!!!

Yay, great news, rob!!! I'm so happy for you!! Sounds like you made a good deal!!

I never knew how much I didn't want to lose this job. Until now. I love who I work with, I love what we do, it's so interesting to me... Such a great relief to know that I get to stay, for so many more reasons I'm not even expressing. Well, one small one. I didn't want to be without a job, because my daughter has moved home, and I'm supporting her and the boyfriend (future husband), until they get on their feet with some money saved. It's hard for them to save money if they have to pay rent!

That's wonderful news, Rob -- congratulations!!

What good news!

Very nice of you to give the 'youngsters' a helping hand financially, it's a brutal real estate market for first-timers.