PTO Carryover - California?

cohiba1200

I have an operation in California, just part of a nation-wide organization. We have a PTO program, and we're hearing that in California, we are not able to limit the amount of unused hours that carry-over to the next year. In our other operations (outside CA) we limit the annual carryover to 40 hours.

I have searched and searched but cannot find clear guidance for this issue. I know CA labor law can be a little different (kind of like churning one's own butter is "different" than buying it at the supermarket) and I was wondering if anyone has experience with this type of thing.

Thanks very much!

HR in CA

What you can do in California is to cap the accural. For example, you can modify your policy to state that once an employee's PTO hours are over 40, the employee will not accrue anymore until the balance is 40 or below. Since it does not sound as though this is in your existing policy I would ammend the policy and give the employees between 60 to 90 days to comply.

You won't find too much information regarding vacation/PTO in the California Labor Laws, since California law does not require either. The law does state if you accrue vacation and/or PTO for your employees it can't be a use it or lose it.