If you are not given a definite return to work date, any vacation or holiday pay you receive when you finish your work will not be deducted from your weekly benefit amount. If you are given a definite return to work date, any vacation or holiday pay during the temporary layoff period will be deducted from your benefits. You may receive unemployment in California if you have left your job. However, the Employment Development Department (EDD) criteria set out some conditions that must be met to obtain these benefits.
In California, employers are not required to provide paid vacation or paid time off (PTO) to their employees. However, studies have shown that giving employees time off to relax not only benefits employees, but employers as well. Happier and healthier employees generally mean greater productivity and employee retention for employers. Because of this, many employers choose to offer vacations as a benefit of employment.
In exercising the right in the present case, the employer did not act in an arbitrary or capricious manner in designating a vacation period for its employees. At the time of her dismissal, the claimant requested a three-week vacation pay granted to her by the Department. Any vacation pay paid during that layoff period is not wages for unemployment insurance purposes. Applicants should also be aware of the services provided to unemployed jobseekers to make the most of the benefit period.
We conclude on all the facts set out here that the employer's offer of vacation pay to the claimant amounted to a payment of the claimant to him and was in an amount greater than what he would have been entitled as unemployment insurance benefits; therefore, he was not “unemployed” during the calendar week of 17 August to August 23, 1947, when he received such payment. As with vacation pay, termination of employment is the critical factor in determining whether vacation pay is considered salary. California law considers accrued vacation to be a form of salary that the employee has already earned. For example, if an employee only has one week of accrued vacation, but takes two weeks of vacation and then resigns, the employer cannot deduct the week of vacation from their final paycheck.
The floating vacation actually designated by the employee should be considered as the date of the vacation to resolve the vacation pay issue. As with payment for other holidays, payment for floating holidays is paid in the next pay period following the month in which the floating vacation is actually taken. Earlier this year, the claimant had arranged to take a two-week vacation in July and, in fact, went to a tourist area during that period. Consequently, vacation pay received by persons who are still linked to the employer during the labor dispute and who are expected to return to work at the end of the conflict is considered salary.
Once the date of personal vacation is determined, the question of personal vacation pay will be resolved in the same way as other types of vacation pay. HOWEVER, although a person may not have arranged a vacation period, it is possible that, under the provisions of a collective agreement, the employer has the option to designate a specific vacation period for its employees and has done so. When a person stops working for the purpose of taking a vacation and must return to work on a specific date after the vacation, no dismissal occurs.
