Immediate enforcement of policy that wasn't enforced for 20 years

[Texas1]

Jurisdiction

Texas

Currently working for a company that has a policy stating that if you work a scheduled holiday you have 30 days to use this holiday time off. This policy was not enforced for over twenty years because of manpower shortages that would not allow for employees to use the holiday time. The time was keep on the books and this time was reflected on the employees' pay stub. Some employees had between 120 and 360 hours of Holiday Time accrued. Employees were informed, without prior notice, that this Holiday Time Policy would be enforced immediately. The employees that had the time saved would have that time removed because it was over 30 days since the actual holiday. Since it was workplace culture to allow the holiday time to accumulate to benefit the company's need to have employees at work, is this policy immediately enforceable without notice or compensation? Thank you.

 

[cbg]

Assuming that this is a private, non-union employer and not a state or municipal agency, I can't think of any Federal or Texas law that would be violated by the immediate enforcement of this policy on a go-forward basis. I seriously doubt that any Federal or Texas law would be violated at all, but I'll give you a very, very weak maybe on the time already accumulated based on the answer to this question; what happened to that time for employees who left the company? Was it paid out to them in their final paycheck, or was it lost?

 

[Texas1]

Assuming that this is a private, non-union employer and not a state or municipal agency, I can't think of any Federal or Texas law that would be violated by the immediate enforcement of this policy on a go-forward basis. I seriously doubt that any Federal or Texas law would be violated at all, but I'll give you a very, very weak maybe on the time already accumulated based on the answer to this question; what happened to that time for employees who left the company? Was it paid out to them in their final paycheck, or was it lost?

When an employee left the time was lost. This is not a private employer, it is a county within Texas. Thanks for your response.

 

[cbg]

If the time was lost when an employee leaves, I'm afraid you're out of luck unless your county has something built into their ordinances that guarantees this. That's a huge amount of money for the county to be carrying on their balance sheet and I'm not surprised they can't afford to continue it any longer.

 

[Texas1]

If the time was lost when an employee leaves, I'm afraid you're out of luck unless your county has something built into their ordinances that guarantees this. That's a huge amount of money for the county to be carrying on their balance sheet and I'm not surprised they can't afford to continue it any longer.

Thank you for the advice. It just felt like they wanted to save money on the backs of their deputies. The action did not effect me that bad, but as I said deputies lost large numbers of hours because we couldn't afford to let them take off. I will try and write a new policy that exempts deputies in the future. Thank you again for your help.

 

[Zigner]

Any policy you write should be run by the county's attorney.

 

[army judge]

Thank you for the advice. It just felt like they wanted to save money on the backs of their deputies. The action did not effect me that bad, but as I said deputies lost large numbers of hours because we couldn't afford to let them take off. I will try and write a new policy that exempts deputies in the future. Thank you again for your help.

Take the matter up with your county overlords, as they govern everything relative to your employee issues.


https://www.dallascounty.org/Assets...82-86/Chapter82-DallasCountyCode-11012022.pdf


Human Resources | HR Policies and Procedures


Human Resources | Employee Leave


Human Resources | Home


https://dallascounty.civicweb.net/document/276011/


https://www.hhs.texas.gov/sites/def...olicies-rules/hhs-employee-leave-policies.pdf


Holiday Policies
Most state laws, including those of Texas, do not require employers to observe any holidays or to pay employees if time off for holidays is granted.

Just as with paid leave, though, it is essential to set holiday pay policies down clearly in writing, since state payday laws will enforce whatever the written policy says.

The policy should cover what happens if an employee works during a paid holiday, i.e., does the employee simply get double pay for that day, or can the employee have some other day off to make up for the missed holiday? Some companies have policies providing "compensatory holidays" in the event a paid holiday is missed through no fault of the employee, like in this situation in which the employee works on the holiday - in such a case, the comp holiday would be used on a day that is mutually convenient for the employee and the company. Other companies provide that paid holidays are lost if the employee would not have been at work in any event (a holiday that falls in a vacation week or a period of a leave of absence), or if the employee worked on that day. Some companies make no provision at all. However, the only case in which holiday pay is required is the one in which the written policy itself expressly promises such a payment, i.e., if the policy indicates that holiday pay will be given for that day, regardless of whether the employee works or does not work that day. Otherwise, the presumption is that holiday pay is only for people who would have been working on that day, but for the holiday. In other words, the presumption coincides with the most commonly-accepted understanding of holiday pay, which is that it is a benefit given to employees who do not work on a holiday so that they might have a full paycheck for the week in which the holiday occurred.

Do not count paid holiday hours toward "hours worked" for overtime or FMLA eligibility purposes.

Companies with 15 or more employees and thus subject to religious discrimination laws may need to allow employees with religious convictions time off on certain holidays in order to observe religious customs, unless such time off would be an undue hardship for the business (the burden of proving that would be on the employer).

Sample policy:
"The Company will generally observe the following days as paid holidays:

(1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, or however many - list the holidays and specify the dates.)
Production and staffing needs may make it necessary for selected employees to work on such holidays. Failure of a selected employee to work on the designated day will be considered an absence, which will be either excused or unexcused according to the policy regarding absences from work. Employees who work on a paid holiday will not receive pay for the holiday in addition to pay for the work, but will be allowed to take another day off during the following twelve-month period on a day that is mutually convenient for the employee and the Company."

Holiday Policies<

 

[cbg]

It just felt like they wanted to save money on the backs of their deputies.

Texas, you're thinking in terms of individuals, and I'm not saying that's a bad thing. But the county has to look at the overall effect on the county budget. We could be looking at several thousand dollars per person on this issue, being carried over from year to year as an expense on the balance sheet. That's not exactly a nickel-and-dime issue here. That's a lot of money.

I am in no way unsympathetic. I've worked plenty of holidays for which I never got a paid (or even unpaid) day in replacement. But legally, no Federal law and no law in any state in the US guarantees you paid time off for holidays, or even unpaid time. By law, even Christmas and Thanksgiving are just another day at the office.* Again, unless the county in question has some kind of ordinance making this a guaranteed benefit, there was never any requirement that any employee get that time in the first place. IF the time was paid out in outgoing employees' final paycheck, a good lawyer might have been able to eke out a case for a binding precedent. As it is, while I fully understand how upsetting this is and don't blame you in the least, you're not losing anything to which you had any kind of legal entitlement.

* (There are three states, none of them Texas and all of them in New England, where some employees are entitled to time and a half pay if they work on certain holidays, but that's a whole different issue. Not even in those three states are holidays guaranteed; it's just that IF holidays are granted and IF the employee works they get a premium.)

 

[Tax Counsel]

It's worth seeing a local employment law attorney. One possible argument to be made here is that the 30 day rule lapsed due to not being enforced for 30 years. And if the employees have tried to make use of their time off in the 30 days and were told no, that may be a breach of contract by the employer. There may be other options for attacking this too. The employment attorney can lay out all the options.

 

[hrforme]

Thank you for the advice. It just felt like they wanted to save money on the backs of their deputies. The action did not effect me that bad, but as I said deputies lost large numbers of hours because we couldn't afford to let them take off. I will try and write a new policy that exempts deputies in the future. Thank you again for your help.

Instead I'd consider enforcing the policy on the books as I doubt the county govt will want to accrue the liability they are currently seeing again.

 

[Zigner]

One would be unwise to contact any firm that trolls websites such as this. Just sayin'