Vacation pay and employers obligations

[2L82M8U]

I was recently laid off from a company for financial reasons and was given severence pay, and thought I was owed vacation/sick pay as well, but this was not paid. When I hired on, I negotiated an extra weeks vacation for a total of three weeks, plus sick time. I was hired as the Sales/Marketing manager, and my understanding of the situation was that I had vacation, year one, day one. By my numbers, I still had 12 days vacation remaining, but a week or so after I was let go, I was told that I was on an "accrual" basis so I actually had no vacation and ended the previous year with a negative balance. This was the first time the word accrual had ever been associated with my vacation time, and I was shocked that I was just being told this. I was also informed that there were several days that were counted as vacation days that I was unaware of. I was usually asked to turn in something in writing to request vacation, and I hadn't for several of these days. The real kicker here is that this employer has no employee handbook, so they can basically claim anything they want. Do I have any recourse against them?

 

[cbg]

Maybe, maybe not. Whether or not unused vacation is due at termination, and what if any restrictions are on the way an employer may accrue it, is state specific. What state are you in?