Can I be terminated for taking a day off ifI was told not to butI had PTO to use?

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Can I be terminated for taking a day off ifI was told not to butI had PTO to use?

I was terminated for asking for a day off from work. I was denied the day off but I called in the day I requested off. I had personal time and vacation time available to use. I was told I was being terminated due to insubordination. The problem is that several other supervisors had done the same thing before and had no problems. One supervisor even walked out and quit for 3 weeks and was allowed to come back. Needless to say all instances of the others were of different race then me. I was told that I couldn’t get my vacation when terminated. Is this a fair discharge and was I suppose to receive vacation pay?

Asked on August 3, 2011 Texas

Answers:

M.D., Member, California and New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney

Answered 13 years ago | Contributor

PTO (vacation, sick time, personal day) are given at the discretion of an employer. In other words it is not an automatic right of employment; it need not be given. To the extent that it is, an employer can dictate if and when such time may be taken.

Additionally, unless your employer's action violated its own company policy or you have en employment contract or union agreement that runs counter to your employer's actions, you are an at will employee. Accordingly your employer can dictate the terms of your employment as well as hire or fire as it deems fit. This means that you can be terminated for any reason, even no reason at all, and with or without notice. So unless some form of actionable discrimination was a factor in your discharge, your employer has violated no law. Its actions were perfectly permissible.


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