If promised, vacation must be granted. No Wyoming law requires private sector employers to provide employees with vacations, paid or unpaid, but most employers do offer some version of vacation. It is important for employers to remember that if they “promise” paid vacation, they may be legally bound to provide it--that a promise may bind an employer as much as a formal employment contract.
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Download Now Vacation pay due at termination? When an employee leaves the job, the question of payment for vacation time will depend on the employer's policies. Effective July 1, 2013, state law excludes unpaid vacation from wages due at termination so long as specific steps are taken. Under the state law, "wages" means compensation, including fringe benefits, but does not include the value of vacation leave accrued at the date of termination so long as the employer's written policies provide that accrued vacation is forfeited on termination, and the written policies are acknowledged in writing by the employee (WY Stat. Sec. 27-4-501 et seq.). Therefore, employers wishing to exclude vacation payment of accrued vacation at termination must do so by written policy, with a signed acknowledgment by each employee.
Accrual method. Employers are free to devise their own system for vacation accrual--for example, on a monthly or pay-period basis or upon completion of a 6-month or 12-month period. It is important to be clear and unambiguous when drafting such policies. If the policy is intended to ensure that employees work the entire accrual period to earn their vacation days, it should state clearly that employees will not be entitled to pro rata payment if they leave partway through the period. Remember that any vagueness in the policy is ...