Can company change its paid time off policy?

Can company change its paid time off policy? Featuring Attorney Travis Hollifield of the Hollifield Legal Centre in Winter Park, Florida.

Attorney Travis Hollifield: Their paid time off policy prior to the beginning of this year was you could accrue up to 120 hours, they did that when you retired. They just came out with their new policy where they're not allowing you to do that. If you don't use it before the time you leave employment, you lose whatever accrued time you have.

Attorney Tom Olsen: Travis, the employer's trying to change things in midstream. Can they do such a thing?

Attorney Travis Hollifield: Typically, without looking at this specific policy that the caller is mentioning, generally, the answer is yes, employers have the right to unilaterally change their policies.

Now, we're talking about a general situation where there's not a union involved. When there's a union involved in a collective bargaining agreement that governs whether or not there is, for example, a leave bank, paid time off, things of that nature, those situations can be different depending on the setting. I'm not sure if this caller is a unionized employee or not, but that would drive the analysis. Generally, employers have the right to change their policy.