Husband fired - several questions

[dblstf]

1 - Is the employer required to pay earned vacation pay in the state of Ohio?
2 - He was given 2 reasons for being fired. The 2nd reason was totally FALSE (and can be proven as such). This effected his severence package. Since he can prove it was false, can he do anything about it? He has to turn in a signed document on 7/1/10, stating that he accepts the severence, and will not take any legal action against the company.

 

[Patricia_Young]

1. Not unconditionally, no. If he has a contract or the company has a policy of paying it out in the past for fired employees, he could try a court action; the state DOL wouldn't touch this.

2. He should have it reviewed by an attorney specializing in contract/employment law, but since there is no law requiring he be offered a severance package at all, they could rescind it at any time. What legal action do you think he has a case for?

 

[army judge]

1 - Is the employer required to pay earned vacation pay in the state of Ohio?

Ohio allows employers to weasel out of paying employees their accrued vacation time (like their neighbor state, West Virginia).

There are some exceptions.
Please read the note below for additional guidance.

If an employer has clearly written vacation pay rules, the court will use those rules to determine whether unused vacation is payable at termination. If employers says that they will pay accrued but unused vacation at termination, Ohio courts have held them to it.

If the employer does not have written rules, courts can examine the employer's past practice and other facts surrounding its payment of unused vacation to determine whether the employer pays unused vacation at the termination of employment.

The following cases enforced employer vacation policies and were cited by the court in Sexton v. Oak Ridge Treatment Ctr. Acquisition Corp., 2006 Ohio 3852, P13-P14 (Ohio Ct. App. 2006):

* Ammons v. Akromold, Inc. (May 20, 1998), Summit App. No. 18641, 1998 Ohio App. LEXIS 2202; Winters-Jones v. Fifth Third Bank (May 27, 1999), Cuyahoga App. No. 75582, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 2410 (holding that former employee was not entitled to payment for vacation time accrued but not used at the time she left her employment where the company's policy manual clearly stated that vacation time must be used during the employee's employment or is lost);
* Bologa v. I.H.S., Inc. (Mar. 17, 1999), Summit App. No. 19218, 1999 Ohio App. LEXIS 1107 (determining employee was not entitled to unused vacation pay at termination where employer's vacation policy stated that no paid time off would be paid out at termination).
* Van Barg v. Dixon Ticonderoga Co., 152 Ohio App.3d 668, 2003 Ohio 2531, 789 N.E.2d 727 (holding employer was entitled to implement "use it or lose it" vacation policy prospectively, but could not apply the policy retroactively to divest terminated employee's vacation time accrued before the policy went into effect);
* Spry v. Mullinax Ford (Nov. 13, 2000), Stark App. No. 2000CA00118, 2000 Ohio App. LEXIS 5265 (enforcing written company policy requiring employee's continued employment on anniversary date to be entitled to payment for accrued vacation time). Compare,
* Braucher v. Allied Truck Parts Co., Stark App. No. 2002CA00278, 2003 Ohio 1698 (holding employee was entitled to accrued vacation pay upon termination where employee handbook expressly provided that "Eligible employees will be paid for earned but unused vacation upon termination".

In addition, although employee handbooks and policy manuals are not in and of themselves contracts of employment, they may define the terms and conditions of an at-will employment relationship if the employer and employee manifest an intention to be bound by them. Mers v. Dispatch Printing Co. (1985), 19 Ohio St.3d 100, 104; See also:

* Finsterwald-Maiden, supra;
* Sowards v. Norbar, Inc. (1992), 78 Ohio App.3d 545, 549;
* Winters-Jones, supra.

http://www.myemploymentlawyer.com/w...ceive-Unused-Vacation-Pay-When-Terminated.htm

2 - He was given 2 reasons for being fired. The 2nd reason was totally FALSE (and can be proven as such). This effected his severence package. Since he can prove it was false, can he do anything about it? He has to turn in a signed document on 7/1/10, stating that he accepts the severence, and will not take any legal action against the company.

I suspect that the severance package will be easier to obtain than a lawsuit.
But, that is a decision your family (most notably your husband) will have to make.
The first case I ever won was for my dad (a labor law based age discrimination federal lawsuit).
It took my dad (supported by a large labor law firm and me, his lawyer son) more than six years to win that lawsuit.
We won a massive amount of money for my dad.
But, it wasn't easy.
My dad passed away two years to the day after we won the judgment.
Which, by the way, took another year to collect.

It might be wiser to take the severance.
Good luck.

 

[dblstf]

It was alleged that he solicited a bribe from a supplier. Said supplier denies it, as does my husband, obviously. He was given papers to sign as part of the separation, stating that if he signs by 7/1, he gets severence (very little), vacation, and 1 month of insurance. He ALSO has to sign that he will not seek legal action as part of those papers.

 

[Patricia_Young]

I don't see that he has any legal action TO pursue. This was not a wrongful termination under the law, even if the employer was mistaken.