A certified nursing assistant is not due payment for accrued paid time off because of the wage policy at the nursing home where she worked, a state appellate court ruled Wednesday.
The New Jersey Superior Court’s Appellate Division ruling reversed a decision by a trial court that ordered Hackensack Meridian Health (HMH) to pay Stephania Warren for accrued paid time off, noting that her employment was terminated. The company instituted a policy on April 1, 2019, stating that employees terminated due to “disciplinary action” would not receive payment for accrued PTO, the court’s ruling noted. Court documents reviewed by McKnight’s Long-Term Care News did not detail the misconduct to which Warren admitted.
Warren initially filed a complaint with the Wage Collection Section, Division of Wage and Hour Compliance of the New Jersey Department of Labor and Workforce Development, which assigned a wage collection referee to make a determination, according to court documents. She was seeking more than $1,700 — the monetary value of nearly 106 PTO hours at her pay rate of $16.22 per hour that accrued while employed from Oct. 8, 2016, through Oct. 14, 2019.
That referee awarded Warren PTO hours that she accrued prior to April 1, 2019. The referee made the “apparent assumption” that no policy was in place before that date, the Appellate Court’s decision explained.
At that time, Warren was awarded $1,135 plus $113 in liquidated damages, $124.85 in administrative costs, and $25 for a summons cost — for a total of just under $1,400. HMH appealed that decision and the case wound through the trial court system before landing in the Superior Court’s Appellate Division. It found that employers do not have a “statutory obligation to offer or provide PTO” so, therefore, it is not considered wages.
“Thus, the referee implicitly rejected the claim accrued but unpaid PTO hours constituted wages under the WPL since HMH’s policy provided an employee terminated due to a disciplinary action is not entitled to pay for accrued PTO hours,” the decision read. “We conclude that, because an employer has no statutory obligation to offer or provide PTO in the first instance, accrued PTO does not constitute wages under the WPL and is not otherwise payable.”
Warren, who represented herself, did not participate in the appeal and could not be reached Thursday for comment. A spokesman for HMH said in an email to McKnights Long Term Care News on Thursday that the company was pleased with its legal victory.
“This decision underscores the importance of having a clear and unambiguous policy that explains how PTO is accrued, how it may be used, whether approval is needed, and if PTO can be carried over or paid out upon termination,” the statement said.
