I received vacation pay which was earned and accured

by Sheri
(Chicago)

I was told that I could not receive my benefits until my vacation payout was completed in weeks, even though I received one check. In other words I am being denied benefits for a specific amount of time due to this payout. Is this legal? When I spoke to HR at my former company they advised me they had never encountered this problem.




Hi,

Well HR doesn't collect unemployment benefits ...

Yes, it is legal and although some states do not count vacation paid out as "wages" and deductible income as far as UI benefits go apparently, Illinois does have a regulation which does say that vacation pay is deductible for the weeks of employment it represents.

See Table 5-15 (this is the 2010 Non-Monetary chartbook.. The issue varies by state and the USDOL provides a chartbook detailing how each state treats vacation pay.