Bona-Fide Leave Bank
Frequently Asked Questions
Q. What is a Bona-Fide Leave Bank Plan?
A. A Bona-Fide Leave Bank Plan is established by an employer to administer paid time off for the businesses salaried exempt employees. A Bona-Fide Leave Plan allows an employer the flexibility of taking deductions from an employee’s leave bank balance when the employee has worked less than the agreed upon hours in a workweek or pay period.
Q. How many kinds of leave are in the “Leave Bank?”
A. There is only one kind of leave in the “Leave Bank,” PTO. An employer can direct paid time off to be deposited in the employee’s leave account for various reasons, however, once time is deposited in the Leave Bank it is called PTO no matter for what reason the paid time off was awarded.
Q. How can the Leave Bank affect me?
A. If you are expected to work 40 hours in a workweek in return for your guaranteed salary and you actually work only 38 hours, your employer will still pay to you your guaranteed salary, however, your employer will deduct 2 hours from your leave bank balance to cover the time you did not work.
Q. How do I know how many hours my employer expects me to work?
A. When your employer institutes the Bona-Fide Leave Bank Plan you must be told how many hours you are expected to work in return for your guaranteed salary.
Q. How will I know when hours have been deducted from my Leave Bank account?
A. Your employer will notify you, most likely via e-mail that your account has been drawn down by a specific amount. Your available Leave Bank balance will also appear on your check stub. If there is a discrepancy between your employer’s balance amount and the balance that appears on your check stub, the employer’s balance will be the amount that is considered correct.
Q. Will I need to account for the hours I have worked? Can a salaried employee be required to account for the time worked in a work week?
A. Yes on both.
Q. Is there a possibility that I won’t have enough hours in my Leave Bank to cover the vacation I am planning on taking during the summer.
A. Yes. If on January 1 of the new year you have 60 hours in your leave bank and if during the 20 weeks previous to your planned vacation you worked 35 hours less than what you were expected to work, your leave bank balance will be 25 hours, because your employer will have deducted 35 hours from your leave bank.
Q. How can I make sure that my employer will never deduct hours from my Leave Bank balance?
A. Make sure you always work the number of hours per week that your employer expects you to work, which is the number of hours you have agreed to work in exchange for your guaranteed salary.
Q. Can my Leave Bank balance be a negative amount?
A. Yes. If you have not worked the expected and agreed upon amount of hours and have had numerous deductions your balance could be a negative amount.
Q. What happens to my pay when I have a negative balance in my Leave Bank?
A. If you have a negative balance in your Leave Bank account and you miss a day of work, your employer can deduct a day’s pay from your guaranteed salary. Deductions from pay can only be made when you miss a full day of work, deductions cannot be made for partial day absences. However, a partial day absence will increase your negative balance in your Leave Bank account; your Leave Bank account will be overdrawn.
Q. How do I “fix” a negative balance?
A. A negative balance decreases when your employer “deposits” additional time in your Leave Bank account.
Q. What if my employer has a use it or lose it policy for accrued time off?
A. Employers offer paid time off so their employees have an opportunity to have paid time away from work. Some employers have a policy that greatly encourages employees to use this time by not allowing accrued time in the Leave Bank to roll into new leave year. Your employer has set as a maximum 40 hours to be allowed to roll into a new leave year.
Q. Does that mean that mean if my Leave Bank balance is 50 hours on December 31that I will lose 10 hours from my Leave Bank?
A. Yes. You can roll only 40 hours into a new year plus the hours that you will be awarded for the new leave year.
Q. What happens if I have a negative balance in my Leave Bank account and I decide or my employer decides to end my employment?
A. Your employer may deduct from your pay an amount of money equal to your negative Leave Bank balance.
Q. What happens to my positive Leave Bank balance when my employment ends?
A. Employees who terminate their employment and give two weeks’ notice will be paid an amount equal to their positive Leave Bank balance. Employees who are terminated for cause will not be paid for any hours in the Leave Bank account.
If you have further questions about how a Bona-Fide Leave Bank Plan works please contact an HR Advisor with A Plus Benefits 801-443-1090
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