I have an employee who used up all their PTO - Are Employers Required to Give Unpaid Time Off?

Scenario:
I have an employee who used up all their PTO recently for a big vacation. Now they are asking for more time off, but since they don’t have PTO, they are asking me for unpaid time off. Are employers required to give unpaid time off?
Answer:
Say it with me:
It depends! The answer really boils down to why the employee is asking for unpaid time off. Federal and state laws have implemented many protected leaves of absence, and it’s possible the employee could qualify for one of those.
In some cases, like many states’ sick leave laws, it may even be a legally required paid leave of absence. Generally, if the employee is requesting time off due to sickness, family care, or any sort of legally mandated service, they may qualify for a state or even a federal protected leave of absence.
Outside of legally mandated leaves of absence, there are other, ‘best practice’, factors to consider. Does your company’s handbook allow for unpaid time off? Have you historically granted unpaid time off to other employees? If the answer to one of those questions is ‘yes’, then you may want to consider granting the employee unpaid time off. In either case, denying the employee’s request could be viewed as discrimination, and lead to a claim. You could make a written policy change; however it would be best to disclose that to all employees and give them advance notice before the policy goes into effect.
You may also want to consider allowing unpaid time off to boost employee retention. Flexibility is increasingly valued in an employer, and allowing an unpaid time off policy can help employees take time they might need beyond the PTO you provide. Should you have a policy like that, you would be able to limit its usage to be approved on a case-by-case basis, as well as requiring PTO to be used up before taking unpaid time off, as long as they are not taking a protected leave of absence.
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