Sick time

[Shugger]

I work for a California company that just merged with one of our sister companies. We were notified of this merger last June. Each employee was given a letter that stated what our anticipated lay-off date would be. For some of us it gave a retention bonus for those of us that actually stayed until the lay-off date. My question is this. My company had givven 1 week of sick time at the beginning of each new year. Now that we have merged with the other company they have told us that we are no longer entitled to that compensation. How can they do this without proper notification? How can I get the 1 week of compensation?

Please advise.

 

[Attorney_Replogle]

If the one week of sick time (which I presume you can sell back if it is not used) is written down in any company handbook, employment documents, etc., then you should be able to consider this as a contractual promise of the employer to the employees. Of course management attorneys will contend that unless any specific employee and a management employee signed an employment contract to that effect, the said sick time promise is of no legal significance and is unenforceable. If it is a contractual promise binding upon the employer, then the new company is also bound by that promise. What I would suggest is to hire a labor lawyer near you. He can negotiate a lay-off package for you that will include that one week sum. This assumes of course that my analysis is correct and the cost to hire the attorney is less than the reasonable sum of money you are likely to receive in your package. You can find a labor lawyer near you at attorneypages.com.

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Mark B. Replogle