Vacations

No federal or state law requires you to provide paid or unpaid vacation time. However, most full-time employees expect paid vacation time as part of compensation and benefits package that they receive.

If you choose to offer vacation benefits, you'll need to decide how much vacation to provide, and what conditions you'll place on taking it. Traditionally, businesses have provided a base amount of vacation time, or paid time off, that increases the longer an employee works for the business. More recently, businesses have begun to adopt personal time off policies, which give employees a specified number of paid days off, to be taken for whatever reason.

Another issue is how and when employees can take their vacation time. Will you permit day-at-a-time vacations? Can employees take half-days off? Are there certain periods during the year when you don't want anyone taking off? Or do you intend to close your business for some specified period, requiring employees to use some vacation days during that period? It’s best to have a written policy that explains how vacation time accrues, how it may be taken, and what type of notice employees must provide prior to taking days off.

Here are some sample leave or time off policies, including a vacation policy.