First things first: “PTO” stands for “paid time off.” A company PTO policy determines how many days an employee can take paid time off from work. While PTO policies are a standard part of many company regulations, there aren’t any federal laws requiring PTO days.
Typically, a full-time employee will have an annual allotment of paid time off. The amount of PTO days may be dependent on the length of an employee’s tenure. These days can be used for personal time, such as vacations or holidays. Most employers will classify your time off into two separate categories; time taken off for bereavement, jury duty, or maternity/paternity leave won’t eat into your PTO days.
A company paid time off policy also states what will happen to unused PTO days. Some employers allow last year’s PTO to carry over onto the upcoming years. For example, if you had three out of 10 PTO days left, you’d start the new year with 13. Carryover policies are often accompanied with PTO limits, which keep employees from accumulating tons of days off. When an employee resigns, they might receive compensation for their remaining paid time off; if they’re fired, they usually don’t get the money at all.
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