# Fired for Using Paid Leave? California Employment Lawyer > Fired while on PTO, sick leave, or FMLA in California? Our employment attorneys fight to recover your unpaid wages and forfeited vacation pay. Case review. Source: https://worklawyerca.com/unpaid-leave-fired/ Firm: Employment Lawyers Group — employee-side employment lawyers since 1993. Serving Los Angeles County, California. Phone: (818) 783-7300 (calling is the fastest way to reach the legal team) Office: 13418 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks, CA 91423 Contact form: https://worklawyerca.com/contact/ Consultations are free and confidential; cases are taken on contingency. --- Employees in California should not be fired for using accrued, paid time off. However,there are exceptions. For example, unpredictable attendance is generally a problem. Ifyou were fired because you missed work due to illness, but you had enough accruedsick pay to cover the period of illness you might have a [wrongful termination case](https://worklawyerca.com/wrongful-termination-lawyer-los-angeles/). If you were firedwhen you had vacation pay available, but were out for medical reasons that alsopresents the appearance of probable wrongful termination, and maybe violation of lawssuch as [FMLA](https://worklawyerca.com/fmla-family-leave-act/) if you had a qualifyingserious medical condition for which you treated with a doctor more than twice. However,the use of one vacation day a week for a period of months may cause disruption anemployer claims they cannot accommodate. The fact patterns, circumstances for youmissing work, and potential labor laws that may apply cause our best legal advice to becall us at (818) 783-7300 so we can get into the specifics. The specifics matter. The specifics on sick leave accrual also matter. Part-time employees do accrue sickleave in California. For every 30 hours they work, they accrue one hour of sick time upto 5 full days in a year. Full-time employees have different accrual rates. Employers mayalso have rules about sick pay, PTO, and vacation accrual whereby all pay is given at acertain time during the year or it is combined. These rules are legal as long as you arereceiving the minimum amount of sick pay required by law. If you are consideringbringing a lawsuit because you had accrued sick time, but were fired anyway it would behelpful to find your paystubs or documents that show the accrued sick pay. Thosedocuments will be useful to our employment lawyers. To read about additional leaves of absence, and understand the specifics of variousCalifornia leaves of absence, [CLICK HERE](https://worklawyerca.com/leave-of-absence-lawyer-los-angeles/) ## DO EMPLOYERS HAVE TO PAY PTO, SICK PAY, AND VACATION PAY WHEN THEEMPLOYEE LEAVES THE COMPANY? Sick pay does not have to be paid when an employee leaves their employer. Unusedsick pay is forfeited. Unused vacation pay and PTO is not forfeited.The failure to payout vacation/PTO pay can result in California Labor Code Section 203penalties. These penalties are one day of pay, including applicable benefits andbonuses, for up to 30 days. These penalties are not automatic. There are defenses anemployer can bring such as their failure to pay out the money was a good faith mistake.Every week our law firm receives quite a few phone calls at (818) 783-7300 aboutvacation and PTO simply never paid out. Unfortunately, we also receive many phonecalls about final wages not paid out. ### CAN AN EMPLOYER DENY AN UNPAID LEAVE? It is important to contact our law firm directly if you were on an approved leave ofabsence and were fired. Many FMLA, cancer, disability, and pregnancy leaves areunpaid (at least by a certain point). Employers cannot fire employees over those kind ofleaves. Employers commonly make mistakes about leave durations, do not properly enterdoctor’s notes into their system, and misconstrue the various California leave laws.Again, the facts matter. Employers can fire employees if they require leaves beyondwhat the law requires, if there is no probable return date at a certain point, or themedical condition does not provide the leave coverage an employee needs. Justbecause an employer has agreed an employee is on leave does not end the inquiry.Leave laws are very complex. It is important that you speak to a qualified CaliforniaLeave Law attorney to find out if you have a case. Call us at (818) 783-7300.Finally, if an employee is on an unpaid leave not due to a protected medical condition orwork injury there may not be a legal duty for the employer to hold the job open. Employees who have read this article, and are not ready to contact our law firm, mightfind the following legal citations useful if they want to do more research on their own: - California Government Code Section 12945 (pregnancy disability/maternity leave) - California Government Code Section 12945.2 (FMLA) - California Labor Code Section 233 (sick leave) - Naranjo v. Spectrum, 15 Cal. 5th 1056 (2024) (late pay law explained) ## Our Firm: No Upfront Fees or Costs ### Contingency Fee Representation All employment cases for employees are taken on a **contingency basis**. We are only paid a fee **when and if we win** your case, and we **advance all litigation costs**. Our goal is to make expert legal representation accessible to every hardworking employee. ### Serving Los Angeles County We have proudly served all of Los Angeles County since 1993. Ready to discuss your case? (818) 783-7300 Submit A Contact Form The Employment Lawyers Group has successfully handled 2,000+ Separate California Employment Cases ## Media Engagements ## Sample Case Results breach of commission contract $1,150,000 Unpaid commissions of two plaintiffs unpaid wages $875,000 For 4 oil field service industry workers whose times worked were not recorded on timesheets and were on-call forced to work without pay standby pay case $800,000 Controlled stand by class action settlement Disclaimer: These results are based on the facts of these specific cases and do not guarantee or predict a similar result in any future case. ## Practice Areas [Discrimination Age, Disability, FMLA/CFRA, Gender, National Origin, Pregnancy, Race, and Sexual Orientation discrimination claims.](https://worklawyerca.com/discrimination-attorney-8-facts-to-prove/) [Unpaid Wages & Overtime Recovering earnings for overtime, bonuses, commissions, meal & rest break violations, and prevailing wage claims.](https://worklawyerca.com/unpaid-wages-attorney-los-angeles/) [Sexual Harassment Compassionate and effective representation for sexual harassment and hostile work environment claims.](https://worklawyerca.com/sexual-harassment/) [Wrongful Termination Representing employees terminated in violation of public policy, contracts, or California and federal law.](https://worklawyerca.com/wrongful-termination-settlements/) [Leaves & Retaliation Protecting employees who face adverse actions after reporting illegal activity or taking protected medical leave.](https://worklawyerca.com/leave-of-absence-lawyer-los-angeles/) [Whistleblowers Advocating for employees who report fraud, waste, or abuse under California and federal whistleblower protection laws.](https://worklawyerca.com/los-angeles-whistle-blower-lawyer/) ## Our California Locations ### Bakersfield [BakersfieldLaborAttorney.com](https://bakersfieldlaborattorney.com) 5401 Business Park S, #214, Bakersfield CA 93309 [(661) 412-9600](tel:6614129600) ### Los Angeles [EmployeeLawCA.com](https://employeelawca.com/) 611 Wilshire Blvd, #1023, Los Angeles CA 90017 [(323) 525-1600](tel:3235251600) ### Orange County [WorkLawyerOC.com](https://worklawyeroc.com) 2522 Chambers Rd, #100, Tustin CA 92780 [(714) 210-8000](tel:7142108000) ### Riverside [RiversideEmploymentLawyer.com](https://riversideemploymentlawyer.com) 9496 Magnolia Ave, #208, Riverside CA 92503 [(951) 367-1000](tel:9513671000) ### Sacramento [SacramentoLaborAttorney.com](https://sacramentolaborattorney.com) 777 Campus Commons Rd, #200, Sacramento CA 95825 [(916) 340-0000](tel:9163400000) ### San Bernardino [EmploymentAttorneySanBernardino.com](https://employmentattorneysanbernardino.com) 337 N. Vineyard Ave, #400, Ontario CA 91764 [(909) 663-2100](tel:9096632100) ### San Diego [SanDiegoEmployeeLawyer.com](https://sandiegoemployeelawyer.com) 330 "A" St, #60, San Diego CA 92101 [(619) 320-3000](tel:6193203000) ### San Francisco / Bay Area [BayAreaEmploymentAttorney.net](https://bayareaemploymentattorney.net) 524 Union St, #400, San Francisco CA 94133 [(877) 525-0700](tel:8775250700) ### San Jose / Silicon Valley [SiValleyLaborLawyer.com](https://sivalleylaborlawyer.com) 111 N. Market St, #300, San Jose CA 95113 [(877) 525-0700](tel:8775250700) ### Sherman Oaks [WorkLawyerCA.com](https://worklawyerca.com) 13418 Ventura Blvd, Sherman Oaks CA 91423 [(818) 783-7300](tel:8187837300) ### Torrance / South Bay [JobTerminationLaw.com](https://jobterminationlaw.com/) 3655 Torrance Blvd, 3rd Floor, Torrance CA 90503 [(310) 842-8600](tel:3108428600) ### Ventura / Oxnard [VenturaEmploymentLawyer.com](https://venturaemploymentlawyer.com) 4030 West Hemlock St, Oxnard CA 93035 [(805) 200-0100](tel:8052000100) ### Additional Sites [BostonLaborLaw.com](https://bostonlaborlaw.com) [DcLaborAttorney.com](https://dclaborattorney.com) [FresnoEmployeeLawyer.com](https://fresnoemployeelawyer.com) [JobLawyer.net](https://joblawyer.net) [MarylandLaborAttorney.com](https://marylandlaborattorney.com/) [ModemStud.com](https://modemstud.com) [VintageLosAngeles.org](https://vintagelosangeles.org) [WorkplaceLawyer.org](https://workplacelawyer.org) ## About Firm Founder, Karl Gerber Firm Founder, **Karl Gerber**, has been an employment and wrongful termination attorney since **1993**. He has represented a wide range of employees throughout California. Mr. Gerber has won **51 of the binding arbitrations and jury trials** he first chaired, and a number of his appeals are published. This deep trial experience is the foundation of the firm's strategic approach to litigation. The employment attorneys employed by the Employment Lawyers Group have worked at the firm well in excess of five years, have also tried many different labor cases, and have all been **extensively trained on employment and wrongful termination law by Karl Gerber**. [Meet Karl Gerber](https://worklawyerca.com/karl-gerber/) ## Ready to Discuss Your Case? Your rights as an employee matter. Submit a contact form and we'll get back to you. Submit A Contact Form [Call (818) 783-7300 Now](tel:8187837300)