Here is the short answer: there is no federal law that forces an employer to give paid time off (PTO), pay out unused PTO when you leave, cash out sick time, or pay your regular wages while you serve on a jury. The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets minimum wage and overtime rules, but it does not require paid vacation, paid sick leave, or holiday pay at all. Almost everything in this area is controlled by state law and your employer's own written policy, and those rules vary sharply from one state to the next.
That means the same question can have opposite correct answers depending on where you work. An unused-PTO balance that is legally owed to a departing worker in one state can be forfeited entirely in the next state over. Below is how the layers fit together so workers and HR teams can figure out what actually applies to them.
The federal baseline: surprisingly little
The FLSA, enforced by the U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division (WHD), is the main federal wage law. It requires covered employers to pay at least the federal minimum wage and overtime, and to pay for hours actually worked. It does not require:
- Paid vacation, PTO, or any minimum amount of time off
- Payout of unused PTO or vacation when employment ends
- Paid sick leave (the federal emergency paid-leave laws from the pandemic expired)
- Holiday, weekend, or premium pay just for the calendar
- Paid time for jury duty
The federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) guarantees job-protected leave for serious health conditions, the birth or adoption of a child, and certain military-family needs at employers with 50 or more employees, but FMLA leave is unpaid. So when people ask whether time off has to be paid, the federal answer is usually no, and the real protections come from elsewhere.
Do employers have to cash out PTO when you leave?
This depends entirely on your state and your employer's policy, and this varies by state. The common patterns are:
- "Earned PTO is wages" states. A number of states treat accrued, unused vacation or PTO as earned wages that must be paid out at separation, regardless of why you left. In these states an employer generally cannot make you forfeit a balance you already earned, and "use-it-or-lose-it" policies are limited or banned.
- "Follow the policy" states. Many states let the employer decide. If the written policy or handbook clearly says unused PTO is forfeited at termination, or is only paid under certain conditions, that policy generally controls, as long as it is communicated in advance and applied consistently.
- Silent states. Where the law says nothing, courts usually enforce the employer's written agreement or established practice.
Two practical points cut across all states. First, the distinction between "vacation/PTO" and "sick time" matters, because many payout rules apply to vacation but not sick leave. Second, if an employer promised a payout, in a handbook, offer letter, or consistent past practice, and then refuses, that can become an unpaid-wages claim even in a state with no specific PTO statute. Unpaid final wages, including owed PTO, are often recoverable through the state labor department, and some states add penalties for late or withheld final pay.
Do employers have to cash out sick time?
Generally no. Even in the growing list of states and cities with mandatory paid-sick-leave laws, the typical rule is that employers must let you accrue and use sick time, but they do not have to pay out unused sick balances when you quit or are fired. Sick leave is usually treated differently from vacation precisely because it is meant to be used for illness, not banked as a cash benefit.
Whether you get paid sick leave at all, how fast it accrues, how much carries over, and whether it must be paid out are all set by state or local law where those laws exist, and by employer policy everywhere else. This varies widely, so check your specific state and city rules rather than assuming a national standard. If your employer offers a combined PTO bank instead of separate vacation and sick buckets, the payout rules for vacation/PTO may then apply to the whole balance, which is one reason policy wording matters so much.
Do employers have to pay you for jury duty?
Under federal law, no employer is required to pay your wages while you serve on a jury. There are two separate questions here, and people often blur them:
- Protecting your job. The federal Jury System Improvements Act protects employees serving on federal juries from being fired, threatened, or coerced because of that service. Every state also has its own law protecting employees from being disciplined or terminated for answering a jury summons. So your job is generally protected, this is near-universal.
- Paying your wages. Whether your pay continues is different. A minority of states require employers to pay some or all of an employee's regular wages for a limited number of jury-service days, and this varies by state. Most states do not require paid jury leave at all, leaving it to the employer's policy. The small per-day check from the court is paid by the government, not your employer, and is usually nominal.
There is one important federal wrinkle for salaried exempt employees: under FLSA rules, if an exempt worker performs any work during a workweek, the employer generally cannot dock their salary for partial-week absences caused by jury duty. Employers can offset the salary by the jury fee the court pays, but full salary for that week typically must continue. Hourly nonexempt employees do not have that protection and are paid only as state law or company policy requires.