Q: I am tired of employees quitting without notice. I would like to require them to give at least a two-week notice. Can I do that? If they don’t provide this notice, can I refuse to cash out their unused vacation/PTO benefits?
A: Your frustration is understandable—when employees quit without notice, it can disrupt your schedule, strain the remaining team, and leave you scrambling. However, under employment laws in most states, your ability to require notice and/or withhold vacation payout is limited.
If your employees are “at-will”—which most are unless they have a specific contract, or you reside in Montana—you cannot legally require them to give two weeks’ notice. At-will employment means:
- The employee can resign at any time, with or without notice.
- You can terminate them at any time, with or without cause (as long as it’s not discriminatory or retaliatory).
So, while you can ask or strongly encourage notice, you can’t legally enforce it unless you’ve entered into a formal employment contract—something most employers choose not to do because it also limits their own at-will flexibility.
In terms of withholding vacation/PTO payout, several states will not allow this under any circumstance. For example, California, Illinois, and Massachusetts (to name a few) consider vacation to be “earned wages.” In these states, refusing to pay out vacation/PTO—regardless of how the employee leaves—may be considered wage theft and can lead to penalties.
Even if you’re in a state in which refusing to payout vacation/PTO is allowed, we do not recommend it. Employers should not punish employees for exercising their own rights under the at-will doctrine. An attempt to implement such punishments can result in undermining the employer’s rights as well.
As frustrating as this is, we recommend dealing with the circumstances as best you can and focusing, instead, on making your business a place in which few, if any, want to leave.
