Owen

An employer is entitled to adopt a policy specifying “the amount of vacation pay an employee is entitled to be paid as wages,” depending on length of service. (Suastez v. Plastic Dress-Up Co. (1982) 31 Cal.3d 774, 783 [ 183 Cal.Rptr. 846 , 647 P.2d 122 ] (Suastez).) The law permits an employer to offer new employees no vacation time: If an express written company policy forewarns new employees that their compensation package does not include paid vacation during their initial employment, then no vacation pay is earned and none is vested. When such a policy is in place, as it is in this appeal, employees cannot claim any right to vested vacation during their initial employment, because they know in advance that they will not earn or vest vacation pay during this period. The trial court correctly determined that plaintiff was not unlawfully denied vacation pay when her employment ended.

FACTS

Appellant Lisa Owen began working as a sales associate at a RobinsonsMay department store (Robinsons) in 1990. In August 2005, Robinsons was acquired by respondent Macy’s, Inc. (For ease of reference, respondent will be called Robinsons throughout this opinion.) In January 2006,…