What are the guidelines on paying salaried employees for working
unused vacation time? Is it standard practice in industry to allow
salaried employees to opt for working during some of their scheduled
vacation time in order to get additional pay?

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Request for Question Clarification by czh-ga on 08 Jun 2005 12:03 PDT

Where are you located. Local laws may apply.

Google searches on the keywords pay for unused vacation
(://www.google.com/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&sourceid=deskbar&q=pay+for+unused+vacation)
and pay in lieu of vacation
(://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&rls=GGLG,GGLG:2005-19,GGLG:en&q=pay+in+lieu+of+vacation)
indicated that compensating employees for working instead of taking
vacation is extremely unusual in industry/private businesses.  I found
one example where it is legally required of the St. Louis Police
Department ("Requires St. Louis City police members receive pay for
unused vacation time annually rather than lose it"
http://www.senate.state.mo.us/03INFO/bills/SB575.htm), and another
where it is permitted by The University of California Riverside ("UC
Riverside Academic Personnel Procedures" UC Riverside
http://academicpersonnel.ucr.edu/Salary/Sumsal05.doc).  However,
nearly all vacation policies forbid it completely, and only one
allowed for it under unusual circumstances.

Whether or not an employer is required to pay you for unused vacation
upon termination depends upon the law in your state. "Pay For Unused
Vacation? Depends on Where You Live" BNET
http://jobfunctions.bnet.com/whitepaper.aspx?scname=Vacation+and+Sick+Pay&docid=51821

Use it or use it is illegal in some states, such as California. 
However, the total amount of vacation you can earn can be legally
capped in California. "Vacation" Division of Labor Standards
Enforcement, State of California (2003)
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Vacation.htm

Sincerely,

Wonko

At my company, salaried "use it or lose it".

Seems to be the standard for salaried employees everywhere _I_ have worked.

As I don't always use all my vacation by the end of the year I take
Fridays off for about 4 weeks in a row.

I agree, for vacation time it's use it or lose it. Peruse these links:

"salaried employees" unused "vacation time" compensation
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&c2coff=1&client=ig&q=%22salaried+employees%22+unused+%22vacation+time%22+compensation+&btnG=Search

Long Island, New York