Paid Time Off
Pernod Ricard USA (the Company) grants annual Paid Time Off (PTO) to its full-time employees working thirty (30) or more hours per week. This PTO is intended to cover all employee needs for time off including, but not limited to illness, vacation, and other personal needs. PTO is accrued on a monthly basis. New employees will receive an initial accrual of five business days. The amount of PTO to which employees are entitled depends on the years of service and/or position in the company, as indicated in the table below and in the Benefits Guide. For employees working less than 30 hours per week, PTO will not apply, however sick days will be granted – please refer to the Sick Days Policy for details.
This applies to all Corporate and Commercial employees; and salaried Operations employees. For the Operations hourly policy please contact your local HR partner or NA.HumanResources@Pernod-Ricard.com.
Exceptions
Directors + VPs
Directors accrue twenty-three days per year until they reach 10 years of service. After 10 years, they will follow the normal Pernod Ricard USA PTO schedule noted above. VPs accrue twenty eight days per year until they reach 15 years of service, after which they will then earn 33 PTO days as noted above.
New Hires
Employees will accrue PTO time based on their hire date, however they are not eligible to take PTO time prior to completing ninety days of employment, unless your manager approves earlier use. You must be an employee on the first of the month to receive a monthly accrual for that month. In addition, employees must be active on the 1st day of each month to be eligible for that month’s accrual. When using PTO, the Company suggests increments of a minimum of a half day, however employees can request time off in increments of 1 hour.
Leaves of Absence
For leaves of absence that last more than twelve consecutive weeks, PTO time will not accrue. Monthly PTO accruals will recommence on the first day of the month following the employee’s return from leave. Employees on leaves of absence lasting less than twelve consecutive weeks will continue to accrue PTO on the 1st day of each month. All employees on leaves of absence will continue to accrue 5 PTO days at the first of each calendar year.
Maximum PTO Accrual For Employees Working in California, Colorado, Montana and Nebraska
Employees in these states accrue PTO time each month until they reach 5 days above their annual entitlement (e.g., 23, 28, 33, or 38 days). After reaching this accrual, an employee does not accrue additional PTO time until the employee uses sufficient PTO time to fall below the maximum permissible accruals. This means that an employee’s PTO accrual on the first of the calendar year will be less than five days if that would place an employee above the maximum annual accrual.
Use of Accrued PTO for All Employees Working Outside of California, Colorado, Montana and Nebraska
Unless there are extenuating circumstances, PTO time must be taken in the year in which it is accrued. The Company recognizes that, because of the demands of business, there may be extraordinary circumstances that may prevent an employee from utilizing all of his/her PTO time in the year it is accrued. In such circumstances, you may carry over up to five days per year of your accrued, unused PTO time to the next calendar year; however, it must be used by April 30th of that year. If carry over PTO time is not taken by April 30th of the following year, it is lost.
Scheduling PTO Time Not Yet Accrued
Employees will be permitted to take paid PTO time in advance of the actual PTO accrual during that calendar year with supervisor/manager approval. However, employees may not take more than half of their total accrued PTO time in any given year prior to June 30, without express written permission from their manager. Note that employees who are granted permission to take PTO time before it has been accrued must repay the PTO time if the employee terminates his/her employment (voluntarily or involuntarily) prior to accruing the PTO time advanced.
Pay in Lieu of PTO
Employees are required to take their earned PTO time. No payment will be made in lieu of taking PTO time off. The following are the only exceptions to this rule:
Unused accrued PTO at the time of termination will be paid out to the terminating employee.
As determined by the Company, if an employee is requested to forego PTO time due to a critical business situation, payment in lieu of time off may be issued (pending Human Resources approval).
PTO Scheduling
You should submit your PTO request, indicating the date(s) you wish to take your PTO time, to your supervisor/manager at least one month in advance of your scheduled PTO via email whenever possible. We encourage as much notice as practical to ensure adequate coverage/backup and understand last minute requests for medical reasons. Approval of PTO requests will be made by the supervisor/manager, subject to the staffing needs of the Company and granted on a “first-come, first serve” basis. Documentation for approved PTO requests must be submitted to department representative for time and attendance records.
PTO for Terminating Employees
Employees terminating employment for any reason will be paid for any accrued but unused PTO allowance. In the event that a terminating employee has taken more PTO time than they have accrued as of the date of termination, they will be required to repay the Company for the excess time taken.
PTO Buy Plan (Applies to Corporate, Commercial and Fort Smith Employees)
As an addendum to Pernod Ricard USA’s PTO policy, the PTO Buy Plan allows all regular full-time active employees the opportunity to purchase up to five days of additional PTO time. This Plan allows employees to select additional annual PTO time in lieu of receiving a proportional amount of base annual salary, and days must be purchased in full day increments.
Enrollment in the PTO Buy Plan is optional and can be made one time per year during Open Enrollment for the following calendar year.
Please note: Fort Smith employees who already have four or five weeks of PTO per calendar year will not be eligible to participate.
Eligible employees may enroll in the plan completing the PTO Buy Plan Form available on My Portal or by contacting the Payroll Department:
Full Year Reduction
Employees who buy PTO time prior to January will have their annual salary reduced prorata, based on the “cost” of the PTO time you purchase. The cost of these days will be subtracted equally from your gross pay each pay period throughout the year. The days of PTO you purchase become available as of January 1st following this election. This is calculated based on the derived hourly rate and will be deducted using the rate of pay each pay period times the prorated hours per pay period. If the employee receives an increase, the rate we use to calculate the PTO buy will also increase.
Approval of PTO Buy Days
Use of the PTO Buy time requires the approval of your manager and must be in accordance with Pernod Ricard USA PTO polices, including but not limited to PTO carryover, scheduling and terminating employees. Employees must be at a “Delivers at Expectations” performance level, at the time of election, in order to be eligible for PTO Buy days. Managers should consider an employee’s performance level and current level of PTO time when approving the election of PTO buy days.
PTO buy days and all time off must be requested for approval through the time & attendance system of record, and must be used in the following order:
• 1st Previous years PTO days
• 2nd PTO buy days
• 3rd Regular PTO days
Notes on Paycheck Deductions
• Due to IRS regulations we are not able to defer any payments for unused PTO Buy days’, therefore they will NOT be reimbursed. The only exception is if a person terminates in the year they are purchasing PTO buy days – paid for and unused time will be reimbursed.
• Your 401k deduction will be calculated on your adjusted gross pay (regular gross pay minus PTO buy = adjusted gross).
• The pension and life insurance benefits will be calculated based on your regular base pay.
• The PTO buy reduction will continue during short term disability.
In case of separation of employment, any paid for and unused PTO buy days will be reimbursed to the employee, provided separation occurs in the same calendar year that the PTO buy days were acquired. Any PTO buy days used before being paid for will be deducted from the employee’s PTO accruals. Due to IRS regulations, the company is unable to reimburse unused PTO buy days acquired in the prior calendar year. In this case, unused PTO buy days will be lost.