State Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-Merion Station, is pictured speaking to a fellow representative on the House of Representatives floor.

Legislation is being introduced that would make Pennsylvania the fifth state in the nation to ban “use it or lose it” vacation policies.

Rep. Mary Jo Daley, D-Merion Station, is circulating a co-sponsorship memorandum for legislation she is drafting that would put an end to paid time off policies that prevent employees from carrying over or cashing out paid time off at the end of the year. The legislation itself is still being drafted.

“While new leave may be provided to employees, under these policies, the time earned but not used is forfeited without compensation,” Daley wrote.

Daley said many employees see leave requests denied multiple times until it is too late in the year to use all their paid time off while other employees, like construction workers, are often told vacation can’t be used during the summer construction season.

Nebraska, Montana, Colorado and California have bans on use it or lose it vacation policies, with Colorado’s policy originally passed in 2015 being the subject of lawsuits and several clarifying regulations in the years since. Connecticut lawmakers No state currently requires employers to offer paid vacation, though there are three states that require some employers to provide paid time off that employees can use for any reason. Employers who chose to offer paid vacation often don’t have state laws governing how that unused vacation time is paid out or lose, with states leaving those decisions up to companies.

“In these states, while employers may place caps on vacation and other leave accruals, unused accrued paid time off is generally considered wages that, once earned, cannot be taken away from employees,” Daley said. “I plan to introduce legislation that would place similar limitations on employers use of ‘Use It or Lose It’ policies.”