Determining an employee's eligibility for incentives

Q We were closed for business due to the pandemic from March 17 to June 17. We hired an employee on February 5, and he's wondering when he will be eligible for benefits. Would the new-hire waiting period start ticking from the original date of hire, including the time we were closed?

Although federal law requires unemployment, social security, and workers' compensation benefits be provided to workers, neither the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) nor Idaho law requires benefits such as vacation time or health insurance benefits be provided to employees. Even under the Affordable Care Act, health care coverage isn't required—rather, it imposes penalties on certain employers that fail to provide health insurance. Otherwise, employees don't have a right to demand vacation or health care.

Under the law, such benefits are typically understood to be an inducement to employees to procure efficient and faithful service. As such, eligibility for supplemental incentives is a matter of agreement between the employer and employee and is determined by the employment policy's terms and general contract principles (unless, of course, they are subject to a written employment agreement or a collective bargaining agreement).

Thus, if there is no written agreement in place, the way the new-hire period is defined in your employment handbook or was communicated to your employee when he was onboarded will control. Whether the new-hire waiting period will include the time you were closed will be determined by the specific language used and, if ambiguous, by state contract interpretation law.