Opinion ID: 2363011
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 4

Heading: Vacation and Sick Leave Benefits

Text: Further, we affirm the trial court's determination that neither vacation time nor additional sick leave be included in the calculation of Russell's total back pay. Vacation and sick leave benefits are not items of additional income to an employee; rather, they provide continued payment of an employee's regular salary for periods the employee is authorized to be out of work. Mr. Russell touts both Pettway v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 494 F.2d 211, 263 (5th Cir.1974) and Cox v. American Cast Iron Pipe Co., 784 F.2d 1546, 1562 (11th Cir.1986) to support the addition of accumulated sick leave and vacation time to his award. In both of those cases a more expansive definition of back pay arose from instances of egregious discrimination against employees, and damages were calculated under federal employment discrimination statutes. Mr. Russell has never alleged, much less proven, any discrimination in his case. His reliance on Wilkinson v. The State Crime Laboratory Commission, 788 A.2d 1129 (R.I.2002) also is misplaced. In Wilkinson, we held that the wrongfully terminated employee/plaintiff was entitled to both back pay and reinstatement, and we tied the restoration of benefits to the reinstatement rather than the back-pay award. Id. at 1144. Mr. Russell was not wrongfully terminated, and he waived his right to reinstatement when he voluntarily retired. We are satisfied that the trial justice did not err by refusing to include credits for sick leave and vacation time in the calculation of Russell's back pay award.