Hospital worker fights for ‘my PTO’: PeaceHealth accused of denying worker’s paid time off

When Vancouver resident Leslie Daniels returned to work at PeaceHealth Southwest Medical Center after three weeks of medical leave last year, she was stunned to find that her employer had nearly wiped out her paid-time-off balance.

“I thought I calculated it wrong,” Daniels said. “But then I worked it out, and I’m like, ‘No, they took my PTO.’ ”

Last year, employers violating the federal Family and Medical Leave Act paid employees $1 million in back wages for lost compensation, benefits or unapproved pay deductions, according to the U.S. Department of Labor.

Washington’s Paid Family & Medical Leave program, which launched in 2020, works in conjunction with the federal act. Clark County residents submitted 8,597 Paid Family & Medical Leave claims in 2025, according to the Employment Security Department, the state agency that oversees the program.

Daniels, a patient access representative, knew she had accrued some paid time off before she went on leave in January 2025, so she wrote an email the following month asking her supervisor why it had disappeared.

According to correspondence she shared with The Columbian, her supervisor wrote back to say her paid time off was used during the waiting period before her Paid Family & Medical Leave took effect.

At first, Daniels believed PeaceHealth might have been acting within reason. According to the state Paid Family & Medical Leave website, when an employee files a claim, there is a “waiting period” before the first approved week of an employee’s claim. During that, an employee can use accrued vacation or sick time without impacting paid leave benefits. But Daniels had opted against using her paid time off during the waiting period.

She realized something wasn’t adding up. In total, PeaceHealth had taken 24 hours of paid time off, the equivalent of $680.64 for her wage at the time.

“They unilaterally make decisions on your behalf,” Daniels said. “I do not need my employer to make those decisions for me. I can handle my own finances, and I was prepared. That is not their call.”

Daniels spent weeks attempting to reach the state Employment Security Department to see if what PeaceHealth was doing was legal. Messages submitted on her claims show she tried to get answers, but with no response.

“I want to know how to file a complaint,” she wrote in one message. “I want my PTO back.”

In June, after 2½ months with few answers, Daniels filed an “unlawful acts complaint” once she was able to get in touch with a state Employment Security Department representative by phone.

Daniels said she was nervous about how filing the complaint would affect her experience in the workplace.

“There’s a target on your back,” Daniels said. “I knew I was going to pay a price. But at the same time, I was mad.”

Ordered to pay

In a Nov. 13 letter, the Employment Security Department ordered PeaceHealth to pay Daniels $680.64, the amount of paid time off taken from her, within 30 days, with 1 percent interest accruing every day after that.

PeaceHealth didn’t send a check until February of this year, two months after the deadline set by the Employment Security Department, but it didn’t include interest.

“It was a mess,” Daniels said.

PeaceHealth Human Resources sent an email to Daniels in March stating no additional funds were owed to her, despite an Employment Security Department ombudsman telling Daniels otherwise.

By April, she was entitled to an additional $34.91.

Daniels acknowledged that’s a small amount but said it was worth pursuing because employers should not be allowed to infringe on workers’ rights.

“When they made the ruling, I thought, ‘They’re never going to do this again,’ ” Daniels said. “I don’t believe anything they do is with honest integrity. There’s no skin off their back. It was $684.64 and then interest. That’s like a slap on the wrist.”

PeaceHealth did not respond to questions posed by The Columbian. Instead, a spokesperson responded that PeaceHealth takes such concerns seriously and works promptly to address and fix any errors.

“Our policies are compliant with all state and federal leave laws,” PeaceHealth spokesperson Jim Murez said.

Daniels said she’s speaking out to draw attention to practices she believes undermine employees’ rights within the organization.

“I’m not just complaining because I like the sound of my own voice,” Daniels said. “This is an organizational problem.”