Is anyone familiar with the concept of forcing employees in the financial arena to take mandatory time off each year. My boss wants me to look into this as someone else told her about it but I can't find any info anywhere on this concept. I guess the general idea is that employees who have fiscal control be required to be out so any anomolies or irregularities could be discovered in their absence wheareas if they are here all the time "controlling" information things can be covered up. We don't suspect a problem here but I am trying to educate myself on the concept per her request. Any help is appreciated.

This is a common practice in the banking industry. Once an employee is eligible for 3 weeks of vacation, we require 2 of those weeks to be consecutive. We are regulated by OTS. And although this 2 week rule isn't a mandatory OTS regulation, it is STRONGLY recommended.

It's also common in industries that are struggling or that have boom/bust cycles.  Employers are allowed to tell people not to work.  However, if this is not due to poor revenue, I would take steps to ensure that the employee isn't harmed (i.e., find a way to pay them in their absence).  Potentially, you could reassign them to another location or assign them to non-financial tasks in a differetn department.