Leave, overtime and official business

Employees file leave, overtime and official business from the portal. This guide shows who decides, how to approve or reject a request, and how to close the leave year.

Who decides

• The employee's supervisor decides first, on My team in the portal.
• Otherwise an Owner / Management user, a payroll officer or a payroll approver decides on Leave and OT. HR admins can also decide leave and official business.
• Nobody decides on their own request or on one they filed.
• If your company turned on the second approval for leave, an approval by a supervisor or payroll approver only endorses the request (it shows "Endorsed, waiting for final approval"). The payroll officer, HR admin or owner then gives the final approval.
• Your company's approval rules may send some requests to the owner or a payroll officer only.

These choices are set under Company setup → Leave and overtime approval (see Leave types and who approves).

Approve or reject a request

1. Open Leave and OT. The page lists Leave waiting, Official business waiting and Overtime waiting, oldest first.
2. Read the dates, the reason and the details under each request:
   • Leave shows the workdays asked for and the balance.
   • Overtime shows what the employee's time log shows for that day.
3. Type a note if you like, then click Approve or Reject.

Supervisors do the same on My team, under Leave to approve, Overtime to approve and the official business card.

What each approval does

• Leave: the days count as leave in the time log's totals, paid or unpaid according to the leave type.
• Overtime: approved hours are paid only up to the time actually worked after the regular day. Overtime that isn't approved isn't paid.
• Official business: the day is paid as time worked: the scheduled hours, or the hours clocked if your company counts actual hours. On that day each punch needs a photo and the location, wherever the employee is. A day without a clock-in is credited as the scheduled hours and flagged "OB - no time log". Overtime on that day still needs its own approval.

Cancel an approval

1. On Leave and OT, find the request under Decided in the last 14 days (official business stays in its own card).
2. Click Cancel approval (or Cancel for official business).

Owner / Management users and payroll officers can cancel approved leave, overtime and official business. HR admins can cancel approved leave and official business.

Close the leave year

At the end of the year, decide what happens to each employee's unused days. Owner / Management users and payroll officers do this.

1. On Leave and OT, click Year-end leave: carry over unused days and pay leave in cash.
2. Choose the Leave year and the date under "Pay the cash in the first open payroll paid on or after", then click Show.
3. Read the plan. Each leave type's settings decide what happens to unused days: carried into the next year up to the type's cap, paid in cash where the type says so, or else lost. Unused service incentive leave (5 days a year) is paid in cash. The cash is the days times the daily rate at year end, added as a one-time item to the payroll period shown.
4. Click Apply the (year) year-end and confirm.

Employees who left during the year are settled in their final pay instead.

What can go wrong

• "Someone else must decide on this request." You filed it, or it is your own. Ask another approver.
• "Under this company's approval rules, the owner or a payroll officer decides this request." Ask the owner or a payroll officer.
• "… leave request(s) of … are still waiting; decide them first." Decide the year's waiting leave before applying the year-end.

Good to know

• Balances are as of 31 December, so apply the year-end once the year's leave is settled. It can be undone with Undo the (year) year-end until the payroll that pays the cash is approved.
• The year-end plan shows which part of the leave cash is tax-free and which is taxable.