Available for the following Payroll plans: Standard, Premium, Core Payroll, Unlimited+Payroll
Available for the following user access levels: Employee, Manager, Admin

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Leave allowance templates (LATs) enable you to create a pre-defined set of leave categories that have their own accrual rates, which you can then apply to new and existing employees. You can create a new leave allowance template, specify which leave categories to enable, and override the default leave accrual setup if it needs changing. You can also use this feature to edit any information if it changes, view the employees assigned to each template, and delete a record if it is no longer required.

Important

Any changes made to your leave allowance templates will need syncing over to Employment Hero. To read further details on how to undertake this, refer to the following article. To stop a leave category showing as an accrual, then the rate of accrual needs to be set as zero, otherwise the leave category will keep on accruing.

Getting started

Add a leave allowance template

Click the Business Settings menu.
Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
Click the Leave Allowance Templates button.
Click the Add button.
Complete the following fields:
- Template name.
- Leave year should start on.
Select the leave categories that need enabling.
In the Leave Allowance section, select Override to determine if an allowance can be overridden or not. If this is un-ticked, the fields will be blocked and cannot be changed. If you select the override option, then you can change the original settings and rate of accrual from the original set-up of the leave category.
Click the Save button.

Daily activities

Viewing assigned employees

Click the Business Settings menu.
Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
Click the Leave Allowance Template button.
Click the Employees button.

Helpful Hint

You will now see the list of employees assigned to this template displayed on your screen.

Editing data

Editing a leave allowance template

Click the Business Settings menu.
Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
Click the Leave Allowance Template button.
Click on the leave allowance template that needs editing.
Edit the following fields if needed:
- Template name.
- Leave year should start on.
Select the leave categories that need enabling.
In the Leave Allowance section, select Override to determine if an allowance can be overridden or not. If this is un-ticked, the fields will be blocked and cannot be changed.
Click the Save button.
Click the Ok button.

Data management

Cloning a leave allowance template

Click the Business Settings menu.
Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
Click the Leave Allowance Template button.
Click the Clone button.
Edit the following fields if needed:
- Template name.
- Leave year should start on.
Select the leave categories that need enabling.
In the Leave Allowance section, select Override to determine if an allowance can be overridden or not. If this is un-ticked, the fields will be blocked and cannot be changed.
Click the Save button.

Deleting data

Deleting a leave allowance template

Click the Business Settings menu.
Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
Click the Leave Allowance Template button.
Click the Delete button.
Click the OK button.

Further information

Changes to leave category settings

Any changes that are made to your business' leave category settings will not be applied to existing employees. The new settings will only apply automatically to any new employees who are subsequently added to your payroll. These are not applied retroactively.

LATs not assigned to an employee

If a leave allowance template is not assigned to an employee, the leave category settings will apply automatically to those employees. If you want to change the leave settings for employees you will need to do this on an individual basis. To do this, go to the employee file and access the Leave Allowances screen.

Changing employee leave settings in bulk

You can change employee leave settings in bulk by using a leave allowance template, then apply that template to each employee's record. See this article: Leave Allowance Templates.

Default leave categories

Any business created from 28 August 2020 will have the following default leave categories set up:

Annual Leave
Compassionate Leave
Family and Domestic Violence Leave
Leave Without Pay
Long Service Leave
Paid Community Service Leave
Personal/Carer's Leave
Time in Lieu

Prior to 28 August 2020, the leave category - "Personal/Carer's Leave (10 days)" - was also added to businesses by default. This leave category was configured so that the accrual method and balance was in days as opposed to hours in accordance with the Full Federal Court of Australia's decision on 21 August 2019.

On 13 August 2020, the High Court handed down a decision regarding the method of accruing personal/carer’s leave under the National Employment Standards. This decision overturns the previous decision made by the Full Federal Court in August 2019. As such, we have removed the leave category "Personal/Carer's Leave (10 days)" from our default list of leave categories.

Troubleshoot custom leave type issues

Question	Troubleshooting
I have created a leave type, but employees cannot see it.	Ensure that the correct employee group has been enabled for the custom leave work type. Click here for more info. Within the leave template, ensure that Hide accruals from pay slips, Hide balances from pay slips and in employee portal, and Hide leave category name from employee view are unchecked.
How do I create a special leave type, such as birthday leave, so that it is only applicable to one day a year?	Under Standard allowance, change the value to 1, and select Days per year in the following drop-down menu.
I've created a new leave allowance template, but I cannot see it to apply to my employees.	Check to see if the leave type was created successfully within the leave allowances tab.
I have created a leave, but it isn't accruing as expected in the payrun.	Edit the leave within the leave allowance tab and check to see if the accrual has been set up correctly. Remember to hit Save to push these changes through.

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