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Allow or prevent employees from going into negative leave

Available for the following EmploymentOS plans: Employment Plus, Employment Unlimited
Available for the following user access level: Manager, Admin

You can enable our Negative Leave Balance feature via the Leave Settings page. The feature applies to all leave categories and means that an employee cannot ask for leave that would put them into a negative balance. Employees will receive an error message when attempting to apply for leave that would put them into negative leave.

We calculate negative leave based on submitted and approved leave. Should a manager or administrator allow an employee to go into negative leave, only they can submit the leave request for that employee. 

Getting started

Prevent employees from going into negative leave

To stop employees from going into negative leave, you can use the Prevent negative leave function. Below is a description of how to turn this feature on.

  1. Log into Employment Hero.
  2. Click the  Settings menu.
  3. Click the Leave Settings submenu.
  4. Click the Edit (ellipsis) button next to the leave type you want to edit (e.g. Annual Leave).
    click on the ellipsis
  5. Click the checkbox next to Prevent negative leave balance.
    tick prevent negative leave balances
  6. Click the Save button.

Allow employees to go into negative leave

To allow employees to go into negative leave, make sure the Prevent negative leave function is off. Below is a description of how to turn this feature off.

  1. Log into Employment Hero.
  2. Click the  Settings menu.
  3. Click the Leave Settings submenu.
  4. Click the Edit (ellipsis) button next to the leave type you want to edit (e.g. Annual Leave).
    click on the ellipsis
  5. Make sure the checkbox next to Prevent negative leave balance is unticked.
    allow negative leave balances - untick the check box to allow
  6. Click the Save button.

Further information

Message to employees
If you have prevented negative leave balances and an employee tries to add leave that would put them into a negative balance, they will see the following message near the Submit button when they request the leave: You are not able to submit this leave request as you will have a negative leave balance. Please contact your Manager or HR Administrator for further assistance.
Which users can allow/prevent negative leave balances?
  • For all leave types that have a Tracked Balance, we have introduced a setting called Prevent Negative Leave Balances. This will prevent any employees from submitting a leave request if the leave allowance remaining) message appears. This means that the employee will go into a negative leave balance if the amount is approved. This will apply to all self-submitted leave requests (employees or managers/admins applying leave for themselves)
  • An admin can submit negative leave for everyone.
  • Managers can only submit negative leave for their reporting employees.
  • Custom security group users who have access to leave management for all employees will be able to submit negative leave for everyone.

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