Manage time off categories on payroll classic

1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll classic platform.
2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
3. Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
4. Click the   Time off Category button.
5. Click the Add button.
   
6. Complete the following fields:
   • Name.
   • External ID.
   • Time off loading.
   • Time off category type:
     • Standard (To be used for employees that accrue time off on an hours per hour worked or hours per pay-run basis). 
     • Statutory sick time off.
     • Statutory maternity time off.
     • Statutory adoption time off.
     • Statutory paternity time off.
     • Statutory Parental bereavement time off.
     • Entitlement Based Time off.
   • Employee time off balance:
     • Tracked Automatically accrues.
     • Exclude from termination payout.
     • Apply negative balances on termination.
     • Hide accruals from pay slips.
     • Hide balances from pay slips and in employee platform.
     • Hide time off category name from employee view.
     • Not tracked Hide time off category name from employee view)
   • Unit Type: (Hours, Days, Weeks)
   • Payment setup:
     • Basic.
     • Do not pay for the time off taken.
     • Report the earnings for the time off taken against another pay category.
     • Custom.
7. Click the Save button.
   

1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll classic platform.
2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
3. Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
4. Click the   Time off Category button.
5. In the Time off should start on field; select either:
   • Employee's start date.
   • The following date.
6. Click the Save button.
   

1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll classic platform.
2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
3. Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
4. Click the   Time off Category button.
5. Click on the time off category that needs editing.
   
6. Make the required changes and click the Save button.
   

1. Log into your Employment Hero Payroll classic platform.
2. Click the   Business Settings menu.
3. Click the Payroll Settings submenu.
4. Click the   Time off Category button.
5. Click the   Delete button.
   
6. Click the OK button.
   

• Name - This is a required field.
• External ID - This is only required if you are using an external system to capture time off requests or timesheet entries and hence need to map the code used from such external system. If an external ID is used that has been used before, you will not be able to save it if the 'unique external ID' setting is switched on. This setting is located on the Payroll settings Advanced settings page. See here for more information.
• Time off Loading Percentage - Used to automatically apply time off loading, such as time off loading.
• Time off Category Type - There is a drop-down box to choose from Standard, Long Service Time off or Personal/Carer's Time off. If 'Personal/Carer's Time off' is selected, the fields Automatically Accrues and Standard Allowance will be pre-populated and locked, which cannot be edited.
• Employee Time off Balance - There is a drop-down box to choose from Tracked or Not tracked. Note: for some types of time off that aren't accrued in the usual way (e.g. time off without pay) it might not make sense for an employee to have a 'balance'. In these cases, you should set this value to 'Not tracked' to tell the platform it does not need to keep track of how much of this type of time off an employee is entitled to.
• Automatically accrues - Select this option if the time off is to accrue automatically. You will then be required to choose whether the time off will accrue on an ongoing basis or accrue based on a defined time off year. The time off year can be set as the employee's start date or another specific date. This date is specified via the employee's "Time off Allowances" page.
• Exclude from termination payout - Select this option if you do not want any of the unused time off balance for this time off category to automatically be paid out upon termination.
• P45 - You can only select this option if the Exclude from termination payout option above is not selected and the employee's time off balance is set to Tracked. If the time off category can be classified as an employment termination payment (P45) when paid out on termination, for unused sick time off, unused rostered days off and/or time off in lieu of overtime, you should tick the checkbox so that the payout of the unused time off is correctly classified as an P45 and taxed accordingly. Further information on what unpaid time off is defined as an ATP can be found here.
• Hide accruals from pay slips - Select this option if you do not wish to allow employees to see the amount of time off accrued for this time off category within a pay run on their pay slips.
• Hide balances from pay slips and in the employee platform - Select this option if you do not wish to allow employees to see the balance of this time off category on their pay slips or in the employee platform.
• Hide time off category name from employee view - Select this option if you do not wish to have the time off category name displayed in the calendar contained within the employee's platform. All that will be displayed is the employee name and the period of time off taken. This setting works in conjunction with the setting "Employees can view approved time off" from the Employee Portal Settings screen. 
• Standard allowance - Enter the number of units the employee is to accrue. You can also click on the calculator icon to assist with calculating the entitlement and ensuring the correct figure is being applied.
• Accrue in advance - Select this option if you want employees to accrue their entire entitlement in advance. This means that the full annual entitlement will be accrued on the employee's first pay run and will be added to their time off balance.
• Limit time off accruals in the first pay run for the period - Enabling this option will allow the time off type to accrue in the first pay run for the pay period, and cap the time off for any other pay runs with the exact same pay period start and end date. This applies to ordinary pay runs and ad hoc pay runs.
• Time off accrual capping - This setting allows you to select whether the number of units accrued will be capped. If the accrual IS NOT to be capped, select "not limited" from the drop down list. If the accrual is to be capped, select limited to from the drop-down list and then enter the maximum number of units that should accrue.
• Carrying over the balance - This setting allows you to cap the number of time off units to carry over to the next time off year. If the entire time off balance is to be carried over, keep the default setting of "the entire balance". If only a portion of the time off balance is to be carried over, select "a maximum of" from the drop-down list and then enter the maximum number of units to be carried over.

The setting "Unit type" will only display if the "Automatically Accrues" checkbox is not ticked. This setting is required so that the platform knows whether to display the time off in days, weeks or hours. The display is relevant for when an employee applies for time off. When a time off category is displayed in either days or weeks, the time off will then be converted into hours in the pay run and a conversion formula will be made available to see how the conversion was calculated.

• Payment Setup - This determines whether the employee is paid for the time off taken and the pay category that is assigned when time off is taken. (The default setting for Payment Setup on the Time off - time off category used to be basic, but this has been updated in later releases so that the time off is reported against a separate pay category called Time off Taken - you are free to change this if necessary)
• Basic - When an employee does not use timesheets, the employee's time off balance will be reduced, earnings are not impacted. When an employee is using timesheets to submit all time worked, an earnings line will be created and the time off balance will be reduced. To check or assign the employee's timesheet setting, go to the employee's 'Pay Run Defaults' page. The timesheets option is near the top of the page.
• Don't pay for the time off taken - When an employee does not use timesheets, an earnings line with negative hours will be added to reduce the earnings for the employee. When an employee is using timesheets to submit all time worked, two earnings lines will be created (one positive, one negative) that will cancel each other out.
• Report the earnings for the time off taken against another pay category - When wanting to report payments for time off taken in a separate pay category (for reporting/journaling purposes), select this option. The earnings related to the time off taken will be assigned against the specified pay category instead of the employee's primary pay category. When this alternative is selected, the option will be given to use the rate of pay from the employee's primary pay category.
• Custom - For advanced users only, this option allows the user to deduct hours from an arbitrary pay category and transfer them to another arbitrary pay category when time off is taken.

To set up a time off category with a custom accrual rate, you will need to create an additional Time off Allowance Template. The easiest way to do this is to clone the template the employee is currently assigned to.

1. Clone the employee's existing Time off Allowance Template. In the copy, update the name to reflect that the accrual rate is different.
2. In the accrual section of the new template, use the calculator icon to adjust the accrual rate to the required amount, ensuring the hours per hour worked reflects the new equivalent. Transfer the updated amount, change the units as needed, and apply.
3. Scroll down and save the new template.
4. If the employee is attached to an Award: you will need to add the new Time off Allowance Template to the relevant Employment Agreement. Navigate to Employment Agreements, select the Award, then the classification, and click Add next to the Time off Allowance Templates heading. Scroll down and save.
5. Sync the changes to the HR platform: any time you update a setting in the Payroll platform, you need to push the information through to the HR platform. Do this via General Settings > Add-ons > Action > Update > Pay Items. This ensures both platforms remain in sync. Note that some update functions are automated in HR, so this step may not always be required.
6. Once the template is set up and synced, assign it to the appropriate employee in the HR platform by creating a new salary record. Creating a new salary (rather than editing the existing one) is recommended to maintain a clear audit trail.