Leave

Apply a Leave Request to a Pay Run

In order to apply a leave request to a pay run, you first need to "create a new pay run". If any employee has applied for leave, it will appear on the Leave Requests tab under the pay period. The number next to the heading is the number of outstanding leave requests that have not been applied.

A short video on applying leave requests can be found here.

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Once you click the "Leave Requests" tab, you will see the following:

  • Employee name
  • Type of leave requested - leave category associated with the leave request
  • Dates of leave requested - by default the last day aligns with the pay period end date and the first day aligns with the leave request start date
  • Unit type for leave requested - unit type associated with the leave category
  • Number of units requested - the units requested are the total units requested on the leave request, even where the leave request spans multiple pay runs. If the leave request spans the current pay run, the leave request dates will display beneath the first and last day columns. 
  • Units to apply to pay run - units to apply to the pay run aligns with the first and last day dates entered. This value can be edited up to the 'units requested' value, or where partial units have already been applied in another pay run, the balance of units left to allocate. If a partial amount has been applied in another pay run, the units that have already applied will display beneath the units requested column.
  • Units paid within pay run - calculated value based on 'units' applied to pay run. If prevent negative leave balances setting is enabled, paid units will not exceed the available leave balance. Values in excess of available leave balance will be allocated to 'units unpaid'.  If the setting is disabled, the full amount will be allocated as paid units.
  • Units unpaid within pay run - calculated value based on 'units' applied to pay run. If prevent negative leave balances setting is enabled, unpaid units will be the balance of the units applied that exceed the available leave balance. If the setting is disabled, there won't be an unpaid portion.
  • Status badge – when an action has been applied to a leave request a status badge displays to the left of the actions button. The following status’ may be displayed:
    • Applied – displays when a component of the leave request was applied and the balance has been marked as manually applied.
    • Partially Applied – displays when a component of the leave request has been applied and there is still a balance remaining to allocate.
    • Fully Applied – displays where a leave request has been fully applied. The leave may have been fully applied in this pay run, or the balance of the leave request applied in this pay run.
    • Previously Applied – displays where the leave request was fully applied in a previous pay run.
    • Manually Applied – displays when the leave request has been marked as manually applied and no leave has been allocated in the pay run.
    • Pending Approval – displays when a leave request hasn’t been approved.

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You can choose to Bulk applythe leave requests by checking the box next to the employee names and selecting the Bulk apply button. Alternatively, select the 'Actions' field and select one of the following options:

  • Apply – value listed in ‘units’ column is applied to the pay run. If a partial value is applied, the value will display beneath the ‘units requested’ column.
  • Mark as applied manually – leave request is marked as applied manually and will no longer display in the leave request list to apply to future pay runs. No leave is applied to the pay run. This option can be selected when a portion of leave has already been applied to a leave request.
  • Undo – available when leave has been applied or marked as applied manually. When selected, the leave that has been applied is removed and the request is available to re-apply in the pay run. If a portion of leave was applied and the remainder marked as ‘Manually applied’, the undo action will remove all leave that had been applied.
  • Align to leave request period – available if the leave request spans multiple pay runs and the current first and last day dates do not align with the leave request dates.
  • Align with current pay period – available if the leave request spans multiple pay runs and the current first and last day dates do not align with the pay period dates. 
  • Align to pay period end date – available if the leave request spans multiple pay runs and the current ‘first day’ date is > the leave request start date. This option is only available for leave requests which haven’t had any units applied. By default, the leave dates and units align to the leave request start date and pay period end date.

The 'hide requests that have been applied' checkbox allows you to hide all requests that have been applied or partially applied and do not require your attention in the pay run. 

Units value

Before applying leave to the pay run, the 'units' value can be edited. The maximum value that can be entered is up to the units requested value OR the unit balance remaining (for leave requests that have been partially been applied in another pay run). A validation error displays if the value entered exceeds the available balance to allocate:

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In the image below, Sandra Bullock has 7.6 hours leave, 3.05 to be paid and 4.55 to be unpaid as she doesn't have enough leave accrued for the entire leave request. For this to happen automatically, the 'prevent negative leave balance' setting must enabled in the Leave Categories. To learn how to do this, see this article. If this setting is not enabled, the entire leave request will be applied as normal and the employee will go into a negative leave balance.

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The dates or units value cannot be edited if the leave has been fully or partially applied. To make changes to these details select Actions > Undo.

Note: where an employee is set to accrue leave based on hours worked or leave is applied via a timesheet, the leave accrual for the current pay run is excluded from the available leave balance for the purpose of applying the units paid and units unpaid. This can result in a positive leave balance when the pay run is finalised, even though there may be a portion of unpaid leave allocated.

 

Manually Applying Leave


The ‘Mark as applied manually’ action is available for leave requests which haven’t had any leave applied or leave requests which have been partially applied. If you select the ‘Mark as applied manually’ option on a leave request which hasn’t had any leave applied, the system will show the "Manually applied" badge next to the leave request. If you select the same action on a leave request which had been partially applied, the ‘Applied’ badge displays.

When manually applying leave, no leave lines are added to the employees pay run, for the component that is applied manually. If a portion of leave was applied before the balance marked as applied manually, only the component of leave that was applied will display within the leave taken and earnings sections. An example of how this is used would be if an employee came back from leave early, the portion of leave they took would be applied and the balance marked as applied manually so that it no longer displays for future pay runs.

 

You have the option to undo this by clicking Actions > Undo. If both a component of leave and the balance marked as manually applied, all leave is removed and will need to be applied again.

 

What if the leave request spans multiple pay periods?


If the leave request spans multiple pay periods, by default the leave dates and units displayed within the pay run align with the current pay period end date and the start day of the leave request. 

To apply these units only, simply select Actions > Apply. If you don't want to apply these units there are 3 other options:

  1. Select Actions > Align to leave request periodIf you wish to apply the full leave request within the current pay run. This option will update the leave dates and units to align with the leave request, irrelevant of which pay run/s it falls in. Be aware with this option that a higher rate of PAYG may be withheld if it takes the employee into another earnings threshold for the pay schedule.
  2. Select Actions > Align with current pay period. This option will update the leave date to align with the pay period days. Any leave outside of the current pay period will not be included.
  3. You can manually enter the 'units' value or edit the leave dates as required. Then, in the next subsequent pay runs you can apply the rest of the hours as the leave request will still be visible in the pay run whilst there are un-applied hours.

Multiple requests


When an employee has multiple leave requests to apply and you apply them in bulk, the system does the calculations for them in succession. A warning message displays at this point to advise to check the details once they have been applied. 

 
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The leave estimated vs leave applied values may vary if the prevent negative leave balance setting is enabled or there have been other changes to leave balances/requests. The estimated values displayed do not consider all pending requests e.g. an employee has an available balance of 7 days, there are 2 leave requests, the first for 4 days and the second for 5 days. The estimate will display both of those requests with the entire leave period being 'paid'. However, when these requests are both applied, the first request of 4 days will be paid and the second of 5 days will be 3 days paid and 2 days unpaid as the original balance of 7 days has been reduced to 3 once the first 4 days of leave have been taken. To check, when you have applied the leave requests, click on the employee's name to see the breakdown of how the system has calculated the leave. The leave requests section at the top of the pay run will also be updated to reflect the final values applied.

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If you have any questions or feedback, please let us know via support@paycat.com.au