Paid time off is hours you've earned that you can use without losing pay. Most policies work on accrual: you earn a set amount over time — say, a few hours per pay period, or a lump sum at the start of the year — and that pool goes up as you earn and down as you use it.
The exact math is your employer's call. Payrollix tracks whatever policy they set up for you, but it doesn't invent a rate. How much you earn, how often, whether it carries over year to year, and how sick time differs from vacation — all of that lives in your employer's policy. If you want the rule that applies to you, ask them.
Where to check your balance
Your live balances are in the Employee Portal under Leave Requests, on the Your Time Off Balances card. Each policy you're enrolled in shows up as its own tile with three numbers:
- Available — hours you can use right now.
- Used YTD — hours you've taken so far this year.
- Accrued YTD — hours you've earned so far this year.
These update in real time as your requests get approved and as new accruals post. If the card says No time off policies assigned, your employer hasn't enrolled you in any leave program yet — that's a question for them, not a bug.
For the step-by-step on opening the card and requesting time off, see Time & leave.
Why the numbers might not add up the way you expect
Accrued YTD and Available won't always line up with a simple subtraction. If you carried a balance over from last year, your Available can be higher than what you've earned this year alone. Carry-over caps — a limit on how much you can roll into the new year — are set by your employer's policy, so a balance can also stop growing once you hit the ceiling.
Sick time is often its own bucket with its own rules, separate from vacation. Some states require paid sick leave and set minimums for how it accrues and when you can use it. Payrollix shows each policy as a separate tile so you can see them side by side, but the terms behind each one come from your employer and your state, not from Payrollix.
When you use it
Time off you request and get approved flows into payroll for that period, so approved PTO and sick hours are paid at your regular rate and show up in your paycheck. On the timesheet grid, PTO, Holiday, and Sick have their own columns alongside Regular and Overtime — see Time & leave for how that grid works and how to submit a request.
Related: Time & leave · Paystubs & tax documents · Gross pay vs. net pay