Time-off policies

This guide covers: create a PTO policy, set accrual rules, set carryover and cap, and assign policies to employees.

Create a PTO policy

What it does: Defines a new time-off policy that you can later assign to one or more employees.

Where: Accountant dashboard → Time Off Policies (/clients/[clientId]/time-off-policies).

Steps:

1. Click Add Policy in the top-right corner.
2. Enter a Policy Name (e.g., "Standard Vacation").
3. Pick a Policy Type: Vacation · Sick · Holiday · Other.
4. Set the Waiting Period (days) — the number of days a new hire must wait before they can use the policy. Defaults to 0.
5. Add an optional Description.
6. Configure accrual, carryover, and reset (see sections below).
7. Click Create Policy.

Who: Accountant or SMB owner.

Notes: The page also surfaces a State Sick Leave card at the top, reminding you that state mandates (PSL) are tracked separately by the engine.

Set accrual rules

What it does: Controls how the policy balance grows over time.

Where: Accountant dashboard → Time Off Policies → Add Policy / edit existing → Accrual Settings.

Steps:

1. Pick an Accrual Method:
   • Fixed Annual — grants a fixed amount at the start of each year.
   • Per Pay Period — accrues each pay period.
   • Per Hour Worked — accrues based on hours worked (rate is per 40 hours).
   • None (Manual Only) — balances adjusted by hand.
2. If you choose anything other than None, enter the Accrual Rate (hours). The unit label updates per method (per year / per period / per 40 hrs).
3. Set an optional Max Accrual Cap — leave blank for no cap.
4. Optional: check Unlimited PTO — no balance tracked to skip accrual entirely.

Who: Accountant or SMB owner.

Notes: Unlimited PTO disables accrual and usage tracking — the policy still appears on time-off requests but no balance changes.

Set carryover and cap

What it does: Controls how much unused time rolls into the next policy year and when it expires.

Where: Accountant dashboard → Time Off Policies → edit policy → Carryover Settings and Policy Year Reset.

Steps:

1. Tick Allow unused hours to carry over to the next year.
2. Enter a Carryover Cap in hours (blank means no cap).
3. Enter an Expiration (months) value so carried-over hours expire after that many months. Blank means they never expire.
4. Scroll to Policy Year Reset and pick the Reset Month and Reset Day that anchor the policy year (defaults to January 1).

Who: Accountant or SMB owner.

Notes: The Carryover Cap and Max Accrual Cap interact — the cap that hits first wins for any given employee.

Assign policies to employees

What it does: Makes a policy visible to specific employees so they can request hours and accrue balances.

Where: Accountant dashboard → Time Off Policies → policy card (/clients/[clientId]/time-off-policies).

Steps:

1. Each policy card shows the number of employees currently assigned: N employees.
2. Open an employee's profile to add or remove their policy assignment.
3. Employees with the policy assigned immediately see it on the employee portal under Your Time Off Balances and can request against it.

Who: Accountant or SMB owner.

Notes: Deleting a policy removes it from every assigned employee. The confirmation modal warns: "This will remove it from all assigned employees. This action cannot be undone." Mark a policy Inactive instead if you only want to stop new accrual.

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Related: Request and approve time off · Timesheets.