The Time Off Accruals and Policies feature offers a range of capabilities to efficiently manage employee time-off balances:

• Accrue time-off balance hours for workers
• Apply rollover rules
• Enforce limits, including zero or maximum negative balances
• Set conditions based on hire date, reducing the need to track worker anniversaries each pay period

Each of these capabilities is detailed in the following sections of this article.

Prerequisites

Before you can use this feature fully, you will need to first set up some other features:

• Time Off - Time Off Accrual is an add-on to our more basic Time Off feature, which allows you to enter Time Off for workers, as well as optionally allow workers to submit Time Off requests. For more information on setting up basic Time Off, see this help article.

Pay Runs - For manually adjusting each worker’s accrual hours while enforcing a zero or maximum negative balance, setting up Pay Runs is not necessary. However, to enable auto-accrual and apply rollover policies, you’ll need to create and finalize a Pay Run for each pay period to ensure those policies are applied. For detailed guidance on using the Pay Run feature, refer to the following Help Article: How to generate Pay Runs.

Setup

Step 1: Go to the Fareclock Admin Console and go to Settings. Under ‘Settings’ find and click ‘Time Off’.

Step 2: To enable Time Off Accrual, check the box next to ‘Track Accruals’.

Step 3: After enabling it, click on the ‘Policies’ tab.

You can create a new Time Off Policy and Time Off Entitlement here:

Time Off Policy

Time Off Policies are used to configure accrual, rollover, and negative balance rules for each time off code.

Step 1: To add a new one, click ‘+ New Time Off Policy’.

Step 2: Name and select the ‘Entitlements’ for the new Time Off Policy.

Time Off Entitlement

A Time Off Entitlement is linked to a specific Time Off Code. If you haven’t set up Time Off Codes yet, refer to the Prerequisites section above. Within each Entitlement, you can set rules like accrual rates, rollover options, and balance limits. You can also apply hire date conditions, such as allowing vacation only after six months of employment or offering different accrual rates based on the length of service.

A Time Off Policy is made up of one or more Entitlements and is assigned to workers. For example, a sick time entitlement might only start after six months of employment. Typically, each Time Off Code has a single entitlement in a policy, but you can add multiple entitlements with different hire date conditions for the same Time Off Code. More details on setting these up will follow below.

Step 1: To add a new one, click ‘+ New Time Off Entitlement’.

Step 2: Adjust the settings for the new Time Off Entitlement as needed.

1. Name - You must provide a name for the Time Off Entitlement, as this is a required field.

2. Time off code - It is used to track different types, such as Holiday, Vacation, and Sick time off.

3. Accrual type - If Manual is selected, you can adjust each worker's time off balances under Settings => Users. Select the worker, and in the Time Off Balances section, you can adjust the balances.

If Hours worked, Pay period, or Year is selected, then accruals will take place when the Pay Run is finalized.

• Manual - With this setting, Time Off does not auto-accrue. To award time off to a worker, you’ll need to manually adjust their Time Off Balance, which will be covered later in this article.
• Hours Worked - Time Off accrues based on the number of hours a worker has completed. Here, you can set an accrual rate per hour worked. For example, if a worker should earn 1 hour of Time Off for every 40 hours worked, set the accrual rate per hour to 1.5 minutes. By default, only regular hours count toward accrual; however, there is an option to include Paid Time Off as part of the accrued hours. Unpaid Time Off, regardless of settings, does not contribute to accrual.
• Pay Period - With this option, Time Off accrues based on each pay period. You can set a specific accrual rate per pay period. For instance, if a worker receives 80 hours of Time Off annually and is paid weekly, set the accrual rate per pay period to 92 minutes.
• Year - In this mode, Time Off accrues as a single sum once a year. You can set an annual accrual rate and specify an accrual date, such as January 1. If no date is specified, the accrual occurs on the worker’s hire date anniversary.

4. Rollover type - If set to Pay period, then each pay period, the time off accrued hours will reset to the specified maximum. If the accrued hours were already under the maximum, then they will be carried over in full.

If set to Year, then once per year, either on the hire date anniversary or on a specified date below, the time off accrued hours will reset to the specified maximum.

If set to Carry over all hours accrued, then accrued hours will never reset.

This rollover policy is applied when the Pay Run is finalized.

• Carry Over All Hours Accrued - Selecting this option allows Time Off hours to accumulate indefinitely, without any set limits. For instance, if a worker doesn’t use their Time Off, it will continue to build over time with no cap.
• Pay Period - If this option is selected, you will need to define a “Rollover Maximum Hours” limit. Each time a pay period’s Pay Run is finalized, this limit will apply. For example, if the maximum is set to 80 hours, the accrued Time Off hours will not exceed 80 hours at the end of each pay period.
• Year - This option also sets a maximum rollover but enforces it annually. You will specify both the Rollover Maximum Hours and a Rollover Date. For example, if the Rollover Date is January 1, workers may carry over up to a year’s worth of accrued Time Off. If no Rollover Date is set, the worker’s hire date anniversary is used. If neither is specified, it defaults to "Carry Over All Hours Accrued."

5. Other settings - Configurations may vary based on the selected Accrual and Rollover types.

• Maximum negative balance - By default, a new Entitlement requires at least a zero balance, meaning a worker's Time Off balance can’t go below zero. If a worker doesn’t have enough hours accrued to cover a Time Off request, or if an admin tries to enter Time Off without sufficient balance, the system will deny it. However, if you want to allow workers to "borrow" Time Off hours in advance, you can set a "Maximum Negative Balance" to allow a specific number of hours they can use before accruing them.

• Hire Date - Sets a specific hire date range for this entitlement to apply.
• Hire Duration - Determines how long a worker must be employed before they qualify for this entitlement. For example, if the requirement is six months, the entitlement applies starting from the pay period beginning six months after their hire date. If a worker was hired on March 1 and the six-month mark is September 1, the entitlement would take effect in the next full pay period starting on or after September 1.

Viewing or Updating Time Off Balance

Step 1: Go to the Fareclock Admin Console and go to Settings. Under ‘Settings’ find and click ‘Users’.

Step 2: You will see a list of users, click on the user you view or edit the time off balance.

Step 3: Under ‘Time Off Balances,’ you'll see the current balance for each Time Off Code for which there is an Entitlement of the worker's Time Off Policy.

Step 4: To update the balance or to view the audit log of changes, click on the edit icon in the Ledger column.

Step 5: To adjust the balance, click the "+ New ledger item" button.

Step 6: Input the number of hours to add or subtract. To subtract, precede the number with a "-" (minus) sign. You can also include an optional memo for reference. After making your changes, click "Save" to finalize them.

All balance adjustments are recorded in the ledger for audit purposes. This includes changes made by an administrator, time off usage, or hours auto-accrued.