Time off balances

Open Time off in the Payroll panel. People who can see all pay see every policy and balance; people who can manage pay periods change policies; people who can make pay adjustments adjust balances. Providers see their own balances on My pay.

Time off policies#

A policy is one kind of time off, such as paid time off or sick leave. Click New Policy and fill in:

• Name and the Time off reasons that draw on it. Each reason belongs to one policy, so a request's reason always names the balance it uses.
• Hours accrued for every For every hours worked, for example 1 hour for every 30 hours worked.
• Hours a day off uses: a whole day off on the schedule uses this many hours (8 by default). Time off with start and end times uses its span instead. Weekends use nothing.
• Pay booked time off: when on, time off on this policy is paid (see Paid time off).
• Cap the balance: accrual stops while the balance is at the Most a balance holds (hours).
• Limit carryover: each year on the carryover month and day, a balance above Carry over at most (hours) drops to it.
• Leave earnings out of accrual: hours paid under these earnings do not count as hours worked for this policy.
• Tenure tiers: after a number of months on the policy, a provider accrues a different number of hours. The highest tier reached applies.
• Providers: who is on the policy and since when. The date starts accrual and counts tenure for the tiers.

Editing a policy never changes accruals already written; the new rules apply from the next closed pay period. Deleting a policy stops accrual and payment on it and keeps its history.

How time off accrues#

When a pay period closes, NeatPractice adds an accrual to each enrolled provider's balance from the hours they worked in the period: visits, paid time blocks, documentation allowances and approved timesheet time dated on or after their start on the policy. Paid time off, overtime premiums and adjustments are not hours worked. Contractors accrue nothing (see Workers).

Salaried (exempt) employees often log few hours, so a policy can give them a fixed rate instead: turn on Fixed rate for salaried staff and enter the Hours a pay period. Each closed period then adds that many hours to every salaried employee on the policy, prorated in the period their enrollment starts. Without it, salaried employees accrue from hours worked like everyone else.

If a period is reopened and closed again, its accrual is worked out again and replaces the first one, so a period accrues once.

Balances#

Balances lists each enrolled provider and policy with the balance today, hours accrued, hours used and hours Booked ahead (time off on the schedule after today). A negative balance shows in red: the provider booked more time off than they had.

Time off used comes from the schedule: time off a provider requested and had approved, and time off booked for them directly, both count once they are on the schedule.

• View History lists accruals with the hours worked behind them, adjustments with their reason, and time off used, newest first.
• Adjust Balance adds or takes away hours on a date with a reason, for example an opening balance carried over from another system or hours cashed out. Use a negative number to take hours away. An adjustment entered by mistake is corrected by another adjustment.

Balances on time off requests#

With payroll, the time off requests list shows a Balance column: the provider's balance today on the policy that covers the request's reason. Approvers see it without needing payroll permissions.

Paid time off#

On a policy with Pay booked time off turned on, booked time off becomes a Paid time off item in the open pay period that holds its first day, at the provider's hourly rate for the hours it uses. A provider without an hourly rate gets an item without a rate, which must be given a rate, held or excluded before the period closes.

Time off removed from the schedule after its period closed is taken back as a correction in the next open period, like any other change.