About Leave Categories

Setup > Payroll Details > Leave Categories

Leave categories establish the type of leave that the employer offers and determines what methods of calculation are to be used. Leave categories can be calculated based on the Calendar Year Anniversary, Fiscal Year Anniversary, or Eligibility Date Anniversary. You can calculate leave once yearly, once monthly, based on a percentage of earning hours, or at a fixed rate (if you calculate leave with the fixed rate or hour method, you can calculate leave on each pay run). You can determine if leave can be carried over and the maximum number of hours of leave that can be accrued for a leave category.

Add a Leave Category

Change a Leave Category

Combine Two Existing Leave Categories

Delete a Leave Category

Add a Leave Category

  1. On the Setup menu, point to Payroll Details, and then click Leave Categories.
  2. Click New or if this leave category will be similar to an existing category; select the similar category and click Copy instead of New.
  3. In the Abbreviation box, enter up to ten characters that you can easily identify the leave category by. For example, PTO for Paid Time Off.
  4. In the Name box, enter up to 30 characters of required information that describes the leave category.
  5. Under calculation Information, in the Calculate Base On box, select whether the leave is calculated based on the:
  • Calendar Year Anniversary: The number of times you reach the calendar end-of-year date. For example , if an employee is hired on March 20, 2010, they will have one year of service on December 31, 2010; two years on December 31, 2011, etc.
  • Fiscal Year Anniversary: The number of times you reach the company's fiscal end-of-year date. For example , if a company has a fiscal year-end date of May 31 and an employee is hired on March 20, 2010, they will have one year of service on May 31, 2010; two years on May 31, 2011, etc.
  • Eligibility Date Anniversary: The number of times an employee reaches the date specified. This date may be representative of any date, for example it may be the employee hire date. The company's fiscal year-end date and calendar year end date have no affect on the eligibility date calculation. For example, if a company has a fiscal year-end date of May 31 and an employee is hired on March 20, 2007, they will have one year of service on March 20, 2008, two years of service on March 20, 2009, etc. If the same employee's company is on a calendar year, it makes no difference. The still have one year of service on March 20, 2008.
Note: The Years of Service box is updated on the employee record by performing Processes > Calculate Paid Leave.
  1. In the Method box, select one of the calculation methods:
  • Once Yearly: An entire year's leave accrual is calculated at one time.
  • Once Monthly: CenterPoint Payroll calculates the year-to-date monthly accrual each time the Calculate Leave transaction is completed. For example, if an employer is on a calendar year and a leave calculation is made any time during the month of January, the application will accrue one month of vacation. In July, the application will recalculate the accrual for seven months.
  • Hours: The accrual of leave is a percentage of earning hours. You can specify which earning hours should qualify for accruing leave hours. Hours are recalculated from the beginning of the year each time a calculation is completed.
  • Fixed Rate: CenterPoint Payroll accrues and appends hours onto previously calculated hours as opposed to going back to the beginning of the year and recalculating hours.
  1. Select the Carryover Limit Applies check box if you want to enter the carryover limit into a Carryover Limit column on the Leave Table for the employees with this leave category. Carryover Limit is the unused hours accrued at the end of the year that were allowed to be saved and used the next year.
  2. Maximum Hours are the number of leave hours an employee can accumulate at any one time during the year. If you want the option to specify the maximum number of hours an empoyee can accumulate at any one time, select the Maximum Applies check box. The Maximum Hours are added to the leave table for each employee.
  3. If you selected a Fixed Rate or Hours calculation method, select the Calculate on Pay Run check box if the amount of leave can be calculated on each pay run rather than having to run a separate transaction under Transactions > Calculate Paid Leave.
  4. To add notes to this leave category, click Additional Notes, enter the notes, and then click OK.
  5. Click Save to save the leave category and return to the List tab, or click Close to save the leave category and close the Leave Categories screen. Note: To return to the List tab without saving the leave category, click Cancel. To close the Leave Categories screen without saving the leave category click in the upper-right corner.

Change a Leave Category

  1. On the Setup menu, point to Payroll Details, and then click Leave Categories.
  2. Select the leave category you want to change, and then click Edit. Note: If you change the information in the Name box, past leave category information is automatically linked to the new name. For example, if you change PTO to Paid Time Off, your reports will no longer show PTO and any existing information for PTO is now part of Paid Time Off.
  3. The Leave Categories Detail General tab appears. Edit or view the leave category detail.
  4. Click Save to save the leave category and return to the List tab, or click Close to save the leave category and close the Leave Categories screen. Note: To edit another leave category, click the previous/next leave category button.

Combine Two Existing Leave Categories

Combine button allows information from one master file record to be merged together with another master file record. The original master file record will no longer appear on the List tab. All information will be available in the master file record the original was merged with.

  1. On the Setup menu, point to Payroll Details, and then click Leave Categories.
  2. Select the leave category you want to combine. Note: You can combine only one record with one other record at one time. The leave category you selected in Step 2 will be removed and will no longer appear on the List tab. The combined information will be stored in the leave category you selected in Step 4.
  3. Click Combine .
  4. On the Combine screen, select the leave category you want to combine your selection with.
  5. Click OK. At the "Are you sure you want to combine (the leave category you selected in Step 2) into (the leave category you selected in Step 4)?" message, click Yes.

Delete a Leave Category

  1. On the Setup menu, point to Payroll Details, and then click Leave Categories.
  2. Select the leave category you want to delete, and then click Delete. At the "Are you sure you want the item deleted?" message, click Yes. Note: You cannot delete a record that is linked to other records in the system. For example, if leave is attached to an employer or an employee or the leave has been used in a pay run or on a time sheet.

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