In this article, we are going to go over what it looks like to change an employee's status from "Active" to "LOA" or Leave Of Absence and cover how the status will affect payment while on leave for both hourly and salary employees. 

This article is specifically only related to the status of LOA and payroll, but not necessarily the Leave of Absence Module. The Leave of Absence Module is typically an additional module you can purchase that will track the actual leave and details related to compliance. If you'd like more information on the Leave of Absence module, reach out to your Green Leaf representative. All steps listed below are included in all service bundles. 

1. Employee Settings

1a. Updating Employee Status

When an employee has gone on Leave, the status must be changed to "LOA". To change the status navigate to the Hamburger Menu > Team Icon > My Team > Employee Information > locate the employee and select the Employee Information Icon. 

The status of LOA will tell the system that the employee is NOT on payroll, but is still considered an active employee. Remember that since the status is considered NOT in payroll if the employee is due to be paid while out on leave, manual entries will be needed to ensure the employee receives payments, however, they will feed into payroll by initiating "All Active". Follow all steps below to ensure all details are covered and ensure to pay close attention to Salary employee's Base Compensation steps highlighted in YELLOW to ensure employees are not overpaid while out. 

Once in the employee's profile search "Personal Information" and update from "Active" to "LOA" as seen below. Save. 

1b. Adding Payroll Alert

Next, locate the payroll tab on the employee's profile, and choose "Payroll Alert" and "Add".

Once in the Payroll Alert complete as following adding the appropriate notes. This alert will pull into each subsequent payroll processed reminding the payroll team of any manual payment needed and/or when to re-activate the employee. 

Or add more information if needed like below. 

1c. Adding LOA Start/End Date

Now add the date on the employee's profile that the employee went on leave. In the employee record, search "Dates". Enter the LOA start date. 

Note: LOA Start Date is a custom date. If you'd like any additional dates added, reach out to your Green Leaf Representative to configure them. 

1d. For Salary Employees, the base compensation widget must be updated as well. 

Search Base Compensation > click the ellipses to edit the Base Compensation. 

Once the Base Compensation widget is open remove the "Salary" earning code from the drop-down. This will essentially turn off any type of auto payment in the form of a salary while the employee is out on leave. 

2. Processing Payroll for Employees on LOA for Time Off

If you plan to pay the employee any type of time off, such as Sick, PTO, etc. simply add the Time Off to the employee's timesheet or have the employee request the time off through employee self- service. By adding the time to the timesheet, the system will deduct the time used from the accrual bucket. 

Note: Due to the fact that the LOA status does NOT consider the employee in payroll, but is "Active", Accruals will process while the employee is set to the LOA status unless the "Updated To" date is updated to the LOA return date. If no accruals should process while the employee is on leave, follow steps on the Accrual Settings. 

Salary Employee: Paid Partially While on Leave

If your policy DOES pay the employee while on leave a form of payment automatically outside of time off, the Base Compensation would need to be updated by Adding New rather than editing. When the new Base Comp is added, update the amount of pay the employee will receive and use the proper earning code rather than Salary. 

2a. Adding Hours to the LOA employee's Timesheets

Now that we have the settings all in place for the Hourly employee, in this case, we will use Jennifer, and our Salary employee, Cameron, we will go over what it will look like in payroll. 

The Hourly employee, Jennifer, is on leave but will be paid her Sick and Vacation for the days she went on leave and what amounts she had left in her time off banks. To track the time off, the employee can add the time via a request or the manager can add it manually as seen below for both an hourly employee and salary. 

Salary Employee

2b. Processing Payroll for Employees on LOA

Now that the time is in the timesheets, we can go through the payroll steps.

Navigate to Hamburger Menu > Team Icon > Payroll > Process Payroll > Pay Prep Steps

Process payroll as usual. Note, be sure to Initiate by using "All Active". This setting is what takes into account that the employee on LOA is not considered active in the terms of payroll. 

Now when we go to process the payroll, during the initial process, the status "LOA" is considered "Active" which will mean that the employees on leave pay statement WILL generate. We will see the payroll alert telling us what to do with the pay statement in the subsequent steps. 

2c. View Alerts

Click on the "View Unresolved Alerts" which will show as seen below giving all details about the alert and shortcuts to resolve the issues. 

Since our alert states to look for time off for Jennifer Jones, our hourly employee, and to pay Cameron, we must take the next steps to manually add data to the payroll for the employees before signing off on the alert. 

Click on the "View Pay Statement" icon. 

Once within the pay statement, choose the Employee Links Icon > Select "All Timesheets" > select the pencil next to the timesheet for the proper pay period being processed. 

On the "Summary by Day" tab, take note of the total Time Off hours, which will manually be entered into payroll. Click the back arrow. 

Note: if no hours are due to the employee, the pay statement in payroll can be deleted. 

Click the back arrow again until back to the payroll pay statement screen. 

Once back in the payroll, key in the Time Off Hours into the pay statement and choose SAVE.

If the employee is to receive a form of payment other than time off while on leave, add the payment here. 

Note: if no deductions should be processed, be sure to remove or choose "Utilities" and "Block Auto Deductions" > Save. If the Salary is still processing you can block auto earnings as well. 

2e. Sign off On Alerts

Once on the alert screen, check all alerts that apply and "Mark as Complete" or simply click the flag to mark as complete. 

Follow the steps for the remaining alerts. The payroll alert will populate each payroll until the end date or if the alert is removed from the employee record.

Note - If a specific date is chosen, be sure to update if the employee does not return as planned. 

Employee Returning from LOA

Once the employee is back from leave, be sure to change the employee's status to "Active"  under personal settings. 

Add the LOA end date if this date is used. 

Update the payroll alert letting the payroll team know the employee is active and ready to be paid. 

If the employee is a Salary employee, update the Base Compensation widget to reflect the "Salary" earning code once again.