Maintaining Global PTO Benefit Plans

Use the Global PTO Benefit Plans form to set up and maintain rules for PTO carryover and accrual on the system level.

You can then assign these plans to particular states or GeoCode ranges on the State Rules form. For details about this process, see the article on Setting Up Global PTO Plans.

Setting Up Basic Rules

This panel defines the general rules for accruing and carrying over global PTO hours.

To configure a global PTO benefit plan:

1. Click Back Office > System|Change > Global PTO Benefit Plans.
2. Enter or select a Global PTO Benefit Plan ID. Use the Copy from another plan option if you want to use an existing plan as your template.
3. Enter a brief Plan Description.
4. Specify the Global PTO Register Type that will track accumulations and PTO usage under this benefit plan. You cannot assign a Global PTO Register Type to more than one global PTO benefit plan. For more information, see Setting Up Global PTO Register Types.
5. Fill out the remaining fields as needed. These settings behave like the ones on the client-level PTO Benefit Plans form (see Defining PTO Benefit Plans). Refer to the table for field-level guidance.

Field

Description

Annual Carryover

Enter the maximum number of unused hours that employees can carry over from one plan year to the next.

Lifetime Maximum Carryover

Enter the maximum number of unused hours that employees can carry over for the duration of their employment. This includes all plan years, starting from the employee start date.

Negative Carryover

Select this option if negative hour amounts, as recorded in the PTO register of the employee, can carry over from one year to the next.

Carryover Expiration

If you want employee PTO hours to expire a certain number of days, months or pay periods after the new year, enter that time frame here. Leave this field blank if hours do not expire.

Expiration Period

Define whether the Carryover Expiration field specifies the number of days, months, or pay periods.

Suppress Print Method

Use these fields if you want to suppress printing of PTO hours on pay stubs. For the amount of time (days or months) specified in these fields, the system will not print the PTO balance on any payroll check stubs. The balance will not display in Employee Portal either.

Add To Balance On First Accrual

Enter a flat amount to add to the accrual balance when the first accrual triggers for any employee assigned to this PTO benefit plan.

Note: This amount only applies to plans with a Calculation Basis of Flat Amount or Hours Worked (by Months).

Plan Starts

Enter the date when employee paid time off begins accruing under this plan.

Plan Expires

Enter the PTO benefit expiration date. After this date, no paid time off accrues for this plan.

Usage Waiting Period

Specify the amount of time after an employee's original hire date during which the system will suppress PTO accrual. Using the text field and the drop-down, enter the number of hours, days, or months until employees can request time off, if appropriate for this PTO benefit plan. The value must be a whole number.

For the amount of time specified here, accrued time off will not display as "available" on pay stubs / advices. If an employee leaves the company and is then rehired, the system uses the original hire date, not the rehire date.

Max Usage Limit Per Plan Year

Enter the maximum number of PTO hours an employee can use in a given plan year. This works in tandem with the Stop Init If Exceed Limit setting.

Stop Init If Exceed Limit

Select this option if you want the system to stop time sheet calculation / initialization whenever one or more employees on that time sheet exceed the Max Use Limit per Plan Year.
6. Continue to the next panel.

 

Hourly Accrual and Accrual Thresholds

In order to accrue hours based on hours worked, you must assign pay codes to the benefit plan.

7. Complete the tables in this panel:
• In the Pay Codes for Hourly Accrual table, add each pay code on which to base the PTO hour accrual (such as regular pay). You must add at least one pay code if you want PTO hours to accrue under the plan.
• In the Pay Period Accrual Thresholds table, specify the maximum number of hours that employees in each pay period can accrue. Leave this table blank if you do not limit hour accrual.
8. Continue to the next panel (Flat Amount per Hours Worked).
9. Click Save when finished.

 

Flat Amount per Hours Worked

Use this panel to associate a certain number of hours worked with the accrual of a certain amount of PTO hours.

Setting Maximum Accruals and Stopping Accruals

The following conditions apply to the values in the Maximum Amount Accrued Per Year and Stop Accrual if Balance Reaches fields:

• If one of these fields is blank, the system limits accrual based on the value stored in the other field.
• If the value in both fields is the same, the system defaults to the value in the Maximum Amount Accrued Per Year.
• If the "Maximum Value" value is greater than the "Stop Accrual" value, the system defaults to the Stop Accrual if Balance Reaches field.

 

List of Options

Fill out the fields in this panel, as needed:

Field or Fields

Description

Accrue a flat X hours for every Y hours worked.

X = number of PTO hours that employees can accrue after working a certain number of hours. For example, 1.00.

Y = number of hours that employees must work to accrue the value in X. For example, 40.00.

If the actual hours worked are not an even multiple of YY.YY hours worked then accrue a fraction of the XX.XX hours (where X and Y are defined in the field above)

Select this option to accrue a fraction of PTO hours if employee hours worked are not an even multiple of the hours specified in the fields above.

Maximum Amount Accrued Per Year

Specify the maximum number of PTO hours to accrue in a year.

See the section below for more information about the logic behind this field.

Stop Accrual if Balance Reaches

Specify the number of accrued PTO hours after which employees do not accrue any more.

See the section below for more information about the logic behind this field.

Apply Carryover toward Maximum Accrual Per Year

When this field is checked, accruals will stop when Carryover Hours plus the Accrued Hours reach the Maximum Amount Accrued per Year. No additional accruals will be made for the remainder of the year. For example, if the “Maximum Amount Accrued per Year” is 40 hours, and the Carryover Hours is 39 hours, the employee can only accrue 1 hour for the current year.

Apply Current Hours Taken before applying Stop-Balance limits

Select this option to subtract the number of PTO hours used before applying a stop-balance limit to employee hour accrual.

If you do not select this option, the system ignores any used PTO hours when it stops new hour accrual for an employee.

Maximum Hours That Can Be Used in a Block

Enter the maximum number of PTO hours that can be used in a single block.