Limits/Floor Tab
Use this tab to configure limits for a leave type.
Leave Balance
The settings in this group box can be used to do one or more of the following:
- Limit the leave balance an employee can carry from one leave period to the next
- Limit the leave balance an employee can carry from one leave year to the next
- Limit the leave balance an employee can carry from one anniversary year to the next
If applying the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit at the end of the employee's anniversary year, the limit will be applied when computing leave for the period that includes the employee's anniversary date. The Timing of Anniversary Limit setting will allow you to specify whether the limit should be applied before or after the accrual for that period is added.
If applying the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit at the end of the leave year, the limit will be applied when the leave year is closed in the Close Leave Year process.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Balance Ceiling Method |
From the drop-down list, select the ceiling method that will be applied to the leave balance for the leave type. This setting allows you to specify whether you would like to apply a limit to the leave balance an employee may carry from one leave period into the next and from one year to the next. You may opt to only apply a limit to the leave balance carried from year-to-year or you can opt not to apply any limit to the balance at all. From the drop-down list, select the method that will be applied to the leave balance. Valid options are:
If a ceiling is being applied to the balance and the Excess Leave Handling-Transfer to Excess Leave Type checkbox is selected, any positive difference between the employee’s leave balance and the year balance ceiling will be transferred to the specified excess leave type. Otherwise, if the Excess Leave Handling-Transfer to Excess Leave Type checkbox is selected, any positive difference between the employee’s leave balance and the year balance ceiling will be added to the employee’s lost leave balance. How the Periodic Balance Carryover Limit is applied If opting to apply the Periodic Balance Carryover Limit, the Compute Leave Accruals process will ensure the employee's balance does not exceed the Periodic Balance Carryover Limit specified for the leave code/months of service on the Manage Leave Codes screen. Here are the possible scenarios:
How the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit is applied The timing and logic behind applying the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit depend on the leave type's Year-End Limit Schedule and Timing of Anniversary Limit settings on this screen. The Year-End Limit Schedule is used to specify whether a year is based on the leave year defined in Manage Leave Periods or based on the employee's anniversary year. If the limit is applied at the end of the employee's anniversary year, the Timing of Anniversary Limit setting is used to specify whether the limit should be applied before or after the employee's period accrual is added. Please see below for further information.
You have three options of how to handle any excess leave (leave balance that exceeds the
Year-End Balance Carryover Limit ).
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Year-End Limit Schedule
Use this setting to specify when the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit will be applied to the employee's leave balance. You may opt to apply it at the end of the leave year through the Close Leave Year process or at the end of the employee's anniversary year through the Compute Leave Accruals process.
This setting is required if the Balance Limitation Method is Limit periodic and year-end balance carryover or Limit year-end balance carryover.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Apply when the leave year is closed |
Select this option to apply the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit at the end of the leave year when the Close Leave Year process is run. Leave year dates are defined on the Manage Leave Periods screen. The year accrual ceiling will not be applied by Close Leave Year process since it does not calculate accruals. |
| Apply in period containing anniversary date |
Select this option if the Compute Leave Accruals process should apply the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit in the leave period that contains the employee's anniversary date. An employee's anniversary date is based on their hire date (or leave hire date if one is assigned). If this option is selected, you must use the Timing of Anniversary Limit options to specify whether the Compute Leave Accruals process should apply the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit before the period accrual is added or after the period accrual is added. |
| Not Applicable |
This option is automatically selected when the Balance Limitation Method is set to No limit on the balance an employee can carry over. |
Timing of Anniversary Limit
If the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit will be applied at the end of the employee's anniversary year, this setting indicates whether the Compute Leave Accruals process will apply the ceiling before or after the period accrual is added.
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Apply limit before adding the period accrual |
select this option if the Compute Leave Accruals process should apply the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit before adding the period's accrual. For example, if the employee's current balance is 82 hours, their expected leave accrual is 5 hours, and the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit is 80 hours, this setting will cause the Compute Leave Accruals process to apply the 80-hour limit to the employee's current balance (82 hours) before adding the period accrual. So, the 5-hour accrual will be processed after the 80-hour ceiling is applied to the employee's 82-hour current balance. After the process is complete, the employee will have a balance of 85 hours (82 - 2 + 5). Example 1 Data Setup:
Expected Result: Since the employee's anniversary is not within the open leave period, Compute Leave will not apply the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit (80) to the employee's balance. The employee will get the full 5 hours of PTO accrual in that period, resulting in the following accrual:
Example 2 Data Setup:
Expected Result: The Compute Leave process will first determine if the employee's current balance (70) exceeds the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit (80). Since it does not, no adjustment will be made to the employee's balance, and they will get the full 5 hours of PTO accrual in that period, resulting in the following accrual:
Example 3 Data Setup:
Expected Result: The Compute Leave process will first determine if the employee's current balance exceeds the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit. Since the current balance is equal to the ceiling, no adjustment will be made to the employee's balance and they will get the full 5 hours of PTO accrual in that period, resulting in the following:
Example 4: Data Setup:
Expected Result: The Compute Leave process will first determine if the employee's current balance exceeds the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit. Since the balance (88 hours) exceeds the ceiling (80 hours), 8 hours will be transferred from the PTO leave type to the EXS leave type. After applying the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit, the employee's 5-hour PTO accrual will be added, resulting in the following accruals for the period:
Example 5 Data Setup:
Expected Result: The Compute Leave process will first determine if the employee's current balance exceeds the
Year-End Balance Carryover Limit. Since the balance (78 hours) does not exceed the ceiling (80 hours), the employee will receive the full 5-hour accrual. After applying the
Year-End Balance Carryover Limit, the employee's 5-hour PTO accrual will be added, resulting in the following accruals for the period:
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| Apply limit after adding the period accrual |
Select this option to apply the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit after adding the period's accrual. For example, if the employee's current balance is 78 hours, their expected leave accrual is 5 hours, and the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit is 80 hours, this setting will cause the Compute Leave Accruals process to apply the 80-hour ceiling to the sum of the employee's current balance (78 hours) plus the period accrual (5 hours). Since the 83-hour sum is greater than the 80-ceiling, the employee will not receive the full accrual. They will receive a 2-hour accrual instead of a 5-hour accrual to ensure their balance does not exceed the 80-hour Year-End Balance Carryover Limit. Example 1 Data Setup:
Expected Result: Since the employee's anniversary is not within the open leave period, Compute Leave will not apply the
Year-End Balance Carryover Limit (80) to the employee's balance. The employee will get the full 5 hours of PTO accrual in that period, resulting in the following accrual:
Example 2 Data Setup:
Expected Result: The Compute Leave process will add the 5-hour accrual to the employee's current balance of 70 hours for a sum of 75 hours. The process will then apply the 80-hour Year-End Balance Carryover Limit. Since the sum does not exceed the 80-hour ceiling, the employee will receive the full 5-hour PTO accrual. This will result in the following accrual:
Data Setup:
Expected Result: Because the Timing of Anniversary Limit is set to Apply ceiling after adding the period accrual, the Compute Leave process will first add the 5-hour accrual to the employee's current balance of 80 hours for a sum of 85 hours. The process will then apply the 80-hour Year-End Balance Carryover Limit to the sum. Because the total (85) is greater than the 80-hour ceiling. The 5-hour excess will be considered excess. Because the leave type is set up to transfer an excess above the year ceiling to an Excess Leave Type, the 5-hour excess will be transferred to the EXS Excess Leave Type. This will result in the following accruals:
Example 4 Data Setup:
Expected Result: The Compute Leave process will add the 5-hour accrual to the employee's current balance of 78 hours for a sum of 83 hours. The process will then apply the 80-hour Year-End Balance Carryover Limit so that the employee will receive 2 of the 5 expected hours of PTO accrual. Because the leave type is set up to transfer an excess above the year ceiling to an Excess Leave Type, the 3-hour excess will be transferred to the EXS leave type. This will result in the following accruals:
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| Not Applicable |
Select this option if ceiling timing is not applicable. |
Year-End Excess Handling
This set of checkboxes allows you to specify how excess leave will be handled if you are applying a limit to the employee's year-end leave balance and the employee's balance exceeds the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit assigned to the Leave Code and employee's months of service. You may opt to track the excess as lost leave or transfer it to another leave type that can be used to pay the excess to the employee.
Excess leave occurs in the following scenarios:
| Scenario | Conditions |
|---|---|
| 1 |
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| 2 |
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Use these settings to set up the processing of excess Leave.
| Field | Description | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Track excess as lost leave |
Select this checkbox if leave in excess of the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit will be tracked as lost leave. Lost leave is information-only and will not be paid out to the employee. Also, if the leave type is tracked by hours, the lost leave amount will not be adjusted when Reconcile Leave Balances or Close Leave Year is run. If the leave type is tracked by amount, the lost leave hours will not be adjusted when an employee's hourly rate increases or decreases. |
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| Transfer excess to Excess Leave Type |
Select this checkbox if leave in excess of the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit will be paid to the employee. If you select this option and the employee's balance exceeds the Year-End Balance Carryover Limit, the excess will be transferred to a different leave type, referred to as the Excess Leave Type. If you'd like to use this setting, you must first set up the Excess Leave Type on the Manage Leave Type screen. Here is an example of how you would accomplish this: Example 1 Your company provides a PTO accrual to its employees and does not limit the number of hours an employee may carry during the leave year but does impose a limit of 80 PTO hours that can be carried into a new leave year when the leave year is closed. Rather than losing the excess balance, your company allows up to 40 hours of the excess to be paid to the employee after the leave year is closed. Here are the steps you would take to set this up in Costpoint.
With this setup, if the employee's PTO balance at the end of the year is 125 hours, the 80-hour Year-End Balance Carryover Limit will be applied, resulting in an excess of 45 hours. Since the company has capped the excess at 40 hours, only 40 of the 45 PTO excess hours will be transferred to the XPTO leave type when the leave year is closed. After the 40 hours is transferred to the XPTO leave type, you may use the Create Leave Payout Timesheets utility to pay the employee, or you may manually enter a Leave Payout timesheet. Upon posting the timesheet, the XPTO balance will be 0.00. |
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| Excess Leave Type |
Enter, or click
This field is only visible and editable if you select the Transfer excess to the Excess Leave Type option. |
to select, the leave type to which any anniversary or leave year limit excess will be transferred for eventual payout. You must select a leave type with the
Leave Balance Floor
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Floor Validation Method |
From the drop-down list, select what will happen if the leave from an employee's timesheet would cause their balance to go below the leave type's specified
Leave Balance Floor. Options are:
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| Leave Balance Floor |
Specify the minimum leave balance. If the leave type is tracked in hours, enter the minimum number of hours an employee's balance must maintain. If tracking the leave by amount, enter the minimum monetary amount. You cannot edit this field if you select the Use to track excess leave check box. The data you enter here represents the minimum balance an employee is allowed. For example, enter -40.00 if the employer allows its employees to have a deficit of -40 hours. If the employer does not allow negative leave balances, enter 0 in this field. Note: Your entry must be consistent with the selected
Track Leave option. If for instance, you selected the
Hours option, enter hours here. If you selected the
Amount option, enter a monetary amount in this field.
If the Floor Validation Method is 'Produce error if balance would go below floor' or 'Produce warning if balance would go below floor', Costpoint will use this setting to determine whether the employee can charge the leave type account on the timesheet. If the available leave, less the leave charged on the timesheet, is below the Leave Balance Floor entered in this field, a warning or error message will display, depending on the Floor Validation Method. |
Accrued Leave
Use these options to establish the rules for applying a limit to the leave an employee can accrue. The settings in this group box can be used to do one or more of the following:
- Limit the leave an employee can accrue in a leave period.
- Limit the leave an employee can accrue in their anniversary year.
- Limit the leave an employee can accrue in the leave year.
- Specify how the anniversary year dates should be derived (should the year end on the employee's anniversary date or start on the anniversary date).
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Accrual Limitation Method |
Attention: For more information on when to apply a limit to the periodic or annual accrual, refer to the FAQs topic for the Manage Leave Types screen.
Use this drop-down list to specify whether a limit should be applied to the hours or amount an employee can accrue each leave period or in a year. Valid options are:
Why would I apply a limit to the leave period accrual? Some union contracts may require employers to limit the number of leave hours an employee may accrue within a given leave period. Applying a leave period accrual limit will cause Costpoint's Compute Leave to limit the number of hours (or amount if leave type is tracked by amount) an employee can accrue within the open leave period. This method will only be implemented if the accrual is based on hours worked. Why would I apply a limit to the year accrual? A Period Leave Accrual Ceiling would apply if you need or want to limit the leave an employee can accrue in a given year. For example, according to Executive Order 13706, a contractor may limit an employee's paid sick leave accrual each year to 56 hours. Applying a year accrual limit will cause Costpoint's Compute Leave application to limit the number of hours (or amount if leave type is tracked by amount) an employee can accrue within a year. The limit will be applied based on the leave year (not the anniversary year) If the employee's accrual exceeds the limit, Costpoint will not track the excess as lost leave or transfer it to an Excess Leave Type. This method applies to only the accrued leave, not the leave balance. |
| Annual Accrual Limit Basis |
If limiting an employee's annual accrual, use these options to specify whether the Annual Accrual Ceiling should be applied to the leave year dates assigned to the employee's leave cycle or the employee's anniversary year. Valid options are:
This setting is only enabled if the Accrual Limitation Method is one of the following:
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| Anniversary Year Timing | This setting is required if you are limiting the leave an employee can accrue during their anniversary year (Annual Accrual Limit Basis is
Limit accrual per anniversary year). Use this setting to specify whether the employee's anniversary year start or ends in the period containing their anniversary date. Valid options are:
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