Using the seeded PTO_PAYROLL_BALANCE_CALCULATION formula, accrual of PTO begins on a fixed date each year (01 January). For each plan that uses this formula, you can select a value in the Accrual Start field of the Accrual Plan window. This specifies when newly hired employees start to accrue PTO. The seeded choices are:
Hire Date
Beginning of Calendar Year after their hire date
Six Months after Hire Date
If you need additional start rules, you can define them as values for the Lookup Type US_ACCRUAL_START_TYPE. You must add a line to the seeded formula to calculate the accrual start date using your new start rule.
The other seeded formulas (PTO_SIMPLE_BALANCE_MULTIPLIER, PTO_HD_ANNIVERSARY_BALANCE, and PTO_ROLLING_ACCRUAL) do not use values in the Accrual Start field. For plans using these formulas, new hires begin accruing on their hire date or plan enrollment date, whichever is later.
If you are writing your own accrual formulas, you can choose whether to use the Accrual Start field on the Accrual Plan form to specify start rules for new hires. This is only useful if you are using the same formula for several accrual plans with different start rules. Otherwise you can specify the start rule within the formula.
Some accrual plans require participants to work for a period of time, perhaps three or six months, before they are eligible to use accrued PTO. They accrue time at the usual rate during this time, but it is not registered on the system until the Period of Ineligibility expires. If plan participants take vacation or sick leave during this period, the system displays a negative value for accrued time. Many enterprises set up an absence type for "approved but unpaid leave" to use for absences taken during periods of ineligibility.
You can enter the period of ineligibility on the Accrual Plan form. The seeded Accrual formulas illustrate how a formula should use the entered values. They calculate the period of ineligibility from the continuous service date (if it was entered) or the employee's hire date.
Alternatively, you can define the period of ineligibility within your Accrual formula.
Note: If you use the seeded formulas, time accrued during the ineligibility period is not carried over if the end of the accrual term falls within the ineligibility period.
If you want to use Batch Element Entry (BEE) to make absence entries against the accrual plan, the BEE validation process must be able to check when the ineligibility period expires.
If you record the ineligibility period for the plan on the Accrual Plan form, BEE retrieves the ineligibility period directly from the table. It interprets it as a period of time from the employee's continuous service date or hire date.
If the period of ineligibility is defined within your Accrual formula, you must associate an Ineligibility formula with the plan. BEE calls the formula, which returns Y or N to indicate whether the employee is eligible to use accrued PTO on the date supplied by BEE. This formula should calculate the end of the ineligibility period in the same way as the Accrual formula for the plan.
If the employee is not eligible, the BEE validation process creates a warning on the batch line for the absence entry.
Note: If you use a custom method of entering timecard data, calling the Element Entry API, you can add logic to call the Ineligibility formula.
The formula calculates the start date from hire date and compares it with the employee's plan enrollment date. Accrual begins on whichever of these two dates is later.
For plans with this rule, participants' accruals begin from the first full period following their hire date. For example, if the hire date of a participant on a semi-monthly payroll falls on the first day of either the first or second period in the month, PTO accrual starts as of that date.
If the hire date falls sometime after the first of the month but before the end of the first period, accruals start in the second period of the month. If the hire date falls after the first day of the second period but before its end, accruals start with the first period in the next month.
With this start rule, participants' accruals begin from the start of the year following the year in which they are hired. This means that a participant with a hire date of 1 January 1999 and another with a hire date of 31 December 1999 both start to accrue time as of 1 January 2000.
Notice that the amount of PTO each accrues may not be the same, as accrual amounts often depend on employees' length of service.
For plans with this start rule, participants' accruals do not begin until the first full pay period after the six-month anniversary of their hire date. For example, someone on a semi-monthly payroll who is hired on 5 February 1996, completes six months of service on 5 August 1996, and starts to accrue PTO in the second period in August.
Notice that if people are hired on the first day of a period, their accruals begin with the pay period of the six-month anniversary of their hire date. For example, someone on a semi-monthly payroll who is hired on 1 February 1996 completes six months of service on 1 August 1996, and hence starts to accrue PTO in the first period in August.
The period of ineligibility is not applicable to plans with the start rule Six Months After Hire.