This article explains what an accrual policy is and how to set it up.
What is an accrual policy?
Accrual policies are Fingercheck's method of automatically tracking the amount of time employees have available to use towards specific kinds of absences from the workplace. Most commonly, this is applied to concepts such as Paid Time Off (PTO), Unpaid Time Off, Sick Leave, Vacation Leave, and FMLA/PFML.
Accrual policies allow you to instruct Fingercheck on how many hours towards a specific bank (or balance) an employee has access to at any given time. These hours can be accrued as a certain amount per hour worked (for example, 1 hour for every 30 hours worked) or front-loaded all at once at a specific date. It also offers tools such as year-end rollovers and payouts and filtering of specific employee groups.
In short, an accrual policy is a set of rules that determines how many hours of "absence credit" an employee accrues and how often they accrue it. Note that it does not automatically come with a way to "use" those hours. For that, Create an Absence Policy after you create your Accrual Policy.
How to set up an accrual policy
Select the SETUP tab > Policies > Accrual Policies.
The page lists any existing accrual policies for your company.
Click Add.
A list of pre-defined accrual policies appears.
To add a pre-defined policy:
Click Add next to the policy you want.
Review the information in the pop-up window that appears.
(Optional) Select Apply to all new hires.
This applies only to future new hires and not to existing employees.
Click Continue.
Review the information and click OK.
To add a custom policy:
Click Add Custom.
Complete the fields in the Accrual Policy Information section.
The fields are described in the Fields for Accrual Policy Information section below.Scroll down to the PTO Rates section, click Add, complete the fields, and click Apply.
The fields are described in the Fields for PTO Rates section below.Scroll down to the PTO Earnings section, select a Division Earning, and click Apply.
This applies only if RatexHoursWorked is selected from the Calculation Rule field.
As needed, repeat step 5d to add all earning codes that the accrual policy should check for.
Common earning codes are RG-Regular, SA-Salary, and OT-Overtime.
Click Save.
Fields for accrual policy information
When you create or modify an accrual policy, you will complete the following fields in the Accrual Policy Information section:
Field | Description |
Code | An abbreviated name (for example, PTO). In combination with the Description field, this makes up the full name of the policy as displayed in other areas of Fingercheck. |
Description | A short descriptive name (for example, Paid Time Off). In combination with the Code field, this makes up the full name of the policy as displayed in other areas of Fingercheck. |
Calculation Rule | How the policy should accrue hours. The options are:
|
Accrual Frequency | This appears if you selected FrequencyBased as the Calculation Rule above. Defines the frequency of accruals. Options include Monthly, CalendarYear, Anniversary, and many others. |
Hourly Process up to | This appears if you selected RatexHoursWorked as the Calculation Rule above. Defines when to process the accrual. Options are LastCompletedPayPeriodEnd (the default) and Today. |
Use Rehire Date | Select this option if you have employees who were terminated and then rehired, and you want to use those rehire dates as the start of their new hire date. |
Display On Stub | Select this option to display the number of hours available for use on the employee's pay stub. |
Display Accrued Hours On Stub | Select this option to display the number of hours that were accrued during that pay period on the employee's pay stub. |
Use Paid Hours From Payroll | Select this option if you often manually enter employees' hours worked on payroll and want the accruals to trigger on those hours. (Normally, accruals do not calculate on manually entered hours). |
Fixed Accrual Day | This option affects accruals only if you selected the Monthly or FixedDayMonth option in the Accrual Frequency field above. For FixedDayMonth, enter the day and month to calculate this policy's accrual rules. For example, to calculate the rules on July 1, enter 1 and 7. For Monthly, enter the day you want to accrue. (You can leave the Month field empty.) |
New Hire Pending Days | The number of days in which hours accrued by new hires should go into the Pending balance instead of the Available balance. For example, if you don't want new hires to accrue hours for 90 days, enter 90. The default is 0, so there is no waiting period for accruing hours. |
Pending Rule | Define when to move over pending balances after the New Hire Pending Days expire (if applicable). Options are:
|
Fixed Pending Day | Sets a specific date for when Pending balances should be moved over to Available balances. This setting is used with the FixedDayMonth Pending Rule above. |
Rollover Rule | Defines the rule for rolling over hours from one accrual year to the next. Select this option even if you aren't planning to allow for any rollover because this option dictates when the end of the Accrual Period occurs. The options are:
|
Rollover Carry Forward | Select this option if you want to carry forward existing accruals to the next period. |
Rollover Sequence | Defines how accruals should be handled when the accrual frequency happens on the rollover day. We recommend that you leave the default option. Options are:
|
Rollover Earning | The earning code to use if you want to cash out unused hours to the employee at the Rollover time |
New Hire Filter | Defines which employees should have this accrual policy assigned to them automatically when their profiles are created. This option does not apply the policy to existing employees. |
Fields for PTO Rates
Every accrual policy should have at least one rate to configure how many hours to give during each period, as well as various limits. When you create or modify an accrual policy, you will complete the following fields in the PTO Rates section:
Field | Description |
LOS Type | The length of time this rule should be active for. Options are Days, Weeks, Month, Year. (LOS is the length of service.) |
LOS Number | Combined with the LOS Type field, this tells the system how long this rule should run for. (For example, if you want a continuously running rule, set LOS Type to Month and LOS Number to 9999.) |
Accrual Rate | The amount of hours to grant per the Calculation Rule of the policy. |
Max Per Accrual | The maximum number of hours anyone using this policy can accrue in one period (for example, 40). Entering 0 means no limit. |
Max Pending | The highest amount of hours that can be held in Pending status. Pending hours are hours that have been accrued but cannot yet be used until the policy's Pending Rule has been satisfied. For example, if you enter 40, then 40 hours are the maximum Pending hours allowed. Entering 0 means no limit. |
Max Allowed | The maximum amount of hours that can be accrued between rollover dates (for example, 40). Entering 0 means no limit. |
Reduce Max Allowed | Select this option if you want to increase the maximum allowed hours for the next year to include your carryover hours. |
Max Available | The maximum amount of hours that can be held in an employee's balance (for example, 40). Hours in balance are hours that have been accrued and can be used towards absences. Entering 0 means no limit. |
Max Carryover | The maximum amount of hours that can remain in an employee's balance after a rollover date passes (for example, 40). Entering 0 means no limit. |
Filter | Select a filter to restrict this PTO Rate to a particular set of employees. To create a filter, go to Setup > Security > User Filters. |
How to apply an accrual policy to an employee
Go to the EMPLOYEES tab, and open the profile of the employee.
Under Personal, click Accrual Policies.
Complete the fields as defined below, and click Save.
Field | Description |
Allowed as of | Date when the hours listed are effective (usually the current date). |
Allowed Hours | The number of hours the employee has accrued at this time. The system automatically increases the number depending on the accrual policy. |
Last Accrual | The last time the employee gained hours |
Last Rollover | The last time the accrual hours were reset (for example, when the calendar year rolls over). |
Last Pending Moved | The last time pending hours were moved to active/allowed hours (This field is not usually used). |
Override Rate (checkbox) | Overrides the rate with a rate in the Override Rate field below. |
InActive | Disables the policy for the employee (stops the employee from gaining hours). |
Override Rate | The rate that is used overrides the original rate. |
Pending Balance | If the employee is in a pending period (for example, new employees might have a 90-day probation period), this is the balance being accrued. |
Last Amount Carried Over | If enabled, this amount increases the maximum allowed for a new year based on how much the employee carried over. |
How to set a scheduled task to process accruals
To process accruals, you need to set up a scheduled task. For complete details about creating a scheduled task, see How to Create Scheduled Tasks.
Go to the SETUP tab > System > Scheduled Tasks.
Click Add.
In the Schedule Task Information section, enter a Code and Description for the task.
The Code is an abbreviated name for the task. The Description is a short, descriptive name. Together, these fields make up the full name as displayed in other areas of Fingercheck.Tip: To have the system automatically trigger accruals when you process payroll, enter AutoSendToPayrollService as the Code.
You can leave the other fields as they are.
Add a task action for automatic PTO processing:
In the Task Actions section, click Add.
In the pop-up window that appears, select AUPTO - Automatic PTO Processing from the Job Action drop-down list.
Click Apply.
If you did not enter AutoSendToPayrollService as the code, add a task trigger so that the task is sent at a regular interval:
In the Task Triggers section, click Add.
Enter a Start Date and End Date.
If you want the task to be "permanent," select an end date far into the future.
Select the Time of day when you want the email to be sent.
Select a Trigger Type: Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
The Days field changes depending on the option you select.
Select the Days you want the task to be triggered.
If you selected Daily as the Trigger Type, enter 1 to have the task triggered every day.
Click Apply.
Click Save.
How to view an employee's accruals
Go to the EMPLOYEES tab and open the profile of the employee.
Under Personal, click Accrual Policies.
Click the active links under Allowed Hours or Used to view more details.
State-specific accrual policies
Accrual policies offer many configuration options for the needs of different companies. Having so many options can easily make this policy type appear dense and overwhelming. To make it a little easier, Fingercheck includes templates for many states. For more information about state-specific accrual policies, see the links below
for the states where your company has employees.
Connecticut
Connecticut Department of Labor: Paid Sick Leave
Georgia
Georgia Department of Public Safety: Sick Leave
Illinois
Illinois General Assembly: 820 ILCS 191: Employee Sick Leave Act
Illinois Department of Labor: Employee Sick Leave Act FAQs
Maryland
Maryland Department of Budget and Management: Sick Leave Guidelines
Maryland Department of Labor: Maryland Earned Sick and Sage Leave Employee Notice Model
Maryland Department of Labor: Maryland Earned Sick and Sage Leave Employee Notice Poster
Massachusetts
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Earned Sick Time
Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Massachusetts Law About Sick Leave
Michigan
Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity: Paid Medical Leave Act
Nevada
State of Nevada: Office of the Labor Commissioner: Paid Leave
New Jersey
Department of Labor and Workforce Development: Earned Sick Leave
New York
New York State: Paid Sick Leave
Oregon
Oregon Bureau of Labor and Industries: Sick Time
Rhode Island
State of Rhode Island Department of Labor and Training: Paid Sick and Safe Leave
Washington
Washington State Department of Labor and Industries: Paid Sick Leave
If your state is not listed here, your state might not have specific guidelines or laws regarding PTO, Unpaid Time Off, or Sick Leave. In these cases, see How to set up FMLA Unpaid Sick Leave, which guides you through setting up an Accrual Policy compliant with the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), a federal law signed in 1993 that provides job-protected, unpaid leave from work for certain family-related and other serious medical reasons. This law is applicable to all employers within the United States.
Thank you for using Fingercheck. If you have any questions on this topic, you can reach out to our team at 1-800-610-9501 or use the chat option below.