Learn how staff leave types, contract eligibility, allowances, balances, carry-forward, weekends, and unpaid leave deductions work.
How do employment leave allowances, balances, and carry-forward work?
Institution Admin configures employee leave types in System Settings > Employment Leave. Each type can define an allowance number per week, month, or year; paid or unpaid treatment; half-day support; an approving authority; and a maximum request length. Contract assignment links the permitted leave types to that contract. Employees can apply only for leave types allowed by their active contract.
The balance reflects the applicable allowance, eligible carry-in, approved leave and pending reservations. A request may be prorated when the contract covers only part of an allowance period. Pending requests reserve balance so overlapping requests cannot consume the same entitlement.
At the configured carry-forward point, the system applies the policy percentage to unused eligible leave after accounting for approved and pending leave. For example, if an employee has 24 annual days and uses 10, then 14 remain. At 25% carry-forward, 3.5 days carry forward and 10.5 expire. A value of 0% expires all remaining eligible days; 100% carries all eligible unused days, subject to the next policy and contract allowing them.
How do I read My Leave Balances and its chart?
Open Profile icon > My Account > My Leaves or the Staff Leave page and select the employment profile you want to review. If your account is linked to both an employee and a faculty profile, each profile has a separate balance summary. The summary lists every leave type allowed by that profile's eligible contract and shows its weekly, monthly, or yearly allowance period using the institution's configured date format.
The table separates the allowance and eligible carry-in from Availed leave, approved dates still ahead, pending requests, and Remaining days. Approved leave on or before today counts as availed; approved leave after today is shown as upcoming. Pending requests are shown separately and reserve days while they await a decision. The current allowance period is Monday through Sunday for weekly leave, the calendar month for monthly leave, and January through December for yearly leave.
The chart compares each leave type's usage within its own allowance period. Its segments show Taken, Approved upcoming, Pending, and Remaining. For capped leave, the bar is measured against the allowance plus eligible carry-in. A leave type configured without a fixed day cap still shows recorded usage, but has no remaining-cap segment. The summary refreshes as leave requests are submitted, approved, rejected, or withdrawn.
How do I apply for leave?
Sign in and open Staff Leave from the navigation, or open Profile icon > My Account > My Leaves. On Staff Leave, select New Leave Request to open the request form. Select an employment profile linked to your account and a leave type available for its active contract and the request start date. Use the single date-range calendar to choose one date or an inclusive start/end range; dates use the institution's configured display format. Enter the reason and submit. The configured approving authority reviews it. Return to Staff Leave or My Leaves to see the status and available balance. A pending request may reserve leave so overlapping requests cannot use the same entitlement.
How do I request a first-half or second-half leave?
Half-day options appear only when the selected leave type allows half days. Choose one eligible working date in the date-range calendar, then select First half or Second half. Each half-day request uses 0.50 day from the applicable allowance. A multi-day range is a full-day request; the half-day choice is disabled until only one date is selected.
Are Saturdays, Sundays, and public holidays counted as leave?
Configured excluded weekend days are excluded on every date they occur within the requested range. There is no sandwich rule that adds excluded Saturdays or Sundays back when a leave spans a weekend. For example, if an employee requests Monday through the following Thursday and Saturday and Sunday are configured as excluded days, those weekend dates are not charged as leave days. Public holidays currently count because the employment-leave calculation is not integrated with the institution holiday calendar.
For term-time-only faculty, eligible leave days are further limited to the institution's semester dates. Approved unpaid leave is deducted after the leave period ends. Any unpaid amount that cannot be deducted in one run carries forward, and payroll allocation prevents duplicate deductions.
Why do I not see a leave type or contract action?
Check that the active contract allows the leave type, the staff profile and portal account are linked, the HR or Finance role includes the correct campus, the policy is effective for the date, and the request or contract is in a state that permits the action. Ask Institution Admin or scoped HR to review access and policy setup.