Time-Off Rules in NetSuite define how a specific time-off type (e.g., vacation, sick leave, personal leave) behaves within a time-off plan. They act like the instructions that control how employees earn, use, and manage their leave for each type. You create rules within a time-off plan to customize it based on your company’s policies. For example, a rule might specify that new employees get 10 vacation days per year, while employees with 5+ years of service get 15 days.
key components of a Time-Off Rule:
- Eligibility:
- This determines who qualifies for the time-off type within the plan. You can set eligibility based on:
- Tenure: The number of years an employee has worked (e.g., 0 years for new hires, 5 years for senior employees).
- Employee Attributes: Such as location, department, class, or subsidiary (if using NetSuite OneWorld).
- Example: A rule might say that only employees in the “Sales” department or those with at least 2 years of tenure can accrue vacation time under this plan.
- Entitlement:
- This specifies how much time off an employee gets for the time-off type (e.g., 10 vacation days per year or 40 sick hours per year).
- Entitlement can vary based on tenure. For instance, you might create multiple rules for the same time-off type to give more days to longer-serving employees.
- Example: For a “Vacation” time-off type, one rule might grant 10 days for employees with 0–4 years of tenure, and another rule might grant 15 days for employees with 5+ years.
- Accrual Methods:
- This defines how employees earn their time off. NetSuite supports two main accrual methods:
- Fixed Amount per Period: Employees earn a set amount of time off at regular intervals (e.g., 8 hours of vacation per month or 10 days per year). This is common for salaried employees.
- Based on Hours Worked: Employees earn time off proportional to the hours they work (e.g., 0.04 hours of vacation for every hour worked). This requires SuitePeople U.S. Payroll integration and is common for hourly employees.
- Important: All rules for the same time-off type within a plan must use the same accrual method (either fixed or hours worked).
- Example: For a “Sick Leave” type, a rule might accrue 5 days per year as a fixed amount, or 0.05 hours per hour worked if based on hours worked.
- Carryover Limits:
- This controls whether unused time off carries over to the next year and, if so, how much.
- Options include:
- No Carryover: Unused time is lost at the end of the year (e.g., “use it or lose it” policies).
- Unlimited Carryover: All unused time rolls over to the next year.
- Limited Carryover: Only a specific amount carries over (e.g., max 40 hours of vacation).
- You can also set whether the balance resets annually (e.g., sick leave resets to 5 days each year, with no carryover).
- Example: A vacation rule might allow up to 20 hours of unused vacation to carry over, while a sick leave rule might have no carryover, resetting to 5 days annually.