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How to release accrued vacation for an employee

In our system, you can release partial and full vacation pay accrued. First, ensure your employee is set up for automatic vacation pay (accrual).

You can release vacation pay using the following method:

A. Start your pay run as usual, and after approving their regular hours, click the "add other" earnings button beside the employee for whom you wish to release vacation.

B. In the drop-down list, select Release Vacation Owing.


 

C. Any existing vacation pay accrued for the employee will be shown in the total field. You can override that amount and enter a partial amount (i.e. less than the amount shown) or even an amount greater than what they have accrued (which will create a negative vacation balance).

D. If your employee took vacation time, you can enter the hours to make them insurable, but you still need to input the total. Leaving the total at 0.00 will release all vacation owing.

E. If you need to release all accrued vacation* (including any vacation that will be accumulated on this particular run), check the 'Release all vacation pay including current earnings' box. 

F. Click Add and Submit to continue with the pay run.

*Note: We recommend releasing accrued vacation before terminating an employee. If you release the accrued vacation, the line item will be 0.00.  This is correct, as the system cannot determine the amount owed on the current pay run until you have gone through the calculation step of the pay run. You can click on the employee name on the review page to see that the total paid includes what was previously banked and what was earned on this pay run.

Vacation Pay on Vacation?  

In some provinces, vacation pay is subject to vacation. The program will apply this or not, based on the employee's province of employment. If you are in one of the following provinces, vacation is calculated on previously earned vacation, per labour  standards from each province:

  • Alberta
  • British Columbia
  • Federal
  • Newfoundland and Labrador
  • Quebec
  • Saskatchewan

Some notes to keep in mind: 

  • Ensure your employee is set for automatic vacation tracking
  • In the release vacation pay box, choosing the default amount will release any accrued vacation until the pay run you perform. This will not release vacation accrued in the new/current pay run.
  • Entering an amount less than the employee's vacation balance will perform a "partial release" and deduct that amount from their overall vacation balance.
  • Entering an amount greater than the employee's vacation balance will deplete all vacation balances and create a negative entry as their vacation balance. This may be useful if you allow your employee to take a vacation upfront before accruing it. Future accruals of vacation will adjust the negative amount accordingly.
  • If you select "Release all vacation pay including current earnings," the vacation amount will only be shown after the calculation step — specifically, on the Review step.
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