Checking Alternative Leave Calculations in a Fixed-Term Employee's Timesheet

It is good practice to check that the alternative leave is paid at the expected rate, especially for fixed-term employees on '8% of Gross Earnings (temp and irregular scenario)' leave setting

Follow this link for a quick reminder of how to add alternative leave taken to your fixed-term employee's timesheet.

1. In your saved timesheet (with green boxes), left-click in the alternative leave hours entry field to access that entry's calculation data. Scroll down to find the costing screen information below the timesheet.
2. This line shows the value of the alternative leave to be paid for this entry. The system doesn't look at the number you enter into the allocated leave day box. It recognises that there is an entry in one box for the allocated leave field of the timesheet, then automatically calculates the average daily rate. This average daily rate is paid for a full day of work no matter the amount of hours you entered into the timesheet.
   
   1. In this example, we have selected to pay the Alt Hol at the 'ordinary rate' (Step 6), so this line shows that value after this change. For the entry clicked (Alt Hol (-) on Thurs 13 July) a total of $ 130.00 will be paid, which is their ordinary rate based on the hours entered in the timesheet. Meaning: this entry is worth $130.00 to the employee, which is their relevant daily pay.
   2. If you do not toggle on the setting to pay at the ordinary rate (Step 6), but keep it as the default (Step 5) the total paid for this day will be $ 131.43 regardless of the hours entered in the timesheet. Meaning: this entry is worth $ 131.43 to the employee, which is their average daily rate.
3. The system takes the number of hours you entered into the timesheet for leave (step 1) as the ordinary hours the employee would have worked for this particular day, as the system doesn't refer to the 'default entries for standard pay row' set in the Employee Profile for the '8% of Gross' leave setting. 
   1. In this example, the 5 hours entered into the timesheet are taken as 5 ordinary hours for Thursday 13 July.
   2. If you wish to pay the employee their ordinary rate (Step 6), and not their average daily pay (default) you need to ensure that this number is accurate as the number of hours the employee would have worked on this day. If you change the number of hours in the timesheet (and save), this number will update. You can also manually change the number here in this box.
4. The system will automatically default to paying alternative leave at the average daily pay rate for employees on the '8% of Gross' leave setting. This shows you the numbers used for calculating the average daily rate.
   1. If you are running a first pay, these fields will be empty as the pay history has not been uploaded in the system yet. You should manually enter the correct numbers here to ensure that the average daily pay is calculated correctly, or the value of the day will be paid at $0.
5. This is the system default calculation for an employee on the '8% of Gross' leave setting. Keep this setting toggled on to pay your fixed-term employee at the average daily rate for alternative leave.
6. If you want to pay your employee their hourly rate, or ordinary rate, switch to this setting as shown in the example. Note that the system will pay the employee based on the hours entered in the timesheet box, not the hours set in the Employee Profile.
7. This number is very important to check. This shows the number of days or part days that will be deducted from the employee's alternative leave balance. As default this number will be 1, meaning that a day will be taken from the employee's alternative leave balance regardless of what is put in the timesheet. Note that this number will be 1, even if the timesheet is incorrectly paying $0 for the entry as explained in 4.a with a first pay set to average daily pay (setting 5).