Configuring leave time accruals

This article is for admins setting up leave policies on the Leave Time Policies tab of the Payroll page. It walks through every setting on a policy and what it does to a worker's balance. If you just want to understand why a balance is the number it is, read PTO & leave: accruals + the Leave Time tab instead.

Two rules to know before you start

No backfill. A new policy does not retroactively calculate leave for past periods.

If you need historical balances adjusted, that is a separate job — either a manual entry (see Manual leave entries and corrections) or a request to support.

No overlapping policies. Two policies cannot cover the same leave type and the same employee group over overlapping dates.

This is what stops a worker accruing the same leave twice. If Alpaca refuses to save a policy, an overlap is the usual reason — check the effective period of the existing policy for that leave type.

Creating a policy

The Leave Time Policies tab.

1. Go to Payroll → Leave Time Policies.

2. Add a policy and give it a Policy Name your team will recognise.

3. Pick the Leave Type it governs — PTO, paid sick leave, unpaid leave, paid holidays and so on.

4. Set the Effective Period — the pay periods the policy runs between.

5. Configure the accrual settings below.

6. Assign workers to it.

Accrual method

This is the core setting. It decides how the balance grows.

For Based on hours worked you make two further choices:

• Clinical hours only or All hours worked — whether admin, training and drive time earn leave alongside direct sessions.

• Include overtime or exclude overtime — whether overtime hours count toward the accrual.

Eligibility and waiting periods

• All Employees or Full-time Only — full-time is read from the worker's Employee Time Classification on their Pay Rates card, so make sure that is set correctly before relying on it.

• Days before accrual start — days from the worker's hire date before they become eligible to accrue. Set to 0 for immediate accrual.

• Minimum clinical hours threshold (optional) — a floor a worker must hit in a period before they accrue anything for it.

Caps and year end

• Maximum hours accrued per year — stops the yearly total climbing past a ceiling.

• Maximum time off balance — an absolute cap on the balance at any moment.

• Year end — either Roll over to next year (with a maximum rollover balance) or Reset to zero.

Caps and resets explain most "why has my balance stopped growing / why did it drop" questions. Check them first.

Calendar-only policies

Tick Exclude from Payroll for a policy that exists only to block time on the calendar and should never affect pay. Ticking it clears the payroll leave type mapping, since there is nothing to send.

Assigning workers

Open Assign Workers on the policy to add or remove people, and Assigned Workers to see who is currently on it. The drawer shows each worker's classification (W2 or 1099) so you can avoid assigning contractors to an employee-only policy.

Seeding an existing balance

Workers migrating from another system usually arrive with a balance already. Use the Initial Balance option to seed it rather than waiting for accrual to catch up — remember, policies do not backfill.

Checking your work

The Accrual Summary by Period view shows, per payout period, each worker's policy, leave type, accrual method, clinical hours, total hours, hours accrued and the applicable maximum. It is the fastest way to confirm a new policy is doing what you intended before anyone's balance depends on it.

Still stuck? Email support@alpacahealth.io and we will take a look.