Important: If you do not see the Time off tab or do not have the ability to request time off, reach out to your payroll admin to see if this is a feature they offer.
If this is a feature your company offers, you can request, cancel, and view your time off balance and requests in your Gusto employee account or through the Gusto Wallet mobile app.
If you're an admin, head to this article to learn how to set up and manage time off policies. If you're a manager, head to this article.
Requesting time off can be done both on a computer and through our mobile app. If you need to request time off for a date that's already passed, reach out to your employer for assistance.
Your payroll administrator or manager will be notified by email regarding your request. Once the request has been approved or declined, you'll receive an email notification and your time of balance will be updated.
To edit a request, delete the current one and then create a new request. You can cancel your time off request as long as it has not been processed through payroll.
Note: If any portion of your paid time off has already been processed through payroll, the Delete Request option will no longer appear. Reach out to your company's payroll administrator to make the necessary adjustments.
Once you've requested time off, you can manage and view your time off request history by following the steps below.
On this page, you can view:
Tenure: The period or term of holding a position. Sometimes used to determine when an employee will get an increase in time off. For example, an employee receives an additional 24 hours of time off after 2 years of tenure with their company.
Waiting period: The allotted period of time an employee must wait before they can begin accruing time off. For example, an employee must have a 30-day waiting period before they can accrue time at their company.
Maximum balance: The maximum amount of time off hours that an employee can have at any given time. If an employee has reached their max balance but uses some time off during a given pay period, they may still accrue back up to their max balance. For example, an employee earns 10 hours of time off every month, but they have a max balance of 20 hours total.
Carry-over limit: The amount of accrued (or unused) time off that can be carried over from one calendar year to the next. Some employees earn more time off on the anniversary of their hire date, while others earn it on January 1.
FAQs
Q: When will annual time off accrue?
A: Annual time off will accrue when the payroll that includes the anniversary date is paid out. For example, if the anniversary is Jan 1, when the Jan 1 - 15 pay period is paid out, the amount will accrue.
However, if the payroll includes time from the previous year (such as a period from Dec 26 - Jan 10), the employee will not see the accrual until the next payroll fully in the new year (the Jan 11 - Jan 25 payroll in this example).
Q: Do time off balances automatically zero out at year's end?
A: No, some state sick time mandates do not allow for time off balance resets, so balances will not automatically zero out at year's end unless a payroll admin manually zeroes out the balance on an account.
Q: Can an employee go into the negative time off?
A: Yes, a time off balance will go negative automatically if an employee uses more time off than they have available. A payroll admin can also save a negative balance in the employee's details screen under the time off tracking section.
Review time off balances directly from your Gusto employee account. Follow the steps below to view the Time Off Tracker.
| Activity | Description |
| Accrual | Hours accrued in accordance with a time off policy |
| Added to policy | Date an employee was added to a policy |
| Admin adjustment | Balance adjusted from the employee profile |
| Admin recorded request | Admin manually added a time off request |
| Carryover limit reached | Hours capped in accordance with your time off policy |
| Employee request | Hours requested by employee |
| Historical Accrual adjustment | A historical time off request adjusts a prior accrual |
| Payroll cancelled due to termination | Employee termination caused payroll cancellation |
| Payroll reversed | Payroll reversal causing accrued hours to be removed |
| Max balance reached | Hours capped in accordance with your time off policy |
| Removed from policy | Employee is no longer associated with a policy |
| Payout of unused hours | Paying out unused hours during dismissal payroll |
Balances will only reflect for limited time off policies.
Learn how to run a time off balances report in our reporting article.