Pulling Time Off Into a Payroll Run
The full path from "I'd like next week off" to a paid line on the payslip — and the two places it can quietly break.
The pipeline at a glance
Time-off request → approval → timesheet lines → pay run calculation → payslip line item under the leave's pay code. The timesheet step is the same for salaried and hourly staff. Most of it is automatic; your job is the approval and the checks below.
Step by step
- The request comes in. The employee submits it from Timeoffs; it sits Pending. Nothing pending is ever paid — approval is the gate. (Time Off Requests)
- Approve it. On approval, TriblockHR automatically writes the days onto the employee's open timesheet, as locked time-off lines under the type's pay code — for salaried and hourly staff alike. It can only do this while the period's pay run is still open: once that run is approved or published the timesheet is locked, and the days are skipped.
- Check the timesheet. Open the period's timesheet and confirm the time-off lines are there. A timesheet created after the approval pulls the days in by itself, so the usual reason they are missing is that the period's pay run was already approved or published when the leave was approved. While the timesheet is still editable you can add them with Select Time Off Days in the timesheet editor. (Timesheets)
- Create the pay run. The calculation buckets the time-off hours under the leave type's pay code, at the employee's rate, alongside regular and overtime hours. (Pay Runs)
- Verify in the run. Right-click the employee → Show Payroll User Details: time-off earnings appear in the Earnings card. The Pre-Run Review variance view also makes a missing week of pay obvious.
- Approve and publish. The payslip shows the leave under its pay-code line with hours, and the employee's remaining balance in the time-off balances section.
The silent failure points
| Failure | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Approved leave missing from the timesheet | The period's pay run was already approved or published when the leave was approved, so the timesheet was locked and auto-placement skipped it. A timesheet created after the approval is not a cause — it pulls the days in itself. | If the run is approved, Recall it to return it to draft, then Select Time Off Days on the timesheet and recalculate. A published run cannot be recalled — see the row below. |
| Leave never showed up at all | Request still Pending when the run calculated. Pending leave is excluded with no warning. | Approve the request, then recalculate — or pay the missed days in the next run / an off-cycle run if you've already published. |
| Approved leave for dates that are already paid | The leave falls in a period whose run is already approved or published, and back pay is off. No later run reaches back for those dates, so the leave is approved and simply never paid. | Turn on back pay before approving, so a later run picks the hours up. The approval screen flags retrospective leave with back pay off, and adds "These days have missed their payroll" once the run that should have carried the days has actually paid out. See Time Off Requests. |
Special cases
Advances (lump sums): types configured for lump-sum payment can pay future leave out in the current run — the employee (or admin) ticks the payment-advance option on the request, and the system distributes the days across upcoming periods within your account's lookahead. Back pay: admin-flagged, for past-dated leave that should land in the current run as catch-up. Cancellations: a signed-off cancellation removes the timesheet lines automatically — if the run already calculated, recalculate; if it published, recover the overpayment through the next run.
Time off to payslip, end to end (4 min)
Save as: how-to__time-off-to-payroll__vid1.mp4