LEAVETRAQ FAQs
Frequently asked questions for:
Q. I don’t have an e-mail address, can I use Leavetraq?
A. Leavetraq requires that all employees have an e-mail address. Contact your unit’s administrative personnel and request they set you up with a user account and an e-mail address, or you can use an e-mail address from Yahoo, Hotmail or other provider.
Q. Is there a limit on the number of characters in a password?
A. A password must have a minimum of 6 characters of which one must be a number. The passwords cannot exceed 12 characters, and passwords are case sensitive.
Q. Can a notice of my approval be sent to someone else?
A. The notice of approval will be sent to your e-mail address which is listed in the Leavetraq system. You cannot use the Leavetraq system to forward it to an e-mail address that is different than the one listed on the Leavetraq profile page.
Q. Can an employee select their manager?
A. No, just as you cannot select your supervisor for whom you work, you cannot select the leave approval manager. However, a leave administrator may assign a manager other than your direct supervisor for administrative reasons when so directed by the unit head.
Q. How do you request two weeks leave?
A. Insert the start and end dates, then put "80" in the number of hours requested (for two 40 hour weeks).
Q. Is you leave balance reduced as soon as you request leave?
A. Yes, it subtracts the leave although it remains as pending until approved. Since it subtracts the leave immediately, employees who are requesting leave far in advance, may have their leave rejected for insufficient time, since they may have figured their leave start date to be when they had accrues enough leave time. For example, you currently have 24 hours leave and want to take a week of leave in two months, when you will have 40 hours accrued. If you put in the request today, it will be rejected since you only have 24 hours available. In this case, you will need to wait for the two months accruals before you request the leave.
Q. How far in advance can I request leave?
A. You can request leave one fiscal year in advance, as long as you have enough leave in your leave balance.
Q. When are accruals posted to my leave account?
A. The leave accruals are posted to employee accounts on the first of the month, just after midnight.
Q. Can I request leave retroactively?
A. Yes the system will take retroactive requests; however, all vacation should be requested in advance according to System policy.
Q. Can I have a secretary or administrative person put in my leave request?
A. You must put in your own leave request, since submitting a leave request is the same as signing your name on a leave form. In this case, if another individual signs your name to a leave form for you, even if it is at your request, they have, in essence, forged a leave document. If you need to have leave put in for you, do a paper document and have your leave administrator input the leave as a "Transaction Entry."
Q. What is the difference between Comp - FLSA and Comp-State for the comp time?
A. Comp FLSA is compensatory time earned for working over 40 hours during the work week. This is Federal comp time, or time that is considered comp time under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). This time is paid/earned at 1 ½ hours per 1 hour worked. You can only accumulate 240 hours of Comp-FLSA time. Any time earned over that must be paid out as overtime pay. Comp- State, or state comp time, is earned when the total of the hours worked and coded hours (such as a holiday) exceed 40 in one work week. This time is earned at the rate of 1 hour per 1 hour worked. This time can be retained for 1 year from the time it is earned. If it is not used during this one year period, it is lost. This time is not paid out, even if the employee terminates. For a complete discussion of overtime and the comp time provisions, see System Regulation 31.01.09, Overtime, at http://sago.tamu.edu/policy/31-01-09.htm
Q. How do I cancel leave that was approved but not taken?
A. For approved leave not taken, contact your manager (supervisor) and request the leave be cancelled by the leave administrator. The Manager (supervisor) will need to e-mail or notify the leave administrator in writing to cancel the leave as it was not taken. If part of the leave was taken, then the leave administrator will need to cancel the entire leave and the employee will need to resubmit the leave request for the correct number of hours. The manager will then approve the revised leave request, and the leave administrator will review this approved request.
Manager (Supervisor)
Q. Does my delegate receive an e-mail notice of the leave request when I am out?
A. No, there is on e-mail sent to a delegate. You should notify the delegate that you will be out and recommend that they check the Leavetraq system at least once a day so that leaves may be approved.
Q. Why would I reject a leave request?
A. Leave may be rejected for reasons such as other employees are already on leave during this period and the unit would no longer be able to support its mission, or a manager does not want to approve leave without pay in conjunction with vacation. A leave administrator may reject the leave because they do not have the documentation, such as a doctor’s certification, or jury duty summons.
Q. How are the leave accrual rate change dates calculated?
A. Before 1995, a leave accruing employee was given accrual credit for the first month worked, even if that was a partial month. Beginning in 1995, following legislative action, employees that start working for the state on the first of a month will be given leave for that month and will be receive leave accrual credit for the entire month. Employees starting work after the first of the month will be given leave for that month, but will not receive leave accrual credit for that month. For example, an employee begins work on May 1, 2000. For may, they will receive 7 hours of leave and will receive one month leave accrual credit. In this case, on May1, 2002, the employee will begin to receive the next higher leave rate, 8 hours per month. Using a similar example, if the employee started work on May 9, 2000, they would receive 7 hours of leave for May but would not receive the credit for leave accrual until June, when they would be at work on the 1st of the month. In this case they would not receive the increased leave rate of 8 hours until June 1, 2002.
The date listed in Leavetraq for the accrual change is provided by the Budget, Payroll, Personnel (BPP) system, and as such is considered the definitive date. If an administrator’s or individual’s records indicate that the date should be different than the one displayed in Leavetraq, contact the payroll department, provide the payroll office with documentation to reflect the correct date, and request the payroll office verify the leave accrual date.
Q. How do you correlate Leavetraq leave with time sheets?
A. The Leavetraq departmental administrator must verify the leave shown on a time sheet, or provide the leave taken to the unit payroll processor/bookkeeper.
Q. How long can a leave be pending?
A. Indefinitely if it is not approved or rejected; however, leave administrators should look at the leave at least weekly to try to have these items moved out of the pending status.
Q. Must a copy of the leave be attached to the time sheet?
A. No. Since it is contained in an on-line system, it should only be verified by the leave administrator or department payroll processor. (This should be initialed to show that it was checked.)
Q. How is administrative leave handled in Leavetraq?
A. Leavetraq has incorporated administrative leave as a leave type. For a leave administrator to input the administrative leave, select the "Grant from Sick Pool/Admin" as the transaction type, and Administrative Leave as the leave type align with the hours on the Transaction Entry page.
Q. Do I need to add in Jury Duty hours, then have the employee put in their request for Jury Duty Leave?
A. No. The employee just needs to make the request and the Leavetraq system will automatically allow the number of hours requested. The same is true for military leave. The leave administrator will still need the documentation for the records, such as a copy of the jury duty summons.
Q. How do I set up a multiple level approval system with managers, so that a manager reviews the leave and the next one up approves the leave?
A. To set up a multiple level manager system, when setting up the relationships, input a manager for up to three levels of approval and do not check the "Information" block. In this way, manager 1 will be notified, and after that manager approves the leave, manager 2 will be notified of a pending approval, and so on to manager 3.
Q. How do I put in Federal (FLSA) comp time, since it will only take it in 15 minute increments?
A. Sometimes when computing comp time (1 ½ hours for each our worked) you may arrive at a decimal which is not an exact 15 minute increment. In that case, round to the nearest 15 minute time. For example, if they have worked 1 hour 45 minutes of overtime, the comp time earned is 2.625 hours, or 2 hours, 45 minutes
Q. We have a new full-time employee. When will I see this new employee in the list of employees for my adloc?
A. The Leavetraq system updates the list of employees from the BPP system weekly.
Q. What do I need to do when an employee terminates?
A. If the employee transfers to another System part that uses Leavetraq, do nothing (unless you are paying out the vacation time). If the employee is leaving the System or is transferring to a System part that does not use Leavetraq, open the "Employee Status" page for that employee and check the boxes for "Suspend Employee Accruals" and "Employee Account Locked." This will be sure that no leave is added to the employee’s balance, and will lock the former employee out of the system