Recording absences correctly: unpaid leave, partial sick leave and vacation for part-time employees and mini-jobs

The basic article on absences explains how to record and approve them. This article covers special cases that strongly affect the hour balance and the vacation entitlement: unpaid leave, partial sick leave and vacation for irregular part-time work or mini-jobs.

Menu and field names in this article follow the English TimeStatement interface.

Basis: How do I record absences?.

Quick overview

Unpaid leave without negative hours

If you record unpaid leave only via "Planned Absences" as an all-day absence, no actual working hours are booked on these days. However, the target hours from the workload remain – this creates negative hours.

This can be intended (e.g., to offset existing overtime or make up the time later). For classic unpaid leave, where the balance should not be affected, proceed as follows:

1. Record the absence in "Planned Absences" (type, e.g., unpaid leave / absence – depending on your timesheet entry types).
2. Open "Management" > "Users" > [person] > "Work plan" > "Target Working Hours Definition".
3. Click "Create Workload" (don't overwrite existing workloads).
4. Set the first day of the unpaid leave as the start date and enter 0 hours and a 0% workload for the period.
5. From the day the employee returns, create a normal workload again with the previous workload.

Details on creating workloads: Managing work plans and vacation plans.

Partial sick leave (by the hour / several days)

Absences spanning several days currently cannot be recorded directly in "Planned Absences" as "X% sick over several days". Two practical approaches:

Option A – by the hour per day

1. Calculate the daily sick time as target time × sick percentage. Example: 80% workload with 6.4 target hours per day and 80% sick leave → 5.12 hours (5 hours 7 minutes) of absence per working day.
2. Record these hours for each affected day via "Planned Absences" (with "By the hour" instead of "All day") or – if allowed – in "Worktime".

Note: If the options "Approve absences by supervisor" and "Prevent manually inserted absences" are both enabled under "Management" > "Settings" > "Features", employees can only enter absences via "Planned Absences", not manually in "Worktime". The "Prevent manually inserted absences" option only appears once the approval process is enabled.

Option B – adjust the workload for the period

For longer partial sick leave, you can create a reduced workload for the period (new workload with a start date). This keeps target hours and balances consistent without having to add each day individually.

Vacation for part-time work and mini-jobs

The vacation deduction depends on the stored workload and the "Vacation Day Length" field. Check the following first:

1. "Management" > "Users" > "Work plan" > "Target Working Hours Definition": Are the hours per weekday correct (e.g., Mon 2 h, Fri 3 h)?
2. The "Vacation Days per Year" field (based on a 100% workload) and the automatically calculated "Vacation Day Length".
3. The vacation period and transfers under "Target Vacation".

Ideally, book vacation via "Planned Absences". For irregular part-time days:

• "All day" only on days with stored target hours – TimeStatement then deducts the share corresponding to that day.
• Alternatively, book "By the hour" exactly the hours planned for that day.

If the deduction from the vacation balance seems implausible, the workload (daily distribution, start date or vacation days per year) usually does not match the contract. Correct the workload with a new entry from the correct start date instead of deleting old workloads.

Display and lock notes

• Approved absences appear in the overview; in case of conflicts ("time already taken"), check whether there is already an absence or another entry in the afternoon/morning.
• Language and region of the interface: click your name at the top right → "Profile" → set the language and region (e.g., English).

Related articles

• How do I record absences?
• Managing work plans and vacation plans
• How is overtime reduced for employees?
• Transferring balances