Employee responsibilities
As an employee, you must apply for and record all absences in line with your local area processes.
This includes:
- submitting a completed leave request for approval on time to your line manager
- ensuring all absences approved and taken are recorded on your time sheet
- notifying any errors in leave balances to your line manager immediately
If you are unsure of your local area processes contact your line manager.
Line manager responsibilities
As a line manager, you must review employees’ leave records to make sure they are accurate and complete.
Where possible, you should ensure staff take their outstanding leave in the current leave year. Where this is not possible, document and authorise the reason and the carry-forward balance.
Local procedures
You should have local procedures for all types of leave. These procedures must be in line with regulations and HR leave policies.
The procedures should be:
- communicated and available to staff
- an outline of employees' responsibilities in applying for leave and documenting absences
- signed and dated and include a date for review and updating
Applying for leave
You should ensure that leave applications:
- are completed, signed, dated and authorised
- HR forms are completed and submitted to your line manager on time to avoid processing delays
Leave records and balances
You should have separate leave records for all leave types.
This includes:
- recording annual, flexi and TOIL leave separately and in line with your local area process
- leave sheets completed in full, signed by the applicant and certified by the line manager
- recording on local TOIL or flexi systems, approved TOIL or flexi hours accrued, and absences taken
- accurately-recorded time forms for entry on to your local system
Sick leave records and balances
You must ensure that staff are aware of the processes to follow when taking uncertified and certified sick leave.
You should enter sick leave onto your local payroll system on time to avoid over or underpayments.
Sick leave must:
- be recorded weekly to ensure balances are accurate and complete
- be matched against data entered onto the local payroll system
- have certificates held on file for certified sick leave
Year end reconciliation
You should reconcile staff members’ annual leave records and corresponding inputs at the end of the annual leave year.
You must verify and sign off carry-forward balances in line with the guidelines on terms and conditions of employment.
Related content
NFR B3 Employee Administration and Payroll (PDF, 2.3 MB, 47 pages)