Absent Days

Why Absent Days Exist

Monthly Fixed employees receive a set salary regardless of exact hours worked, but South African labour law (BCEA) still requires a record of attendance and absence for every working day. Before the system can generate a Monthly Fixed payslip, it checks that every expected working day in the pay period is either:

• Covered by a clocking record (employee came in), or
• Explained by an absence record (employee was on leave, sick, etc.).

Days that have neither are flagged as missing and block payslip generation. The Absent Days page is where you create those absence records for the missing days.

The Missing Days List

The top of the Absent Days page shows all Monthly Fixed employees who have unaccounted working days in the upcoming pay period. For each employee it lists the specific dates that are missing. This list is your to-do list before running payroll.

Recording an Absence

1. Find the employee and date in the missing days list, or click Add Absence Record directly.
2. Select the Employee.
3. Enter the Date (or date range for consecutive days).
4. Select the Absence Reason from the dropdown (e.g. Annual Leave, Sick Leave, Family Responsibility). These reasons are managed on the Absence Reasons page.
5. Optionally add a Note for HR records.
6. Click Save.

Once saved, the dates are removed from the missing days list. Return to Payslips and regenerate — the previously skipped employees will now be included.

Paid vs Unpaid Absences

Each absence reason is configured as either paid or unpaid on the Absence Reasons page.

• Paid absence (e.g. annual leave, sick leave within entitlement) — the employee receives their full monthly salary as normal. The day is accounted for and no deduction is made.
• Unpaid absence (e.g. unauthorised absence, unpaid leave) — a pro-rated deduction is applied to the monthly salary for each unpaid day.

The Pro-Rata Deduction Calculation

For unpaid absences, the deduction per day is:

Monthly salary ÷ expected working days in the month × number of unpaid absent days

Expected working days are derived from the employee's (or department's) work-week configuration. For a 5-day week in a month with 22 working days, one unpaid day deducts 1/22 of the monthly salary.

Viewing Absence History

The full absence log below the missing-days list shows all recorded absences. You can filter by employee, department, date range, and reason. Each record shows the date, reason, whether it was paid or unpaid, and who entered it.

Editing or Deleting an Absence Record

Absence records can be edited or deleted at any time before the payslip for that period is generated. If a payslip has already been generated and an absence was recorded incorrectly, delete the absence record, then regenerate the payslip.