SmoothPay applies the minimum leave requirements for each jurisdiction it supports. These settings generally should not need to be changed unless:
You’re providing entitlements above the legal minimum
Legislation requires different accrual rates for employees with varying working patterns
Ambiguous or flexible rules allow alternative accrual methods that produce a more accurate balance in some situations.
In some cases, leave settings are hard-coded and cannot be modified, as the rules are clearly defined enough for SmoothPay to safely lock these settings to enforce compliance.
If you believe changes are necessary, please feel free to contact Support to discuss your scenario — we can recommend the appropriate configuration for your situation.
How the leave settings work
Leave codes are either adjusted broadly by setting a standard for all employees, or by making adjustments above that standard on an individual basis.
Default settings
Adjusting the default settings of a leave code is done via the Codes screen with the Leave codes category selected .
Not only does this adjust the default entitlement, but it's also where how a leave code should work is adjusted.
There are a few different settings and fields here:
Abbreviation – Internal identifier for the leave type; can be used when importing pay transactions.
Description – The display name of the leave type; this is what appears on the payslip.
Classification – Determines the hard-coded rule set for this leave type. The list of options will vary depending on your jurisdiction.
Use or accrue – Sets the unit of measure used to accrue and consume leave.
Accrual starts after – Specifies how many months must pass before accrual begins. Starts at zero from that date.
Then receives full entitlement – When ticked, accrues on an anniversary-only basis; when unticked, accrues continuously as a to-date balance.
Accrual rate – The amount of leave accrued per year (or the percentage rate if using percentage per pay).
Capped at – Sets a maximum balance for the leave type; applies to either the anniversary or to-date balance depending on the configuration.
Cost centre – Assigns a default Cost centre for the leave type.
Auto-balance – Disables accrual and allows leave to be recorded without affecting balances.
Show balance on payslip – When enabled, displays the leave balance on employee payslips.
Leave without pay – Records the leave type with no pay rate applied.
Counts towards RDO/Flexi-time – Includes this leave type in automatic RDO/Flexi-time (TOIL) calculations.
Toward the bottom of the screen, under Calculate % on (this section only appears when editing an existing leave code or creating a new one), you’ll find options used exclusively by the Percentage per pay accrual method:
All – Selects all pay codes.
Taxable – Selects only taxable pay codes.
Superable – Selects only pay codes that are subject to superannuation.
Toggle – Inverts the current selection of pay codes.
You can also manually select or deselect individual pay codes in the list to the right of these options.
⚠️ Spanner button (Owner only): Located beside Use or accrue, this allows you to apply rule changes for a leave type across all existing staff, rather than just new employees.
Amending existing leave codes
When you edit a leave code, any new employees you create will inherit the updated settings.
To make changes:
Go to the Codes screen
Select the Leave codes category
Select the leave type you want to adjust from the code column
Click the edit button at the bottom of the code column
Review and adjust the settings
Click Save.
Creating new leave codes
You can add as many additional leave codes to SmoothPay as needed. New employees will inherit any additional leave types that exist when you create a new employee:
To create a new leave code:
Go to the Codes screen
Select the Leave codes category
Click the + button at the bottom of the code column
Apply your settings
Click Save.
Individual employee leave settings
Where employees have different leave requirements or entitlements, these can be configured individually. This is done via the Staff screen with the Leave and the nested Entitlement tab selected.
The options available here are more or less the same, as what has been mentioned under the the Default settings section of this guide, but with less ability to adjust the fundamentals of how a leave code works, as a leave code should work in the same way for all employees, it's only really the accrual rate that should be different.
The following all behave in the same way as the options in the Codes screen:
Accrue and consume
Accrual rate
Capped at
Cost centre
Counts towards RDO/Flexi-time
However, there are additional options specific to individual employee settings available under the nested Entitlement tab:
Last anniversary date – The current last anniversary date for the selected leave type. This is automatically aligned with the employee’s start date but may differ depending on how the leave code is configured in the Codes screen. Generally speaking It should only be adjusted to correct an error made during the employee’s original setup.
Additional annual accrual of – Adds an extra yearly accrual for the selected leave type. This is used to set accruals that calculate on dates that differ from the main anniversary, but it should only be used for genuinely separate accrauls for the same leave type, that do not to adjust or increase the employee’s standard annual entitlement.
⚠️ Important: Changing an employee’s last anniversary date can significantly affect their leave accruals and valuations. Please contact support if you’re unsure about making a change to this.
To adjust individual employee leave settings:
Go to the Staff screen
Select the employee you need to amend
Select the Leave tab
Select the nested Entitlement tab
Select the leave type you want to adjust from the leave type column
Click the Edit button at the bottom of the code list
Review and amend the leave settings as required
Click Save
