I have an employee on an unpaid leave of absence.

Lisa10 · ‎December 10, 2018

Other than not issuing them a paycheck every week and marking them on a leave of absence, are there any other changes I need to make in QuickBooks for this employee? I'm using QuickBooks Enterprise 16.

VivienJ · ‎December 10, 2018

Hello Lisa,

I'd be happy to help. When you say "marking them on a leave of absence" are you referring to changing their status on the Employment Info window or just marking them on Leave in their names? If you mark them on the Employment Info window, there's no need for you to add any changes. Just make sure to enter the Actual Return Date of the employees so that QuickBooks will recognize that the employees are activated again.

Here's how:

Go to Employees at the top menu bar.
Select Employee Center.
Double click your employee's name.
Choose the Employment Info tab on the left pane.
Click the Leave of Absence tab at the top.
Enter the Actual Return Date (see attached screenshot).
Click OK.

However, if you haven't changed their status inside QuickBooks, here's how to change this:

Go to Employees at the top menu bar.
Select Employee Center.
Double click your employee's name.
Choose the Employment Info tab on the left pane.
Click the Leave of Absence tab at the top.
Enter the Start Date, Expected Return Date, and Leave Paid
Click OK.

If you’re doing this differently, please let me know.

View solution in original post

VivienJ · ‎December 10, 2018

Hello Lisa,

I'd be happy to help. When you say "marking them on a leave of absence" are you referring to changing their status on the Employment Info window or just marking them on Leave in their names? If you mark them on the Employment Info window, there's no need for you to add any changes. Just make sure to enter the Actual Return Date of the employees so that QuickBooks will recognize that the employees are activated again.

Here's how:

Go to Employees at the top menu bar.
Select Employee Center.
Double click your employee's name.
Choose the Employment Info tab on the left pane.
Click the Leave of Absence tab at the top.
Enter the Actual Return Date (see attached screenshot).
Click OK.

However, if you haven't changed their status inside QuickBooks, here's how to change this:

Go to Employees at the top menu bar.
Select Employee Center.
Double click your employee's name.
Choose the Employment Info tab on the left pane.
Click the Leave of Absence tab at the top.
Enter the Start Date, Expected Return Date, and Leave Paid
Click OK.

If you’re doing this differently, please let me know.

Lisa10 · ‎December 10, 2018

IntuitVivien, Thank you, I've followed those steps in QuickBooks. The employee's name is still showing up in the list of paychecks to issue when I click on 'Start Scheduled Payroll' in the Payroll Center. Is this okay, or is there another setting I need to change?

VivienJ · ‎December 10, 2018

Hey there @Lisa,

Thanks for your quick response!

It's okay to see the employee's name when running payroll. Should you not want this to show in QuickBooks, just set the employee to inactive.

Here's how:
1. In QuickBooks Desktop, choose Employees > Employee Center.
2. Select the employee name.
3. In the Edit Employee window, select the Employee is inactive checkbox.
4. Click OK.

When the employee comes back you can make them active by removing the check mark in the "Employee is Inactive" checkbox.

Let me know if you need anything else.

jordanbuckner · ‎December 10, 2018

Hi, how can I set the start and end date for an unpaid leave of absence using quickbooks online?

VivienJ · ‎December 10, 2018

Hello @jordanbuckner,

Thanks for checking out this thread!

You don't need to set a start and end date for your employee's unpaid leave of absence. You'll only need to change the employment status from Active to Unpaid Leave of Absence.

After changing the status, the employee will no longer be included when running payroll. Here's how:

    1. Click the Employees tab.
    2. Click the employee's name.
    3. Under Employee Details, click on the blue pencil next to Employment
    4. Next to Status, select Unpaid Leave of Absence
    5. Click OK.

If your employee comes back, you can toggle the status back to active. That way, the name will appear again when you run payroll.

To do that go back to Employees, then click the Active employees drop down and select All Employees. Look for the Employee's name and change the status to Active.

That's it! Let me know if you have additional questions. Have a great day!

sara5 · ‎February 26, 2019

In Desktop, the employee is "Active" (meaning the Inactive box is Not checked) the leave of absence dates have been entered with a return date too but the Employees Status still says Leave of Absence. How can I get this to change?

HoneyLynn_G · ‎February 26, 2019

Thank you for joining this thread, @sara5.

I'm the right person to help you change the Leave of Absence information of your employee.

Click Employees.
Choose Employee Center.
Double-click the employee name.
Select the Employment Info tab.
Choose the Leave of Absence header.
Erase/Update the information.
Click OK to save changes.

That's it, sara5. For additional insights about changing employee payroll information, you can refer to this link.

I'm still here to help if you have follow-up questions about employees or payroll. Wishing you all the best!

sara5 · ‎February 27, 2019

I have entered an end date and it doesn't go away, I have erased the dates, closed out, save. etc and it doesn't change... what do you think is going on? (see screen shot)

Catherine_B · ‎February 27, 2019

We can perform a few troubleshooting steps to get rid of the status, sara5.

This process would clear out data issues within a company file. To do so, please follow these steps:

Go to the Windows menu and select Close All.
To verify data, click File from the menu and choose Utilities.
Select Verify Data.
For more details on how to do this process you can refer to this article: Verify and Rebuild Data in QuickBooks Desktop

After doing these troubleshooting steps, check the employee's Leave of Absence status if it is still showing up.

Let me know how this worked. I'll be around to help.

anny1 · ‎August 27, 2019

When I go back into Payroll it will not let me put in a return to work date. It won't save the date.

anny1 · ‎August 27, 2019

I have tried to enter the return to work date and it will not save. and If we try and delete the date he was expected to come back that still keeps coming back.

Why won't the date save and any changes made change

Annie

Kristine Mae · ‎August 27, 2019

I've replicated your scenario in my company file, Annie. You're unable to enter the return date once you recorded termination dates.

First, let's take out the termination date. I'll walk you through with the steps:

Click Employees, then go to Employee Center.
Double-click the employee name to open the profile.
Go to Employment Info, then click the Termination tab.
Take out the dates in the LAST DAY WORKED, LAST DAY ON BENEFITS, and RELEASE DATE fields.
Click OK.

Then, you can now enter the expected return and actual return dates. Here's how:

Open the employee profile.
Go to Employment Info, then click the Leave of Absence tab.
Enter the information in the EXPECTED RETURN DATE and ACTUAL RETURN DATE fields.
Click OK.

Let us know if you need more help from this. We'll check your post from time to time.

djacobs1 · ‎September 19, 2019

I am having the same issue of the Actual Return to Work date will not save in the employee record. I've installed the latest payroll updates, closed all windows, tried with leave paid selected yes and no and left blank, none of these options saves the Actual Return to Work in the employee record.

djacobs1 · ‎September 19, 2019

I am having the same issue with the "Actual Return to Work Date" not saving. We've verified data, installed the latest payroll update, closed all the open windows, tried "yes", "no", "blank" on the Leave paid field and none of them save. What now?

ChristieAnn · ‎September 19, 2019

Hi there, djacobs1.

Thank you for posting here in QuickBooks Community.

Let's try one more troubleshooting steps to sort the issue about saving Actual Return to Work Date.

You can create a new profile for this employee to see if you can save that information.

Here's how:

1. From the Employees menu, select Employee Center.

2. Click New employee button.

3. Enter the name of the employee and make sure slightly different from original profile. Like, adding a period, a number or special character in the last name.

4. Click Employment Info. Then, Leave of Absence tab.

5. Enter actual return date. Click Save.

If you're able to successfully saved it, you can merge the two employee's profile. Take note that before merging, create a back-up copy.

Here's how:

1. Click Employees menu. Then, choose Employee Center.

2. Double-click the name of the new employee's profile you've created.

3. Edit the the name and change it to the original employee's name in the account.

4. Click OK.

5. Hit Yes to confirm.

If you get the same issue, I suggest contacting our Customer Support Team. They have the tool to pull up your account and investigate what is happening to you account.

Please know that you're always welcome to post if you have any other concerns. Wishing you and your business continued success.

djacobs1 · ‎September 23, 2019

so we tried this. It saves the return to work date in the new employee, but when you merge them together, the return to work date goes away. Any other ideas?

djacobs1 · ‎September 23, 2019

we tried this. The return to work date saves for the new employee record. After we merged them, it is still blank. Any other ideas?

Catherine_B · ‎September 23, 2019

We can run the mini repair tool in QuickBooks, djacobs1.

The QuickBooks Refresher (QBRefresher) Tool helps us resolve unexpected behaviors.

Here's how:

Close all QuickBooks Desktop versions.
Download the QuickBooks Refresher tool.
Save the file on your desktop.
Run the QBRefresher tool.
Open QuickBooks again.

Re-enter and save the Return Work Date. If you still experience the same issue, I recommend reaching out to us. Our Customer Support Agents will further investigate this unusual behavior.

To reach them:

Go to the Help menu and select QuickBooks Desktop Help.
Click the Contact us link.
Enter a brief description of your concern about saving Leave of Absence details.
Click Continue.
Select a way on how to connect us. It can either be through call or chat.

You can always post your questions here if you need more help.

Robin88 · ‎October 20, 2021

I did all that. Entered the returned date and clicked OK. When I go back to check, the employee's status is still Leave of Absence and the return date I entered has disappeared. Sigh.

JessT · ‎October 20, 2021

Hi Robin88,

If you haven't already, you'll want to update your QuickBooks. Updates fix minor issues such as this.

Click on Help and choose Update QuickBooks Desktop.
Go to the Update Now tab. You can select the Reset Update checkbox to clear all previous update downloads.
Select Get Updates.
Restart your PC after the update.

If downloading updates won't resolve the issue, please contact our QuickBooks Desktop Payroll Support. That way, they can use a screen-sharing tool to gather more data to check this further.

You can always go back to this thread if you hav other concerns. Take care and have a good one!

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I have an employee on an unpaid leave of absence.