How do I reinstate a terminated employee?

Changing the status of a terminated employee to active is easy as 1 2 3, @usermlakkw.

You can go to the employee's profile and change their employment status from there. I'd be happy to guide you through the steps.

1. Sign in to your QuickBooks Online account.
2. Click Payroll from the left menu, then select Employees.
3. In the All Employees drop-down, select Inactive Employees.
4. Select the terminated employee from the list.
5. From the Employment section, click the pencil icon to edit.
6. In the Status drop-down, select Active to activate the employee.
7. Click Done to confirm the changes.

I'm adding this article for more guidance: Terminate or change employee status payroll.

Just in case you want to invite your employees to QuickBooks Workforce, you can check out this article for the detailed steps and information: Invite your employees to QuickBooks Workforce to see pay stubs, W-2s, and more. QuickBooks Workforce is a website where your employees can access their paystubs online.

Please know that I'm just a reply away if you need any further assistance managing your employees. Wishing you and your business continued success.

When I select the former employee from the Inactive list, my employee detail screen doesn’t look like your example, nor does it give me a Employment Status option at all. When I try to update his hire date to the recent date, I get an error message “The termination date cannot be before the hire date.”

Hi there, @usermlakkw.

I'm here to help you reinstate your terminated employee in QuickBooks Online.

The error you've mentioned means that you've changed the Hire date before putting the Employee's status back to Active. Or you've entered the terminated date earlier than the hired date.

Here's how to make an employee active again:

1. Go to the Payroll menu and click the Employees tab.
2. Click the Pencil icon beside the Employment section.
3. Change the Status to Active.
4. Select Done. This is how it looks like:

After that, you can enter the correct Hire date of your employee in the Employment section.

You may refer to this article to know more about this topic: Terminate or change employee status payroll.

Please tag my name in the comment section if you have other questions. I'll be here in the comment section below. Take care.

I do not have the pencil or edit option in the Employee Information screen.  I have Status option to change.  Only W-4, basic employee information, and hire date.

Good morning @usermlakkw! Thank you for updating us here in the Community. I definitely want to help get your employee active and back on payroll. 

You stated that you do see the "Status" option, so that should be the place to change that employee's status to active. Just click on that Status dropdown and you'll see the "Active" setting.

If you don't see that Status option (or any edit option), it could be that you're not logged in as an admin. If you have a moment, you can take some screenshots which are helpful so we can take a look at what you're seeing.

Reply to this post with any more information you have and we will do our best to help!

I apologize - I do NOT have an option to change Status.  I am the admin so I have the capabilities (or should) and in Business View. My screens do not look like yours.  Or none of the screens posted in the comment string. I just converted over from Desktop Pro so is there something pertaining to that conversion that is keeping me from editing any of the employees? 

Thank you for choosing QuickBooks Online as your accounting partner! @usermlakkw.

Can you post a screenshot of what you're seeing? That info can help me further to assists you change your employee's status. In the meantime, let's access your QuickBooks Online account using a private browser. Unable to see some options in QBO might cause by a corrupted cache and cookies stored in your browser. To start, the following are the shortcut keys you can use:

• Google Chrome: press Ctrl + Shift + N 
• Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge: press Ctrl + Shift + P
• Safari: press Command + Shift + N

Once signed in, go to the Payroll system to change your employee's status. Here's how:

1. Go to the Payroll menu and select Employees.
2. Click the Edit icon on the Employment field.
3. Select the Status drop-down arrow and choose Active.
4. Hit Done. 

For more details about the process, please see the Edit or change employee info page. 

If this works, let's clear the cache and cookies of your browser. If not, you can use another supported browser. Possibly that your current browser may have a temporary issue with QuickBooks. 

Also, here are the things you need to know once you migrate from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. This article will tell you how and what data are converted: What to expect when you switch from QuickBooks Desktop to QuickBooks Online. 

You may also consider reading this article to learn more about payroll processing in QBO: Payroll 101. This page also gives info about compensation types, paying taxes, federal tax deposit schedules, etc.

Let me know how this goes and leave a reply below. I'm always around to give further assistance to help you change your employee's status. Have a great day. 

I ran a fake payroll and it corrected the problem.  I'm guessing because it was a new conversion?

I had an employee who left in March and he came back now.

When I look at the list of employees, he is in Leavers category.

But there is not any state that I can change the status of the employee, or reinstate it.
It is not inactive, it is in Leavers list.

Welcome to the Community. I can share some information that will help you in setting up the employee's status in QuickBooks Online, halone. 

In this scenario, you would be better placed to recreate him. Once an employee has been marked as a leaver, you cannot reactive them. You will need to create a new employee ID and new profile altogether.

Also, here are some articles that you can check out about managing employees' details in QuickBooks Online for your future reference:

• Employee P45 in QuickBooks Online Standard Payroll
• Add, update an employee record in QuickBooks Online

Feel free to post here anytime if you have other questions. I'm here if you need further help. Have a good rest of the week!

Hi I also do not have any of the options at all from what the conversation above, it is not helpful and the QB team don't seem to reply to the question but insist on their screen rather than what I can see on my screen, I do not have option to change status, I have not added any date what so ever, so that wont be the case I've done something wrong, what is the solution please, I have an employee left and came back and I cant run payroll for her in QB, this is urgent thank you