Unpaid Family Leave in Quickbooks Online

Good afternoon dennisokelly,

Thank you for coming to the QuickBooks Community! Paid leave is set up differently in some states. Would you be willing to share which state you are needing this information for? That way I can get you the information you need.

I will be here if you choose to respond! See you later! 

Hi Sasha,

Of course. I am in California.

I am actually not looking to setup paid leave, but rather unpaid leave. The sate of California, through the EDD reimburses roughly 60% of payroll for 8 weeks. However, if I am shown to be being paid in full during that time, they will not reimburse the full amount, if any. 

I could pay myself the remaining portion that they do not reimburse but for simplicities sake I am just trying to use unpaid time off in its entirety for that 8 week period. I just do not know how to set that up in QuickBooks payroll. I obviously do not want to be paying payroll takes during time I am not receiving salary.

Perhaps I just shutoff payroll entirely during that time period? But given you can setup unpaid time off for employees, I assume there has to be a mechanism to set that up and set the duration of it up so QuickBooks knows when to turn payroll back on and so that its tracked?

Hopefully that adds a bit more context.

Hello Dennis,

Thank you for adding some details. It gives me a clearer explanation of your concerns. I'm here to help you set up an unpaid leave.

Here's how:

1. From the Payroll tab, select Employees.
2. Select your name.
3. Go to the Pay types section, then click Edit.
4. Under Time off pay policies, click the Unpaid time off drop-down.
5. Set up a time off policy, and then click Save.
6. Enter the balance on the Current balance field.
7. Click Save.

Furthermore, I've added here an article on how you can have a visual representation of your business finances: Run payroll reports.

Don't hesitate to post in the thread anytime you have payroll concerns.

Adrian,

Thanks for the additional info.

I understand that portion of the process and had already set that up.

My question is, what is the next step? How do I use that balance of unpaid leave that I setup?

Do I simply just turn off payroll and then turn it back on once I am done with my leave? Or is there another mechanism where I can have payroll not pay me for a designated period of time? Perhaps using this unpaid time balance is only something you can do if you also use "Quickbooks Time"? I am the sole employee so I don't need time tracking.

Hi, Denis. I'm here to help.

Allow me to join this thread and add further details to your concern about applying the time-off policy you have set up in QuickBooks Online (QBO).

There is no need to turn off payroll entirely or to use an additional time tracking feature like QuickBooks Time. QBO will automatically recognize the unpaid leave you have set up for the duration of your leave. You can then apply the leave balance upon the next paycheck. Kindly see the image below for reference.

If you pay with paychecks or give paystubs, QuickBooks includes how many time off balances you have available. Additionally, you can also run the Vacation and Sick Leave report which will list all the available time off balances. 

As a guide in running this report, let me add this article as a reference: Run reports in QuickBooks Online.

Should you have further questions about applying leave balance in QBO Payroll, we're always available to help. Take care.