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TOIL — FAQs and troubleshooting

FAQ regarding TOIL account creation, viewing and editing balances, the transfer of hours and the supported functionalities and limitations.

Saad Saeed avatar
Written by Saad Saeed
Updated over 2 months ago

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ℹ️ Important read: TOIL management explained to find out which set-up fits your needs.

It is your responsibility to ensure compliance with the relevant rules for leave and to configure Planday to be suitable for the particular circumstances of your organisation and employees. If you are unsure, please obtain professional legal advice.

Are you an employee? See How to apply for leave.


Create TOIL accounts

Why am I receiving an astronaut stuck in orbit error when creating a TOIL account for multiple employees?

  • This could be if an employee in your selection already has a TOIL account. Head over to the account overview page and try to create the same selection by using filters and see which employee already has an account.

  • It could also be because you haven’t entered an initial balance in the TOIL policy or when creating the account. Write 0 if the balance should be zero at the start.


Why is there no data in my TOIL account as it only shows a dash (-)?

This occurs when the starting balance wasn’t set in the TOIL policy or when creating the account. If the balance should be empty, enter '0' instead of leaving it blank.


Why can't I assign a TOIL account to an employee?

This issue might occur if the employee's account is inactive. When an account is deactivated, the associated TOIL account also becomes inactive, preventing you from assigning a new one.

How to check if the account is inactive:

  • Go to Schedule > Leave (or Absence) Accounts > Time Off in Lieu Accounts.

  • Set the filter to Inactive.

How to resolve the issue:

Option 1:

  • Go to Settings > Leave & Overtime > Policies and edit your TOIL policy.

  • Set a reset date in the TOIL policy.

  • Go to Schedule > Leave Accounts and filter by Inactive.

  • Edit the inactive account and set the expiration date after the last TOIL entry.

  • Assign a new account using the Manage Leave button.

  • Go back to Settings > Leave Policies and remove the reset date.

Option 2:

Contact the Planday Support team to reactivate the account.


Do you want to assign an overtime account to several employees at once?

An error may occur if some employees already have an account. Employees can't have overlapping TOIL accounts. Check the overview to see which employees have an account and deselect them in the 'Create' column.


View and edit TOIL balances and delete TOIL accounts

Why can't I delete a TOIL account?

If an account already has a TOIL balance, you cannot remove it from an employee unless the balance is clear. You can:

Deleting an account permanently deletes all related data.

Before deleting the old account, we recommend you make a note of the hours you wish to keep or export the data. An account should be completely "emptied" before you delete it.

  1. Reject all TOIL requests made through this account before deleting.

  2. Delete all TOIL entries in the employee profile under Time off in lieu by clicking on the red cross next to it.


I don’t understand the four balances in the employee’s Time Off in Lieu tab. What do they mean, and why are the numbers so different?

To understand the 4 balances, go to View an employee’s TOIL balances.

See example:

  1. Details of the TOIL transactions

  • Laura started with a balance of 0 in her TOIL account.

  • She worked a 2-hour night shift, earning a 3-hour time supplement.

  • She worked a 7.5 hour shift, adding 7.5 hours to her TOIL account.

  • Her manager adjusted her TOIL account, adding 2 hours.

  • She requested 4 hours of TOIL on 29-07 (a future date), approved by her manager.

  • Her manager has scheduled an overtime shift of 3.5 hours for her (a future date) and hasn’t approved it yet. That’s included in the balance “All (approved and requested)”.

2. The 4 TOIL balances

  • Today (approved): Includes all approved shifts*, connected Time supplements, adjustments and TOIL requests from the employee, up to today, excluding future TOIL requests.

  • All (approved): Includes all approved shifts*, connected Time supplements, adjustments and TOIL requests up to today, including future requests like Laura’s.

  • Today (approved and requested): The sum of Today (approved) and shifts* pending approval, including pending TOIL requests and Time supplements.

  • All (approved and requested). Includes all shifts*, connected Time supplements, adjustments and TOIL requests (approved or not) past and future. For example, Laura’s future TOIL request and a pending shift count here.

*Shift types affecting TOIL balances can be specified under Settings > Absence, Overtime, Leave > Advanced > Shift Types for Time Off in Lieu Accounts. Approved shifts add or deduct hours accordingly.


The TOIL report shows all of the accounts - the TOIL and the holiday accounts

The TOIL report shows both TOIL and vacation accounts. To view only TOIL accounts, apply the TOIL filter in Schedule > Leave Accounts (or Absence accounts) > Time Off in Lieu before clicking Export.


What’s included in the TOIL report?

The TOIL report includes:

  • Sum (1.): The balance corresponding to Today (approved).

  • Transaction Details (2.): A breakdown of approved shifts, requests, manual adjustments, and transfers via Contracted Hours within the selected date range.

  • Total (3.): The sum of all transactions within the selected date range.

If the sum differs from the total, it may be due to transactions made after the export’s end date.


I can’t see the TOIL balance of my deactivated employees

If you can’t view their balances in Schedule > Leave accounts (or Absence accounts) > Time Off in Lieu Accounts, it's because their accounts are inactive. To see them, select 'inactive' or 'all' in the status filter.

Note: Reactivating an employee does not automatically reactivate their TOIL account.


Transfer of hours to the TOIL accounts

Hours haven't been deducted from or added to the TOIL account as expected.

Even though the hours were approved and the 'Time Off' shift type is set to deduct from the account, a change in the shift types counting towards TOIL may have occurred after approval. To fix this, reapprove the shifts.


Hours have been deducted twice from the TOIL account but should have been deducted only once.

In the employee’s profile, you can see their time off hours for the same day were deducted twice when it should have happened only once.

This could be due to hours being transferred as undertime from the contracted hours page, and the 'Time Off' shift type not counting toward the contract rule. The hours were then deducted again because the 'Time Off' shift type is linked to the TOIL account.

Solution options:

Option 1: Set the 'Time Off' shift type to count toward the contract rule to avoid it appearing as though the employee was under-scheduled.

Show me:

Option 2: Alternatively, if you're using contracted hours to transfer overtime and undertime to TOIL accounts, disconnect 'Time Off' from the TOIL policy and only use the contracted hours page for these transfers.

Show me:


How do I revert a transfer of hours via the Contracted hours page?

If you've mistakenly transferred hours via the Contracted Hours page, you can delete the transfer from the employee's profile and redo it. Follow these steps:

  • Go to People > Employees.

  • Edit the employee and navigate to their Time Off in Lieu tab.

  • Find the entry and click the red cross to delete it.

Show me:

  • Then, go to Schedule > Contracted Hours and transfer the hours again.


I’ve forgotten to transfer overtime hours to last year’s TOIL account.

Overtime hours cannot be transferred to an inactive TOIL account. They will instead go to the new TOIL account. To avoid this issue, we recommend not setting a reset date for the TOIL account policy, allowing for adjustments to be made to the previous year’s account if necessary.


Supported functionalities and limitations

How can I pay out my employees’ overtime hours?

The easiest way is to set up contract rules supplements under Settings > Payroll > Payroll supplement.
Basically, the hours that exceed the employee’s contracted hours will show on the payroll report and will be paid out to the employee.

Other ways are:

  • to pay out the hours via a manual supplement;

  • or to add a shift in the schedule with the number of hours to be paid;

  • or to just add the overtime manually to your payroll system.

In that case for the three options mentioned above, you would need to make a manual adjustment to the employee’s TOIL account.


Will the remaining amount of the expired TOIL account be automatically carried over to the new account?

No, there’s no automatic carry-over. That’s why we recommend not setting a reset date to the TOIL account policy.


If I reactivate an employee, will their TOIL account be reactivated as well?

No, it won’t because even if you reactivate the employee, their TOIL account will remain inactive. You would then need to reach out to our Support team for assistance.


See related articles:

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