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The formulas
PTO hours per year = PTO days × hours in a PTO day
Accrued per hour worked = PTO hours per year ÷ hours worked per year
Accrued per pay period = PTO hours per year ÷ pay periods per year
What to enter
PTO days per year. What you give someone in this role each year.
Hours in a PTO day. Usually 8 for full-time staff. Use the length of a typical shift if yours are different.
Hours worked per year. A full-time employee working 40 hours a week for 52 weeks works 2,080 hours. For someone part-time at 20 hours a week, use 1,040. If you want part-timers to earn at the same rate as full-timers, keep the hours per year at 2,080 for working out the rate, then apply the rate to the hours they really work.
Pay periods. How often you run payroll.
Common setups
Assuming 8-hour days and 2,080 hours a year:
| Days a year | Hours a year | Per hour worked | Every two weeks |
|---|---|---|---|
| 5 | 40 | 0.0192 | 1.54 |
| 10 | 80 | 0.0385 | 3.08 |
| 15 | 120 | 0.0577 | 4.62 |
| 20 | 160 | 0.0769 | 6.15 |
Checking against sick leave laws
Many states and cities require paid sick leave and set a minimum accrual rate, often around 1 hour for every 30 hours worked. That's 0.0333 hours per hour worked. To compare, take your per-hour figure above and see if it's higher. Local laws also have rules on carryover, caps, notice and how leave can be used. Check them directly.
Accrual decisions to make
The math is the easy part. You'll also need to decide:
- Who's eligible, and when do they start earning?
- Is there a cap on how much someone can bank?
- Does unused time carry over? "Use it or lose it" isn't allowed everywhere.
- Can someone go negative?
- What happens to unused time when someone leaves? In some states, you must pay it out.
Our guide to setting up PTO accrual goes through each of these, and you can download a free time off request form.
Let the app keep the balances
Once you've got your numbers, you shouldn't have to keep track of them on a spreadsheet. In PinkLinq, you set up a policy with yearly or monthly accrual, a carryover limit and an allowance for going below zero. Each person's balance updates automatically and appears on their phone, with every change on the record. Approved paid time off goes into their hours for payroll.
We don't have per-hour-worked accrual at the moment, so if that's what you need, use this calculator for the rate and enter the equivalent monthly amount.
This calculator is a planning tool, not legal advice.