Leave groups in Chris21 are configured when your system is first implemented. Once they have been created you don’t have to do a lot. For this reason leave groups can be a bit of a mystery to some Chris21 users.
What is a leave group in Chris21?
A leave group essentially holds all of the leave rules that are required for a given group of employees. Leave rules define things such as the way leave accrues and how much accrues, whether or not overtime is payable, and leave overflow rules. To view all of the available leave rules in your system go to the Administration -> Leave menu from the main menu in Chris21.
As an example, you will probably have a leave group for your casual employees. One of the leave rules in the Casual leave group will ensure that casual employees don’t accrue annual leave. This is done by excluding the Annual Leave accrual rules (LVR) record. On the other hand, full time employees will be assigned a leave group that does have and LVR record defined for annual leave. For more information about leave accrual rules see my blog Chris21 Leave Accruals Configuration.
You can have any number of leave groups. This will depend on the number of different groups of employees in your organisation. If possible, it is best to keep the number of leave groups to a minimum. This is because any future maintenance will be easier the fewer groups you have.
How do I assign leave groups to employees?
This is done using the Position (POS) form in Chris21. Every employee is assigned a Position record and one of the fields on the Position form is Leave Group. This is a mandatory field so it must be filled in. Once an employee is a assigned a leave group all leave rules associated with that group will attributed to the employee.
If an employee changes position, it may be necessary to assign a different leave group also. This will be particularly relevant if the employee is changing employment conditions, for instance from full-time to part-time. This is an important point. If a leave group should be changed but is overlooked, it could mean an employee will accrue the wrong amount of leave in future!
When will I have to change leave groups in Chris21?
As mentioned earlier, leave groups in Chris21 will very rarely have to be changed. If you do have to make changes it will usually be associated with changes to awards or enterprise bargaining agreements.
When it comes to making changes to leave groups please proceed with caution. Some changes can have a big impact on your Chris21 database. As an example, if you change the configuration settings in Accrual Rules (LVR), the result can be a recalculation of leave balances for all employees in that leave group. It’s good advice to try this in your test system and review the results to make sure you get what you expect!