Leave Management

Overview

Merit Leave supports employee leave requests, multi-level approval, balance tracking, and HR year-end maintenance aligned with Singapore MOM practices.

Main routes:

Feature	Route
Leave requests	/leave
New request	/leave/new
Year-end maintenance (HR)	/leave/maintenance
Leave reports	/leave/reports
Leave record card	/leave/record-card
Leave type catalogue	/system/leave-catalogue
Leave approval settings	/system/settings/leave-approval

Statutory annual leave in Singapore escalates with years of service (typically 7 to 14 days). MeritHRMS uses join date when initialising entitlements for a new leave year.

Carry-forward caps and expiry rules are configured under Pay → Compliance settings (or System administration).

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Step-by-Step Guide

Submit a leave request (employee)

1. Open Leave → Leave requests (/leave).
2. Review your leave balances by type.
3. Click New request (or /leave/new).
4. Select leave type, start/end dates, and reason if required.
5. Submit — the request enters Acknowledge → Approve workflow (two steps by default).
6. Track status: Pending acknowledge → Pending approval → Approved / Rejected.

Approve leave (manager / HR)

You may act in the app or via email action links (no login) when email notifications are enabled.

1. Open Leave requests and filter Pending approval (or pending acknowledge).
2. Open the request detail, or use Acknowledge / Approve / Reject links in the notification email.
3. Review team coverage and balance impact.
4. Acknowledge (step 1), then Approve or Reject (step 2) with comments where required.

Email routing (when enabled under Leave approval settings):

Event	Who receives email
Employee submits	Acknowledge approver only
After acknowledge	Approve approver + applicant (optional)
Reject at any stage	Applicant only
Final approve/reject	Applicant

Configure leave approval & email (HR / Owner)

1. Open System administration → Payroll & compliance settings → Leave approval settings (/system/settings/leave-approval).
2. Set who performs Acknowledge, Approve, and Withdraw approval (line manager, HR specialist, department head, org owner, etc.).
3. Under Email notifications, enable/disable workflow emails and one-click action links.
4. Line managers are maintained in Talent → Employee → Reporting line.

Configure leave types (HR)

1. Open System administration → Leave catalogue (/system/leave-catalogue).
2. Review statutory and company leave types.
3. Adjust company-specific types per policy (subject to admin rights).

Year-end maintenance (HR)

1. Configure carry-forward cap and expiry month under Compliance settings (e.g. unused days expire by 31 March).
2. Open Leave → Leave maintenance (HR) (/leave/maintenance).
3. Select the target leave year (e.g. 2027).
4. Run Preview (dry run) — review headcount, carry-forward totals, and forfeiture.
5. Click Initialize next-year entitlements — system computes MOM statutory annual leave from join dates.
6. Review the adjustment grid.
7. Enter manual adjustments (e.g. incentive leave) with a mandatory audit reason per row.
8. Save and communicate balances to employees.

Leave reports

1. Open Leave → Reports for HR analytics.
2. Export or filter by department, leave type, and period as available.

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FAQ

Q: Why is my annual leave balance zero after year-end?
A: Maintenance may not have been run for the new year, or carry-forward rules expired unused days. Check with HR.

Q: Can part-time staff use the same leave rules?
A: Entitlements may be prorated based on policy configuration. Confirm with your HR administrator.

Q: Where do I set carry-forward limits?
A: Pay / System → Compliance settings — carry-forward cap and expiry month.

Q: Does unpaid leave affect payroll?
A: Yes, when integrated with attendance and pay items. Coordinate Leave approvals with payroll cut-off dates.

Q: Can employees see MC (medical certificate) records?
A: The Leave record card route supports MC tracking for authorised HR roles.