Bolto includes time-off policies and balances for all employees, and timesheets for hourly teams. Both flow directly into payroll so pay and balances always match.
PTO policies
Owners create time-off policies and assign them per employee. Bolto supports these leave categories:
PTO / vacation · Sick leave · Mental health · Jury duty · Military leave · Parental leave · Bereavement · Floating holiday / personal day · Sabbatical · Other · Unpaid leave
Each policy configures how hours are earned:
- Accruing — hours are earned automatically, either per pay period or per hours worked (proportional to approved regular hours in the previous pay period)
- Annual grant — a lump sum granted each January 1
- Unlimited — no balance tracking
- Manual allocation — no automatic accrual; balances are adjusted from the employee’s PTO tab
Policies can also set a maximum balance, a carry-over maximum for year end (0 = use-it-or-lose-it), and a waiting period for new hires. Balances and full transaction history are visible on each employee’s PTO tab, and can be adjusted manually.
Time-off requests
Employees request time off from their own portal. Admins review requests from Team → Time off, with a team calendar view, approve/reject actions, bulk approval, and CSV exports.
When a request is approved, Bolto:
- Deducts the hours from the employee’s leave balance
- Adds matching time entries to the affected pay periods, so the time off is paid correctly in payroll
Paid leave is paid at the employee’s regular rate. Unpaid leave reduces pay for salaried employees; hourly employees are simply not paid for hours not worked.
Time off can’t be approved or cancelled for dates in a payroll that has already been submitted. If a submitted payroll needs a change, process an adjustment instead.
Timesheets (hourly employees)
Hourly employees log their hours from their portal; admins review and approve from Payroll → Employees → Timesheets. Approved hours are pulled into the payroll draft automatically.
Entry rules
- Hours are logged in 15-minute increments, from 0.25 up to 24 hours per day
- Hour types: Regular, Overtime, Double overtime, Holiday, Rest & recovery
- Regular hours are capped at 40 per week — additional time is logged as overtime
- PTO and sick hours aren’t logged on timesheets — they flow through time-off requests so balances stay accurate
Overtime rates
Overtime and double-overtime pay rates are created and kept in sync automatically from each hourly employee’s base rate — you don’t need to configure them.
Approval
Each pay period shows its own approval deadline. Only approved hours are paid, so review and approve timesheets before the payroll approval deadline. Bolto surfaces upcoming deadlines to managers.
Who can manage time
- Owners manage policies, approve time off, and approve timesheets
- Contractor Managers can manage timesheets and time off
- Viewers have read-only access
- Employees see their own balances, requests, and timesheets in their portal
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