How leave works: types, rules, balance and carry-forward

Q: Leave info shows fewer days than I am allowed to ask for.

Leave info counts the year's own days still left under the leave rule. Your balance brought forward is not in that figure, but it is added when the request is checked, so you can ask for the rule's days plus the balance.

A leave rule gives each job type a number of days of each leave type for the attendance year. A request takes first from this year's days, then from the balance brought forward. Unpaid leave reduces pay.

HR & payroll Leave
4 min read
Updated October 20, 2026

For HR officer Employee Manager Payroll officer

On this page

The idea
What a request checks
Paid, unpaid and compensatory
Carry-forward
Common questions

The idea

Leave in Penahak is built from four pieces that are set once and then used on every request:

Piece	What it is	Where it is set
Attendance year	The period the leave allowance belongs to, split into months	Leave management setting › Attendance year (Set up attendance: company limits and the attendance year)
Leave type	A kind of leave, with a Leave code, a Leave mode (paid or unpaid) and whether it is Compensatory	Leave management setting › Leave (Set up leave types and rules)
Leave rule	The No of days an employee of a Job type gets of a leave type in an attendance year, and whether the unused days are accumulated	Leave management setting › Leave
Opening balance	Days an employee already has when you start, or brings from the last year	Leave management setting › Leave opening balance (Opening leave balances)

What a request checks

When someone asks for leave, Penahak works out the days (half days count as half) and checks them against the rule:

Dates
What changes
The dates must fall inside the attendance year, and the start cannot be after the end.
A rule exists
What changes
The year must have leave rules, and one for the employee's job type and the chosen leave type.
No clash
What changes
The employee must not already have a leave, an attendance record (for a full day) or another request on those dates.
Enough days
What changes
For paid leave, the days must fit within the rule's days for the year plus the balance brought forward. The part above the rule's days is taken from the balance.
Approval
What changes
The manager approves or rejects (Approve or reject leave). On approval the balance is reduced by the part taken from it, and one record per day is made.

Worked example: one year of Annual leave, two requests

The attendance year has a leave rule for the employee's job type: Annual leave, paid, No of days 12. The employee has a Leave opening balance of 5 days of Annual leave. Ten days of Annual leave were approved earlier this year.

Request	What Penahak works out when it is saved	Result
First request: 4 days, the 20th to the 23rd	10 days used and 4 asked make 14. The year's 12 days plus the balance of 5 make 17, so 14 fits. The 2 days above the rule's 12 are noted as taken from the balance	Saved as Pending
The manager approves the first request	The 2 days come off the balance: 5 becomes 3. Each of the 4 calendar days is marked as leave	Approved
Second request: 5 days	14 days are used, so the year's 12 days are gone and only the balance of 3 is left. 5 days is more than 3	Refused as over the leave facility. Nothing is saved

On the request form, Leave info counts only the year's own days: for the first request it shows "Leave balance days : 2", which is 12 less the 10 days already taken. The balance brought forward is added when Penahak checks the request.

Paid, unpaid and compensatory

Paid leave is checked against the rule and the balance as above.
Unpaid leave is not limited by a balance. Each approved day is taken off salary at the next pay run when the company deducts unpaid leave (Absence, unpaid leave and attendance in payroll).

Carry-forward

Mark a rule Is accumulated when unused days should go into next year. When you add the next attendance year and tick Calculate attendance opening, Penahak sets each working employee's opening for the accumulated leave types.

Common questions

Leave info shows fewer days than I am allowed to ask for.

Leave info counts the year's own days still left under the leave rule. Your balance brought forward is not in that figure, but it is added when the request is checked, so you can ask for the rule's days plus the balance.