Leave Extension and Forfeiture¶

Some companies are required by labour law — or choose as a matter of policy — to limit how long employees can carry unused annual leave forward. TeamHub supports this through an extension and forfeiture mechanism that automatically manages what happens to unused leave at the end of each leave cycle.

Overview¶

At its core, the mechanism works in three stages:

Annual leave is earned and used in the normal way during the leave cycle.
At the end of the cycle, any unused annual leave is extended — moved into a separate “Annual (Extended)” bucket — giving the employee a grace period to use it.
If the extended leave is still unused when that grace period expires, it is forfeited — moved into an “Annual (Forfeiture)” bucket and permanently lost.

This creates a clear, auditable trail: you can always see how much leave was extended, how much was eventually used, and how much was forfeited.

The Three Leave Buckets¶

When extension and forfeiture is enabled for a company, the system maintains three related leave types per employee:

Annual — the employee’s active, current-cycle leave.
Annual (Extended) — unused annual leave that has been rolled over and is in the grace period.
Annual (Forfeiture) — extended leave that was not used in time and has been permanently lost.

Employees and managers can see all three balances on the leave screen, making it transparent how much time is available and for how long.

When Does the Roll Happen?¶

The timing of the roll from Annual → Extended → Forfeiture depends on which mode the company uses:

Company Cycle Date mode: All employees follow the same calendar. The extension happens on a fixed date each year (e.g. 1 January). The forfeiture happens exactly one year later if the extended leave has not been used.
Employee Anniversary mode: Each employee follows their own work-start anniversary. The extension happens on the employee’s anniversary, and forfeiture follows after the configured grace period. This is common where labour law ties leave entitlements to years of service.

Your HR administrator sets which mode applies to your company during initial setup.

How Much Leave Gets Extended?¶

A rollover cap can be configured per leave type. For example, if an employee has 10 days of unused annual leave but the rollover cap is 5 days, only 5 days will be extended. The remaining 5 days are forfeited immediately at the extension date.

If no cap is set, all unused annual leave is extended.

What Triggers the Calculation?¶

The system recalculates extension and forfeiture balances automatically:

On a scheduled basis (monthly background processing).
Whenever an admin manually triggers a balance recalculation from the settings page.
Optionally, whenever a leave application is approved or a balance changes — this keeps balances accurate in real time.

Your system administrator can choose which of these triggers are active for your company.

What Employees and Managers See¶

The Annual (Extended) balance shows leave that has been rolled over and is still available to book. Employees should be encouraged to use this leave before it is forfeited.
The Annual (Forfeiture) balance shows leave that has been permanently lost. It is kept as a historical record only — it cannot be booked or reinstated.
When booking leave, the system will automatically draw from the most appropriate bucket (e.g. extended leave is used first when that policy is configured).

Setting It Up¶

Extension and forfeiture is configured at the company level and requires assistance from a TeamHub administrator. The key decisions are:

Which mode to use: Company Cycle Date or Employee Anniversary.
The rollover cap (maximum days that can be extended).
Whether balances should recalculate automatically when leave is approved.

Once configured, the system creates the Annual (Extended) and Annual (Forfeiture) leave types automatically and links them together. No manual setup is needed per employee.

Frequently Asked Questions¶

Can forfeited leave be reinstated?: No. Once leave is forfeited it is permanently lost. A manual adjustment can be made by a system administrator in exceptional circumstances, but this is outside normal workflow.
What if an employee takes leave after the extension date — which bucket does it come from?: After the extension date, leave is drawn from the Annual (Extended) bucket first. Once that is exhausted, any further leave is drawn from the current Annual balance. The system handles this automatically.
Does forfeiture apply to all leave types?: No. Extension and forfeiture applies only to Annual leave. Sick leave, family responsibility leave, and other types are not affected.
Can we set a different rollover cap for different groups of employees?: The rollover cap is set per leave type. If different employee groups (e.g. management vs. staff) have separate annual leave types configured, each can have its own cap.