How Automatic OT Computation Works?

What automatic OT does:

Automatic Overtime Computation removes the manual filing and approval step for routine overtime. Once it's turned on for a company, the system compares each covered employee's actual rendered hours against their configured shift and records any excess as overtime — directly in the Attendance Record, with no filing and no manager approval required.

How it computes overtime

The mechanics differ slightly depending on the employee's shift type, and every employee has a personal ceiling that caps what gets auto-recorded.

NORMAL SHIFT

• Has a fixed shift start and end time.
• Auto OT covers both early OT (arriving before the shift starts) and post-shift OT (staying beyond the shift end).
• Cross-midnight shifts use the existing cross-midnight calculation — no special handling needed.

FLEXIBLE SCHEDULE PER DAY

• Has only core hours — a latest allowed check-in and earliest allowed check-out. No fixed shift start exists.
• Auto OT covers post-core-hours overtime only.
• Pre-core-hours time can't be attributed automatically and always needs a manual OT filing.

The per-employee ceiling

Every employee enrolled in automatic OT has a maximum number of minutes that can be auto-recognized per period — the ceiling. Hours worked beyond it are not auto-recorded; the employee can file a manual OT application for that excess, which goes through the normal approval workflow. The ceiling is set per employee, so Employee ID has to be included with every enablement request. Each auto OT setup has a start and end date. If an employee's ceiling changes mid-cutoff, the new ceiling applies only from its start date onward. Dates before it keep the old ceiling. Include the effective date on the CRF when you request a ceiling change.

OT increments still apply

If the company uses OT increments, auto OT follows them. Only completed increments are credited. With 30-minute increments, a shift ending at 5:00 PM and a biolog-out at 6:41 PM gives 101 minutes, but only 90 minutes are credited (up to 6:30 PM).

Manual filing still works

Employees on the policy can still open a manual OT application at any time. When they do, the system shows them how much OT has already been auto-credited for that period so they know what they're filing on top of. Submitting isn't blocked either way — the Attendance Report is what reconciles the two, merging auto OT and approved manual OT into a single figure so nothing gets double-counted. Auto OT doesn't count toward the one-OT-per-OT-type-per-day filing. An employee won't get a "you already have OT for this date" prompt. Instead, the Attendance Report shows the auto OT already credited for that date, for reference.

You may submit a Change Request Form if you wish to enable this.

What the employee sees

• Auto-computed OT shows up directly in their attendance summary — no filing, no waiting on approval.
• If they open a manual OT application for a period that already has auto OT, the auto-credited duration is shown for reference before they submit.
• They can still submit that manual filing regardless — it isn't blocked — and it still goes through the standard manager approval path.
• Flexi employees who worked before their core hours window will still need to file manually for that time; it's outside what auto OT can determine.

What the payroll admin sees

• Auto OT doesn't go through the Approval Center. It isn't shown there as an auto-approved request and creates no approval record. It goes straight to the Attendance Report and appears in the new Earned Auto OT column.
• The detailed Attendance Report gets a new Earned Auto OT Minutes column, showing computed OT per employee per attendance period.
• Where an employee has both auto OT and an approved manual filing for the same period, the report merges them into one figure — the total reflects actual hours worked, not the sum of both entries.
• Auto-OT values in the report match what's fed into payroll, so there's no need to cross-reference manual filings separately for covered employees.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if an employee has no shift scheduled for a day but clocks in anyway?

No shift means no required-hours baseline to compare against, so automatic OT computation doesn't apply that day. Standard attendance behavior governs instead.

Does this work for shifts that cross midnight?

Yes. Cross-midnight OT uses the same existing cross-midnight calculation logic the system already applies — automatic computation doesn't change that engine, it just removes the filing step.

Can an employee be enrolled without a ceiling set?

They shouldn't be. A missing ceiling is treated as a blocking condition for enrollment — confirm that max OT minutes is set for every employee on the CRF before submitting.

What if the policy is turned off partway through a payroll period?

Auto OT already computed for the dates before the policy was disabled is kept and reflected in the attendance record — only those dates are accounted for. Dates after disablement fall back to standard manual filing behavior.

Does enabling auto OT change who approves overtime?

Managers are removed from the approval chain only for the OT that's auto-computed. They still approve any manual OT filing an employee submits for excess hours above the ceiling, or for Flexi pre-core-hours time.

If an employee already has auto OT for a date, can they still file manual OT for the same date?

Yes. Auto OT doesn't block a manual filing and doesn't trigger a duplicate-OT prompt. The Attendance Report shows how much auto OT was already credited for that date, so the employee can file only the excess (for example, minutes above the ceiling).

Will auto OT show up in the Approval Center or the OT report?

No. Auto OT goes directly to the Attendance Report. Only manual OT filings appear in the Approval Center.

Sample scenario

A single employee, enrolled with a 300-minute (5-hour) ceiling, over one work week.

Resulting attendance record

Reading the results

• Fri 9/25 & Wed 9/30 — straightforward post-shift OT. Shift ends 5:00 PM, biolog-out is 8:00 PM: 3 hours of post-shift OT = 180 minutes. Well under the 300-minute ceiling, so the full amount is auto-credited.
• Sat 9/26 & Sun 9/27 — no shift, no auto OT. Rest day and holiday have no shift baseline to compare rendered time against, so nothing is auto-computed even though they're within the enrollment period.
• Mon 9/28 — the ceiling caps a big cross-midnight day. Biolog-out at 12:00 AM is 7 hours past the 5:00 PM shift end (420 minutes), computed using the existing cross-midnight logic. That's above the 300-minute ceiling, so only 300 minutes are auto-credited — the remaining 120 minutes would need a manual OT filing if the employee wants it recognized.
• Tue 9/29 — early and post-shift OT combine, and land right at the ceiling. Biolog-in at 6:00 AM is 2 hours before the 8:00 AM shift start; biolog-out at 8:00 PM is 3 hours past the 5:00 PM shift end. 2 + 3 = 5 hours = 300 minutes — exactly the ceiling, so the full amount is credited with nothing left over.

TAKEAWAY

The ceiling applies to the day's total auto-eligible OT — early and post-shift minutes combined for Normal shifts — not to each OT window separately. Once a day's total crosses MaxOTMinutes, everything above it needs manual filing instead.

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