Leave policies are not universal. The same leave name can mean different rules depending on local regulations, internal policies, employment model, or company processes.

In Calamari, absence types are built from reusable configuration mechanics, such as entitlement type, accrual rules, carry-over, expiry, proration, negative balance, seniority rules, request restrictions, required fields, and employee eligibility.

This article explains the most common mechanics and shows how they can be combined to reflect different leave policies.

Most leave policies can be configured by answering a few key questions. These settings define how a given absence type works in practice, regardless of its name.

Start by defining how the entitlement should be managed:

Next, decide how the absence year should work:

Some policies apply differently depending on the employee’s situation. In this case, the configuration may depend on:

This is also where proration can be configured for employees who join or leave during the absence year.

Finally, define how employees should be able to request this leave type:

These mechanics matter more than the leave label itself. The same leave name may represent different rules across countries or companies, while different leave names may use the same configuration model.

Use the table below to identify which Calamari configuration mechanic best matches your leave policy requirement.

The same absence name can mean different things in different organizations. For example, “Vacation” may be granted as a fixed yearly entitlement, accrued monthly, unlimited, or managed with carry-over and expiry rules. Similarly, “Sick Leave” may have a fixed annual limit, be accrued over time, or be tracked without a limited balance.

You can combine multiple mechanics within one absence type.

For example, a Vacation policy can use yearly entitlement, pro-rating, carry-over limit, carry-over expiry, and negative balance rules at the same time.

The examples at the end of this article show how these mechanics can be applied to common absence categories, such as Vacation / Annual Leave / PTO, Sick Leave, Maternity-Related Leave, Parental Leave, Bereavement Leave, Unpaid Leave, and other special-purpose leave types.

Vacation is not limited by a fixed entitlement, but requests are still submitted, approved, and visible in calendars and reports.

Employees receive a fixed number of vacation days per year, with the balance resetting at the start of each absence year.

In Calamari, this type of policy is configured in the Accrual tab, even if the full yearly entitlement is granted at once. In this case, the accrual rule is used to add a fixed yearly allowance to the employee’s balance.

Vacation is earned gradually over time instead of being granted upfront.

Vacation entitlement is automatically adjusted based on the employee’s start or end date.

Use this setup when entitlement should be calculated proportionally for employees who join or leave during the absence year.

In Calamari, proration is always applied to the accrual period, which means it can work not only for yearly entitlements, but also for monthly or other accrual cycles.

Vacation entitlement can depend on the employee’s seniority. For example, employees may receive a higher yearly entitlement after reaching a specific number of years of service, or gain additional days after each completed year.

Use this setup when the number of vacation days should change automatically based on how long the employee has worked for the organization.

Unused vacation can be transferred to the next absence year, but only up to a defined limit. Any unused balance above the limit is not carried over.

Use this setup when employees are allowed to transfer part of their unused vacation balance to the next year, but the organization wants to limit how much can be carried over.

Carried-over vacation must be used within a defined period in the new absence year. After that period, unused carried-over balance expires.

Use this setup when employees may carry over unused vacation, but only for a limited time, for example until March 31 or for the first 3 months of the new absence year.

Employees can request vacation even if their current balance is not sufficient. This means they can use part of their future entitlement before it is accrued or granted.

Use this setup when employees should be able to plan vacation in advance, even if they have not yet earned enough balance at the time of submitting the request.

Some organizations use one Vacation / Annual Leave absence type across the company, while the entitlement rules differ depending on employee attributes such as country, team, contract type, or employment model.

This setup is useful when employees should request the same type of absence, but their allowance, accrual rules, or eligibility criteria are not the same for everyone.

For detailed configuration steps, see the dedicated articles about setting up leave policies for different countries, contract types, or selected employees.

Use request restrictions when a request should follow additional policy rules beyond the available balance itself.

Restrictions can control, for example, how long the absence can be, how far in advance it must be requested, whether it can be added retroactively, or whether it depends on another absence balance.

You can use restrictions such as:

Use “The absence may not be longer than 10 days” when a leave type has a maximum duration, for example a special leave that can be taken for up to 10 days.

Use “The absence may not be shorter than 2 days” when employees should not submit very short requests for a specific absence type.

Use “If the absence is longer than 3 days, it must be requested 5 calendar days before start date” when longer absences require earlier notice.

Use “Absence can be requested up to 0 days in the past” when employees are not allowed to submit retroactive requests.

Use “The employee is able to make a request after 30 days from the hire date” when a leave type should become available only after a waiting period.

Use “The absence can be added for a maximum of 2 days in week” when a remote work type has a weekly cap.

Use “This leave can only be taken after the full entitlement of another absence type balance has been exhausted” when one leave type should only be used after another balance is fully used, for example an additional or fallback leave type.

Use “The reporter cannot request an absence for a period in which they are assigned as a substitute” to avoid conflicts when the employee is already covering for someone else.

Use “The requester cannot set absent substitute” to prevent employees from selecting a substitute who is absent during the same period.

Use this setup when the policy defines how request length should be calculated.

Some absence types should be counted only on working days, based on the employee’s work schedule. Others may be counted in calendar days, including weekends. You can also define whether public holidays should be included in the request length.

This setup is common for maternity-related leave, parental leave, long-term medical leave, unpaid leave, and other policies where the duration is not always based only on working days.

Use this setup when employees need to provide additional information when submitting a request.

This setup is common for sick leave, medical leave, special leave, bereavement leave, family care leave, business trips, unpaid leave, or any absence type where the organization needs additional context.

Depending on the absence type, you can decide whether the following fields should be required, optional, hidden, or disabled:

Reasons can be entered manually or selected from a predefined list.

This is useful when employees should choose from specific categories, for example different family care reasons, business trip purposes, or special leave reasons.

Use this setup when employees need to attach documents or supporting information to a request.

This setup is common for sick leave, medical leave, maternity-related leave, parental leave, adoption leave, bereavement leave, family care leave, special leave, study leave, jury duty, or military leave.

Use this setup when employees should see additional information before submitting a request.

This is useful when the absence type has specific policy rules, required documents, usage limits, or special instructions.

The examples below show how the same configuration mechanics can be applied to different types of absence. Treat them as common patterns, not as legal or policy recommendations.