Remote uses two kinds of time off categories: accrual and flexible. Accrual categories (such as PTO) earn a balance over time, so BambooHR displays a balance amount for them on the employee’s Time Off tab. Flexible categories (such as maternity leave) do not have a running balance. They are used as needed, and reviewed by Remote’s support admins, so BambooHR does not show a balance amount for them. However, you can access both in the request dropdown menu on the homepage.

Whether a given category is accrual or flexible is determined by the country’s policy in Remote. The same category name may behave differently from one country to the next.

The balance displayed for Remote categories is the employee's annual balance which is the same value Remote shows in its own interface. It starts from the annual allowance for the year and decreases as approved time off requests are deducted. It is not the same as accrued balance, which represents only the time off the employee has earned to date.

Employees can request more time off than their annual entitlement allows, which may result in a negative balance. When this happens, BambooHR and Remote display the available balance as 0 days instead of showing a negative value. As a result, employees cannot view the negative balance directly. To determine the actual balance, admins can compare approved time off requests against the employee's annual entitlement.

EOR employees are assigned to their Remote time off categories once their employment status becomes active in Remote, which occurs after EOR onboarding is complete. From that point, the categories are visible in BambooHR and can be changed with access level configuration. Employees can request time off once the categories are available or after their Remote start date, whichever applies.

Employees are unassigned from the categories when their Remote employment status becomes archived, which happens after offboarding is complete. Their request and approval history is preserved in BambooHR so you retain a record of past time off, even though new requests can no longer be submitted under those categories.

No. These requests would be denied in Remote because the employee has not started yet. Restricting EOR employees from requesting time off before their start date helps avoid unnecessary administrative cleanup and employee confusion.

No. Holiday calendars are managed separately in each system, so you must keep each one aligned. To make sure your EOR employees see the right holidays in BambooHR, simply create the international holidays you need in BambooHR and assign your EOR employees to them using the filters.

In most countries, negative balances reset to zero on January 1, and the new year's balance is front-loaded in full. The prior year's overuse is not carried forward or deducted. The exception is countries with continuous-accrual models (for example, Australia and the United States), where balances carry over from year to year and any negative balance is gradually offset by ongoing accruals.

The cost is absorbed by your company. Remote does not deduct negative time off from an employee’s regular pay or final paycheck, and in many countries such deductions are not legally permitted. A negative balance at termination only becomes a topic of discussion if the employer or the employee raises it directly.

Flexible categories can still be requested even though they do not display a balance. When the employee opens the Request Time Off modal, all eligible categories, both accrual and flexible, appear in the time off category dropdown. The employee selects the category, fills out the request form, and submits the request. Remote’s support admins handle the review and any follow-up questions on flexible time off requests.

When an EOR employee is added, or when an existing employee is onboarded to EOR, they are not automatically granted access to view their Remote time off categories Access must be configured through access level settings in BambooHR, just as it is for standard time off categories.

The simplest approach to handle this is to create a dedicated access level for your Remote/EOR employees, enable access to the Remote time off categories and assign the access level to EOR employees once they are onboarded. You can start by duplicating an existing employee access level and adjusting the settings to meet your EOR employees' needs. Once employees are assigned to the access level, they can view their Remote time off categories without requiring additional configuration.