The Payroll settings page holds two separate shop-wide policies. The first is the overtime and double-time rules used to work out hourly wages on the Payroll Summary report. The second is an optional PTO (paid time off) balance that staff build up every month. Anyone on the team can open the page and see the current rules. Only people with the payroll permission can save changes, which by default means Owners and Admins.
Where to find it
Click Settings in the sidebar, then the Payroll card in the Essential group ("Overtime & double-time wage rules for hourly staff"). You can also type "payroll" into Search settings....
Setting weekly overtime
Wage laws are different from state to state, so SalesThumb doesn't assume any one state's rules. Every shop starts on the federal FLSA baseline: time-and-a-half after 40 hours a week, with no daily double time. You can change that in the Overtime & double-time card:
- Under Weekly overtime, fill in the sentence "Hours past [40] hrs/week are paid at [1.5] × the base hourly rate". Hours can be anything from 1 to 168, and the multiplier from 1 to 10.
- Under Workweek starts on, pick the day your workweek begins. Sunday is the default.
- Click Save. The button stays greyed out until you've actually changed something.
About the workweek start day: overtime is counted over a fixed seven-day week that starts on the same day every week. It does not move to match the date range you run a payroll report for. That means the same hours always produce the same overtime, however you slice the report. Most employers use Sunday, so only change this if your business uses a different day.
Turning on daily double-time
Most states have no daily double-time rule, so this is off by default. If yours has one:
- Turn on the Enable daily double-time switch.
- Fill in "Hours worked in a single day past [12] are paid at [2] × the base hourly rate". Hours can be 1 to 24.
- Click Save.
Double-time hours are worked out first, one day at a time. Those hours are then taken out before weekly overtime is counted, so no hour gets paid twice.
Where these rules show up
The rules apply automatically to the Wage column of the Payroll Summary report and its CSV. Three things to know:
- Wages are only worked out for staff who have an hourly rate saved. To set one, go to Settings → Team, click the person, then click Edit role & pay and fill in Hourly rate.
- If a tech also earned commission that week, it's counted when SalesThumb works out their overtime pay. The commission itself is still listed in its own column and isn't paid twice.
- The Est. wages figure on a tech's own My Earnings screen in the mobile app is simply hours × hourly rate. It doesn't use these overtime rules.
Turning on PTO balances
PTO tracking is off by default. With it off, managers still approve or deny time off as usual. There just isn't a running balance. To turn it on:
- In the PTO / vacation / sick-day accrual card, turn on Track PTO balances.
- Fill in "Grant [10] days/year, accrued monthly". The page shows the monthly amount next to it, for example 0.83 days/month. You can enter anything from 0 to 365, in half-day steps.
- Click Save in that card. This card saves on its own and doesn't touch the overtime card's unsaved changes.
How PTO balances work
- Everyone on staff earns your yearly amount ÷ 12 for each full month that passes.
- A person's balance starts at zero the first time SalesThumb checks it, which is when they open the time-off request form or when a manager approves one of their requests. Their first month's PTO is added one full month after that.
- Vacation, Sick and Personal requests all come out of the same single balance. Other requests never use PTO.
- PTO comes off the balance when a request is approved, one day for each calendar day in the request, start and end days included. Pending and denied requests don't use any PTO.
- If someone doesn't have enough PTO, the approval is blocked with a message saying how many days the request needs. The manager can deny it instead, or you can change the PTO settings.
For the request and approval steps, see Requesting and approving time off.
Need help? Email info@roffik.com.
Frequently asked questions
Q: What overtime rules does my shop use if I never open this page?
A: The federal FLSA baseline: time-and-a-half after 40 hours a week, a workweek starting Sunday, and no daily double-time.
Q: Why is a tech's Wage column $0 on the Payroll Summary?
A: Wages are only worked out for staff with an hourly rate saved. Add one under Settings → Team → the person → Edit role & pay → Hourly rate.
Q: Who can change these settings?
A: Anyone on the team can view the page. Only people with the payroll permission, which by default means Owners and Admins, can save overtime or PTO changes.
Q: Do Sick and Vacation days come out of separate balances?
A: No. Vacation, Sick and Personal share one PTO balance. Requests marked Other never use PTO.
Q: When does PTO come off someone's balance?
A: Only when a manager approves the request. It's one day for each calendar day in the request, including the start and end days. Pending and denied requests don't use any PTO.