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Leave policies are the rules that govern how time off works in Plane. A policy defines what type of leave it covers, how much time workers earn, how often it accrues, what happens to unused balances, and how leave is paid out at termination. Once you create a policy and assign it to workers, Plane handles the rest—accruing balances on schedule, tracking usage, and flowing leave into payroll.

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What a leave policy defines

Each leave policy controls several dimensions of how a leave type behaves:
  • Leave type—The category of time off, such as vacation, sick leave, paid time off, parental leave, or any of the other supported types.
  • Accrual rules—How much leave workers earn and how often. You can grant a fixed amount per year, accrue monthly, per pay period, or even per hour worked.
  • Carryover rules—Whether unused leave rolls over to the next period, and if so, how much. You can allow full carryover, cap it at a maximum, or use a use-it-or-lose-it approach.
  • Balance limits—Optional minimum and maximum caps on how much leave a worker can accumulate.
  • Usage limits—Optional per-period caps on how much leave a worker can use.
  • Payout rules—What happens to unused leave when a worker is terminated. Payout can be required, optional, or forfeited depending on the policy.
  • Period—The window used to reset balances and calculate accrual. This can be a fixed date (like January 1 or your fiscal year start) or based on each worker’s anniversary.

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Creating a leave policy

You can create leave policies from the Plane dashboard or through the API.
1

Choose the leave type

Select the type of leave this policy covers. Plane supports paid time off, vacation, personal time off, sick leave, parental leave, bereavement, jury duty, military leave, medical leave, dependent sick leave, family and compassionate leave, marriage leave, working time reduction (RTT), and unpaid time off.
2

Set the policy period

Define when the leave year resets. Use a fixed date (like January 1) for calendar-year policies, or set it based on each worker’s start date for anniversary-based policies.
3

Configure accrual rules

Decide how much leave workers earn and how often. Common configurations include:
  • Annual grant—A lump sum granted at the start of each period (e.g., 15 days per year)
  • Monthly accrual—Leave earned gradually each month (e.g., 1.25 days per month)
  • Per-hour accrual—Leave earned based on hours worked, useful for hourly workers (e.g., 1 hour of leave per 30 hours worked)
You can also define a waiting period so that accrual does not begin until after a certain number of days of employment.
4

Set carryover rules

Choose what happens to unused leave at the end of each period:
  • No carryover—Unused leave is forfeited (use-it-or-lose-it)
  • Capped carryover—Workers can carry over up to a specified maximum
  • Unlimited carryover—All unused leave rolls over
You can also set an expiration on carried-over leave if needed.
5

Define payout rules

Specify what happens to unused leave when a worker leaves the company. Some jurisdictions require payout of accrued vacation, while other leave types may not need it.
6

Activate the policy

New policies start in draft status. Set the status to active when you are ready for the policy to take effect. You can also archive policies you no longer need.
To create a policy through the API, see Create a leave policy.

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Assigning policies to workers

There are two ways to connect a leave policy to workers:

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Automatic assignment

You can define matching rules on a policy so that it automatically applies to workers based on their attributes. For example, a policy can apply to all workers in a specific country, all employees (but not contractors), or all workers at a particular location. Matching rules use a flexible expression format, so you can combine conditions. When a new worker matches the criteria, they receive an entitlement for that policy automatically.

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Manual assignment

For policies without matching rules, or when you need to assign a policy to a specific worker outside the normal criteria, you can create a leave entitlement manually. This connects the worker to the policy and begins tracking their balance. Manual entitlements also let you override specific policy settings for an individual worker—for example, granting a senior employee a higher accrual rate than the standard policy.
Each entitlement has a start date and an optional end date. This lets you control exactly when a policy takes effect for a worker and when it stops.

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Accrual rules and schedules

Accrual determines how workers accumulate leave over time. Plane supports several accrual patterns: Fixed annual amount—The worker is entitled to a set number of days or hours per year. The accrual can be credited all at once at the start of the period, or spread across the period monthly. Per-hour accrual—Leave accrues based on hours worked. You specify the ratio (e.g., 1 hour of leave per 30 hours worked). This is particularly useful for part-time or hourly workers. Tiered accrual—Accrual rates can increase based on tenure. For example, workers might earn 10 days per year for their first 3 years, then 15 days per year after that. Tiers are defined as part of the accrual configuration. Waiting periods—You can require a waiting period before accrual begins. This is common for new hires who may need to complete a probationary period before earning leave. The accrual schedule determines when leave credits appear in the worker’s balance. Plane can credit accrued leave monthly, per pay period, or at a custom frequency.

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Carryover rules

Carryover rules determine what happens to unused leave at the end of each policy period.
  • Use-it-or-lose-it—Set carryover to null. Any unused leave at the end of the period is forfeited.
  • Capped carryover—Specify a maximum number of days or hours that can carry over. Any excess beyond the cap is forfeited.
  • Unlimited carryover—All unused leave rolls forward into the next period.
  • Carryover with expiration—Carried-over leave can expire after a set timeframe. This is useful for jurisdictions that require carryover but allow it to lapse after a reasonable window.
When designing carryover rules, check local labor laws for your workers’ countries. Many jurisdictions have statutory requirements around carryover of accrued vacation time.

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Multiple policies per workspace

Most teams need more than one leave policy. Common setups include:
  • Separate policies by leave type—One policy for vacation, another for sick leave, another for parental leave. Each tracks its own balance independently.
  • Country-specific policies—A vacation policy for US workers with 15 days, and a separate one for French workers with 25 days (to meet statutory requirements).
  • Role-based policies—Different accrual rates for different teams, seniority levels, or employment types.
  • Set and add policies—A “set” policy establishes the base entitlement, while an “add” policy layers additional leave on top. This lets you give individual workers bonus PTO without changing the base policy.
Workers can have entitlements from multiple policies simultaneously, as long as each covers a different leave type. Their balances are tracked separately per leave type.

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API reference

Leave Policy object

Full schema with accrual, carryover, balance, usage, and payout attributes.

Create a leave policy

Create a new policy with all configuration options.

Leave Entitlements

Assign policies to workers and manage per-worker overrides.

Leave Balances

View current balances generated by policy accrual rules.
Yes, you can update an active policy. Changes to accrual rates, carryover rules, and other settings apply going forward. Historical transactions are not retroactively adjusted.
A “set” policy establishes the base entitlement for a leave type. An “add” policy grants additional leave on top of the base. For example, you might have a set policy granting 15 vacation days, plus an add policy granting 5 bonus days for workers who have been with the company for more than a year.
To create an unlimited leave policy, set the accrual to null and remove balance limits. Workers will not have a capped balance, and leave requests will not be checked against a maximum.