FAQs

Employee leave is governed by Texas Tech University System Regulation 10.10. Questions about any of these leave policies including but not limited to Sick Leave Pool, Leave Without Pay, and FMLA should be directed to Human Resources.

You can access your leave balances through Raiderlink/WebRaider on your Employee tab, the Payroll & Tax tab, or on your Dashboard. To view your balances, click on the Leave Balance link. You can also see your balances in the top right corner of your web time entry timesheet or web leave report. 

Balances are updated after the 1st-15th semi-monthly payroll has been completed and paid, on the 25th of the month for hourly employees. Monthly employees will see their accruals once the monthly on-cycle payroll has been completed.

New employees may use their vacation accruals after 6 months of continuous service. Employee leave is governed by Texas Tech University System Regulation 10.10.

Please refer to the Comp Time FAQs.

No, leave hours will not be paid out until employment ends.

Employees can access this form by clicking on the Lump Sum Vacation Certification Form link on the Forms page on the Payroll & Tax Services website.

Once the form has been completed, you will need to enter a personal email address to confirm your signature. A confirmation email will be sent immediately to the email address provided, along with a copy of the Lump Sum Vacation form submitted.

Payroll will receive the request the following business day. 

Note: Lump Sum Vacation payouts are not automatically processed after the employee is terminated. The employee must submit the electronic form for processing to begin. 

As soon as you know you’re leaving the institution, submit the form with the accurate termination date.

Lump Sum Vacation payouts will be paid no later than 30 days after the employee receives their final paycheck.

Note: Lump Sum Vacation Payouts will not be processed until the employee has received their final paycheck and Payroll & Tax Services has received the LSV Certification form in a timely manner. Without this form, the payment to the employee will be delayed.

Employees may choose to receive their vacation payout either by mail, pick up at the Payroll and Tax Office, as a direct deposit to the active payroll bank account they have set up for their regular paychecks, or have maximum amount distributed to their 403(b)/457 account and any remaining amount paid via previous choices. These options will be available on the Lump Sum Vacation Certification request form. 

Any remaining or unused vacation, comp time, holiday comp (HSC only) hours will be paid out.

If an employee transfers to another state agency without a break in service, the new agency’s Human Resources will have to request sick hours and vacation hours to be transferred to the new agency. Please submit a request via the Payroll & Tax Services Customer Portal.

If the employee will not be employed in a leave eligible position at their new agency, the employee should use all available vacation hours prior to transfer if possible. If it is not possible, the new state agency will need to send documentation via the Payroll & Tax Services Customer Portal stating the employee will be employed in a position that is not vacation leave eligible.

Employees will then need to submit a Lump Sum Vacation Certification Form to have those leave hours paid out. Please refer to how to submit a Lump Sum Vacation Certification Form on this FAQ page.

Any earned and unused holiday comp will be paid out to the employee.

Any unused sick leave will remain in the employee’s file for a duration of one year after they terminate employment with Texas Tech. After one year, employees will lose their sick leave balance. If the employee returns to Texas Tech or begins work at another state agency within a year from the employee’s termination date, their sick leave accruals may be reinstated or transferred to the new state agency. Please refer to System Regulation 10.10 sick leave policy for restrictions to above. 

Please view the guides and videos that will walk you through how to submit a timesheet or leave report. 

Web Time Entry (WTE) timesheets must be completed, submitted, and approved within two business days after the end of the semi-monthly pay period (1st -15th or 15th - EOM). 

Web Leave Reports must be submitted and approved by the 15th of the following month. Example: January leave report is due February 15th.

If you cannot access your timesheet, contact your department to verify your approval queues are set up correctly. Departments can run Cognos report, HR143 – Approver Lookup, to see if they need to make updates to correct this issue. If further assistance is required, you or your department can send a request via the Payroll & Tax Services Customer Portal. On the request, provide the employee name and R# so Payroll & Tax Services can research this issue for you.

If the timesheet is in the “Pending” approval status, the approver can click “Return for Correction”, or the employee can click “Return”. This allows the employee to make the necessary corrections and resubmit the timesheet for approval.

The approver can also make changes directly if the timesheet is in the “Pending” approval status. Clicking the “Details” button opens the weekly calendar view where the approver can make edits before approving the timesheet. When an approver makes a change, they should add a comment explaining the reason for the edit to maintain a clear audit trail.

If the timesheet is “Approved” and the approval deadline has not passed, either the employee or approver can still make changes. The employee can click “Recall” at the bottom of the timesheet to revert it to “Pending” status. Once recalled, corrections can be made and resubmitted as described above.

If a timesheet is in the “Approved” status and the approval deadline has not passed, changes can still be made. The employee can click “Recall” at the bottom of the timesheet to change its status back to “Pending.” Once the timesheet is in the “Pending” status, the approver can either make corrections directly by clicking “Details” and updating the timesheet before approving it again, or click “Return for Correction” to send the timesheet back to the employee so they can make the changes and resubmit it for approval.

The approver should notify the employee if a timesheet is returned for correction to ensure it’s resubmitted before the deadline. If the approver makes any changes, they should also add a comment explaining the reason for the update to maintain a clear audit trail.

No. Once a leave report has been approved, leave balances are automatically updated. To report or correct leave after approval, a Manual Leave Adjustment must be submitted. This can be completed and submitted by either the employee or the department.

Departments should run the Cognos report WTE: HRS096 – Web Time Entry Status Report after each pay period to verify the status of each employee’s WTE timesheet.

If an employee fails to submit their timesheet and does not receive pay for the current pay period, the department must submit a Manual Check Request to ensure the employee is paid.

If an employee fails to submit their timesheet and is not paid for the current pay period, the department must submit a Manual Check Request to ensure the employee receives payment.

Departments can utilize the Web Time Entry/Web Leave Report Approver Update Form to make changes or updates to the approvers for their employees. This form can be found on the Forms page of the Payroll & Tax website.

Departments may also utilize TeamApp to update the approvers for their employees.

For special circumstances where a department or employee is not able to utilize either TeamApp or the WTE/WLR Approver Update Form, Please submit a request via the Payroll & Tax Services Customer Portal.

Instructions and the link to the Web Time Entry/Web Leave Report Approver Update Form are available in Raiderlink/Webraider in the Payroll & Tax section under Forms. The form and instructions are also available on the Forms page of the Payroll & Tax website.

Instructions for TeamApp can be found on the Data Management for Financial Resources (DMFR) resources page. The guide TeamApp: Assigning Payroll Approvers instructs on the process of assigning approvers via TeamApp.

When an approver within your department has a change in their position and suffix, or gets reclassified, the department will need to update the approval queues for the employees that this approver is responsible for approving. If this is not done, employees will be unable to submit their Web Time Entry timesheet or Web Leave Report for approval. The department should pull Cognos report HR143 – Web Time Entry (Leave Report) Approver Lookup, and enter in the R number of the approver to view the list of employees that they currently approve. The department will need to update the approvers for each of these employees on the approver's new position and suffix. This can be done via TeamApp by the organizational manager or their proxy, or by submitting the Web Time Entry/Web Leave Report Approver Update Form to make those changes for each employee. Once this is complete, the department can verify the changes by pulling HR342 – Web Time Entry Approver Look Up – Live Data.

When an approver within your department terminates, the department will need to update the approval queues for each employee that this approver is responsible for approving to a new approver. If this is not done, employees will be unable to submit their Web Time Entry timesheet or Web Leave Report for approval. The department should pull Cognos report HR143 – Web Time Entry (Leave Report) Approver Lookup, and enter in the R number of the terminating approver to view the list of employees that they currently approve. The department will need to update the approver for each of these employees to the new approver. This can be done via TeamApp by the organizational manager or their proxy, or by submitting the Web Time Entry/Web Leave Report Approver Update Form to make those changes for each employee. Once this is complete, the department can verify the changes by pulling HR342 – Web Time Entry Approver Look Up – Live Data.

This automated email is just a reminder email that the deadline for submitting a Web Time Entry timesheet is approaching for the employees listed on the email, usually 3 days before the end of the pay period. As an approver for your department, this reminder email will list all the employees in your department that have a status of “Not Started.” The reason each approver in the department receives this email is to make sure that someone reminds these employees to start their timesheet because the deadline is approaching. If a certain approver is out of the office for any reason, then someone who is an approver for that department can reach out to the employees to remind them of the upcoming deadline, so employees are paid timely and accurately. Once the employee opens their timesheet and submits it for approval, it will route to the correct approver for approval. This is the only purpose for this email. Do not use this email as a reason to question if the correct approver(s) is set up for your employees; this is just a reminder email.

A second reminder email will also be sent on the last day of the pay period to approvers of employees with a status of “Incomplete” or “Pending Approval.” Again, it will list all employees in your department with this status, even if they do not report to you. The automated email is a reminder only, to have an approver in your department notify employees of the upcoming deadline for timesheets for that pay period. These emails are a tool to help departments make sure employees are paid timely and correctly. Departments should not solely rely on these emails for reminders of the payroll deadlines. It is the responsibility of the department to make sure employees submit their Web Time Entry timesheets for approval before the deadline, and to review and approve each timesheet.

If an employee submits their Web Time Entry (WTE) timesheet and it remains in “Pending” status past the approval deadline, Payroll & Tax Services will override and approve the timesheet. When this happens, the approval will show as completed by a member of Payroll & Tax Services with the title “Superuser.”

For Web Leave Reports, if the employee’s leave report is not approved by the deadline, Payroll & Tax Services will also override and approve the leave hours entered by the employee. If the hours approved are incorrect or additional leave needs to be added, the department or employee must submit a Manual Leave Adjustment to correct the record.

Departments should run the Cognos report HR005 – Departmental Payroll Register after each pay period to verify that employees were paid correctly on the on-cycle payroll.

If an employee was not paid because a timesheet was not submitted on time, or if hours or leave time were missed during the pay period, the department must submit a Manual Check Request to ensure the employee is paid.

Each organization must have a Default Approver or “Organizational” approver for their non-exempt employees for Web Time Entry (WTE) and exempt employees for Web Leave Report (WLR). This ensures that when a new employee is hired, they are automatically assigned to the default approver and have access to submit their WTE or WLR on time.

A department can also assign a specific “Employee” approver for an individual employee instead of using the Organizational approver. This change can be made by the organizational manager or their proxy in TeamApp, or by submitting the Web Time Entry / Web Leave Report Approver Update Form. Once approved and applied, the Approver Type column in the Cognos reports will display “Employee”, indicating that a specific approver has been assigned for that employee.

This distinction allows departments to easily see how approvers are set up for their employees.

The quickest and easiest way to add or update a proxy is to use the Web Time Entry/Web Leave Report Proxy Update Form. The form and instructions are available in Raiderlink/Webraider in the Payroll & Tax section under Forms. The form and instructions are also available on the Forms page of the Payroll & Tax website.

Note: Assigning a proxy to approve WTE or WLR is for a temporary timeframe only. When an approver knows they will be out during a pay period, assigning a proxy to approve is appropriate, but when the approver returns, the proxy needs to be removed.

Manual Leave Adjustments (MLAs) are for non-exempt and exempt employees, and are used to deduct leave hours not previously submitted, or to correct hours entered on the wrong dates or wrong leave code. 

MLAs can be submitted via the Manual Leave Adjustment Application.

Please refer to the Manual Leave Adjustment information page to view instruction guides and videos.

Note: non-exempt employees should never submit Manual Leave Adjustments to report hours not previously submitted. 

Please submit a request via the Payroll & Tax Services Customer Portal with any questions.