Glossary: CalTime Terms and Acronyms

CalTime Glossary

(A-B)  (C-G)  (H-K)  (L-M)  (N-P)  (Q-S)  (T-W)

Academic-year appointment: Faculty at UC Berkeley who are paid over the academic year. Academic-year appointments are not included in CalTime.

Accrual:  Earning vacation or sick leave.

Accrual Available Balance:  Employee’s vacation and sick leave balances, located in the Accrual Reporting Period section at the bottom of the timecard.

Accrual balance:  The amount of vacation and sick leave you have.  (You can find it in “My Reports” when you log onto CalTime.)

Accrual leave balance genie:  For supervisors and timekeepers.  Shows employee leave information over time.

Accrual profile:  The rules that determine how an employee earns and tracks leave.

Accruals Reporting Period:  Tab at the bottom of the timecard that displays the employee's leave balances by “Balance as of” date.

Action:  A drop-down option on the menu bar that lists the actions that can be performed on the data, such as Refresh or Print.

Administrative leave with/without pay:  Exempt employees are not required to take administrative leave for an absence of less than a full day, or an absence of less than the full time they are scheduled to work.

All home:  Employees who belong to a particular supervisor or timekeeper’s group.    

Anytime employee:  A non-exempt employee who can report time worked at any time up to the end of a given pay period.

Application support center (ASC):  The Help Desk for CalTime.

Approval:  When an employee or supervisor indicates in CalTime that the hours worked and/or leave taken, as reported on the timecard, are correct for a given pay period.

Approvals Tab:  The place on a timecard for employees, supervisors, and timekeepers to approve or sign off on a timecard.

Audits Tab:  This tab shows punch and pay code edits performed on a timecard, punches entered from a data collection device, group edits that affected an employee's timecard, the user name of any person making edits, and the date and time of edits.

Bereavement sick leave:  Pay code to use when taking leave for the death of a family member or household member. 

Biweekly:  A pay period of two weeks.  Also refers to a non-exempt employee who is paid every two weeks.

Comment:  For supervisors and timekeepers only.  You can enter a comment on an employee’s timecard, by right-clicking on an “Amount” field that has hours entered in it.

Employee group:  The set of employees visible to a given supervisor.

Exception pay:  You get paid a set amount, unless you report an exception (like a day off) in a given pay period.

Exempt:  Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) status for employees who are paid an established monthly or annual salary, who are not eligible for pay variations such as overtime or shift differentials, and who only report exceptions to their work hours which occur in full-day increments.

Exempt pay period close genie:  For timekeepers.  This shows which employees and supervisors have approved timecards; the supervisor of record in HCM (Human Capital Management); and the amount of vacation, sick leave and leave without pay taken by employees.

Factor leave accrual:  A method for figuring out how much vacation and sick leave an employee gets.   This method takes the amount of time an employee is on pay status (not necessarily the same as time actually worked) in a given month, and multiplies it by a pre-determined “factor rate”.  The resulting total of vacation or sick leave time can vary from month to month, but over the course of a year, the total potential vacation or sick leave an employee can earn, remains the same as under the previous method.  For more information, see Factor Leave Accrual FAQ.

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): The Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 is a U.S. federal law governing minimum wage, overtime pay, child labor, and recordkeeping requirements. FLSA requires that non-exempt employees be paid time and a half for time worked over 40 hours in a work week. Among other things, it classifies exempt and non-exempt positions (that is, exempt from the overtime provisions of FLSA) by the types of duties the employee performs and salary threshold. Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA): FMLA requires covered employers to provide up to 12 weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave to eligible employees for the following reasons:

  • For incapacity due to pregnancy, prenatal medical care or child birth;
  • To care for the employee's child after birth, or placement for adoption or foster care;
  • To care for the employee's spouse, son or daughter, or parent, who has a serious health condition; or
  • For a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee's job.

Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) Vacation, Sick Leave Without Pay (LWOP):  Pay codes used for an employee taking leave under the FMLA (Family Medical Leave Act) program.

Fiscal year appointment:  Faculty at UC Berkeley who paid over the entire year, and are included in CalTime.

Genie:  A computer shortcut that allows you to sort for multiple variables at the same time.  For example, a genie allows you to find out the hours worked, vacation time taken and vacation time earned – for all the employees in a given unit – instead of looking at each category and/or each employee separately.

HCM:  Acronym used to refer Human Capital Management, UC Berkeley’s human resources information system, supplying information for payroll, timekeeping and other purposes.

HCM Supervisor:  Supervisor of record in HCM; may or may not be the person who approves the employee’s timecard.

Hyperfind query:  For timekeepers and supervisors.  A software tool you can use in calendars, reports, and genies to locate records and sort employees based on a set of chosen criteria.

Hyperfind query editor:  For timekeepers and supervisors. Used to create or modify hyperfind queries.

Jury Duty:  Pay code for an employee on jury duty.

Kronos:  Timekeeping software that supports CalTime.  

Labor account:  This is for timekeepers and supervisors.  It groups together related labor levels, from which employees are paid, and to which hours worked accrue.

Labor level:  This is for timekeepers and supervisors.  Information about a given employee including ID number, job code and supervisor.

Leave:  Approved time taken off work.  Includes vacation, time off for illness and family matters, among others.

Leave Without Pay (LWOP):  Personal leave or work-related disability leave that is taken without pay.

Missed punch:  Hours in or out not entered by hourly employee.

Name or ID field:  “Genie” in CalTime that defines whose records you want to see.

Non-exempt employee:  Under FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act), an employee who is paid hourly, required to report time actually worked and is eligible for overtime.

Non-exempt RealTime employee:  Hourly and paid biweekly, must record the start and stop time of their shift on a daily basis (i.e. students).

Overtime:  Hours worked in an excess of an employee’s normal shift, during that employee’s full-time daily or weekly shift.

Pay codes:  Categories used to determine rate at which an employee is paid.

People record:  Includes employee name, ID, job description, pay policy rules and other related information.

Hourly pay:  You are paid only for the work time you have reported on your CalTime timecard.

Punch:  A method for recording arrival at work and departure from work.

Primary job:  For employees with multiple jobs, the job at which their HR record has the greatest percentage and duration.

Primary labor account:  A string of data, including pay code and name of supervisor, related to the employee’s primary job.  

Quickfind genie:  Software tool within CalTime used to search for employees.

Refresh:  In CalTime, a command that ensures you are viewing the most recent changes made to employee or approval information on the timecard.

Report:  Tab that allows access to the reporting section of CalTime.

Shift differential:  Pay in addition to an employee’s customary rate, given for specific circumstances or duties.

Sign off:  For timekeepers.  Indicates a timecard is ready to “export” to payroll, and prevents supervisors and employees from making any changes in the timecard.

Supervisor:  Person responsible for viewing and approving timecards in CalTime for a designated group of employees.

Terminal:  Device for recording when an employee starts and stops work, including breaks.

Tab:  Section of a timecard that provides more information about an employee’s time data.

Timecard:  Electronic view of worked and non-worked hours, as entered by the employee.

Timekeeper:  Employee who oversees timekeeping for an entire work unit or department. Timekeepers sign off on timecards approved by supervisors; follow up on missing approvals; and work with CalTime to resolve timecard problems.

Timekeeping: The process of recording and tracking an employee’s hours worked, leave taken and accumulated future leave.

Time period:  An employee’s pay period (past, present or future).

Totals & schedule:  In CalTime, a summary of an employee’s timecard, categorized by labor account and pay code.

Vacation accrual maximum:  For each employee, the limit to the amount of vacation time they can earn.

Workspace:  Main area of the timecard below the action bar.