When you're processing a pay run, PaySauce may alert you to issues that need your attention. This article explains the difference between warnings and errors, where they appear, and how to resolve the most common ones.
Warnings vs errors in PaySauce
PaySauce uses two types of alert messages in a pay run:
Warnings appear in yellow. They highlight something that may need your attention, but won't stop you closing the pay.
Errors appear in red. You'll need to resolve errors before you can close the pay.
Both warnings and errors appear at the top of the pay preview window on the right-hand side of your screen when using PaySauce on a computer.
Common warning and error messages
The table below lists examples of the warning and error messages you might see during a pay run.
Message | Type | What it means |
A public holiday has not been accounted for in an employee's pay based on their work pattern | Warning | PaySauce expected the public holiday to be recorded as either taken or worked, but nothing has been entered |
An employee's pay rate is set below minimum wage | Warning | The pay rate entered is lower than the current New Zealand minimum wage |
A bank account appears to be invalid | Warning | The bank account number doesn't pass PaySauce's validation check |
A timesheet has been entered for a public holiday | Error | A timesheet entry on a public holiday must be removed and the day recorded as "public holiday worked" on the leave view instead |
A leave rate could not be determined for a payout | Error | PaySauce couldn't calculate the correct rate to use for the leave payment |
Could not accurately determine pro rata as no primary payment set
| Error | There is no primary payment set for the employee |
Your current billing plan doesn't allow the use of the costing feature | Error | If you have been on our Premium plan and using a custom costing template but changed to Standard you may see this error. |
Where errors appear
Employees with unresolved errors after calculation appear in the Requires Attention tab.
To resolve an error, return the employee's pay to data entry by clicking the return arrow next to the employee's name on their pay card.
Warning messages also appear on the Banking tab of the Finalise screen, below the summary.
Company settings for warnings and errors
You can control how PaySauce treats certain situations in your company settings.
Unattended public holidays
You can choose whether unattended public holidays trigger a warning (which won't prevent you closing a pay) or an error (which will prevent you closing a pay until the issue is resolved).
Maximum daily hours
You can set a maximum number of daily hours for your employees. If an employee's hours exceed the limit you've set, PaySauce will show an error.
Resolving errors
Multiple transactions error
To resolve a "multiple transactions" error, send us a message via chat — PaySauce Support needs to fix this for you.
A multiple transactions error means duplicate transactions have been recorded. This usually happens when:
More than one user is logged in to PaySauce at the same time
You have multiple instances of PaySauce open in different browser tabs or windows
PaySauce has slowed down (often due to internet speed) and there's been a delay saving something
"You must apply leave" error
The "you must apply leave" error appears when your company setting for unattended public holidays is set to "error" and a public holiday hasn't been accounted for.
To resolve a "you must apply leave" error:
Check which date the message refers to.
Check the employee's work pattern and the dates of the current pay period.
If the public holiday falls in the previous or next pay period (not the one you're currently processing), the issue is likely a conflict with the work pattern. Edit the employee's work pattern to remove hours from the affected day, applying the change to the current pay run only.
Check there is no timesheet entry for the employee on the public holiday. If there is, remove it and record "public holiday worked" from the leave view instead.
"Rate could not be determined for leave payout" error
The "rate could not be determined for leave payout" error appears when PaySauce can't work out which rate to use for a leave payment. In every pay period, PaySauce runs background calculations to keep a record of important leave figures, and these calculations rely on the employee's primary payment.
There are two common causes:
The employee's primary payment isn't included in the current pay run.
The employee doesn't have a primary payment set at all.
If the primary payment isn't in the pay run, do one of the following to resolve the error:
Add the primary payment back to the pay run and set the value to zero, or
Go to the employee's leave settings, change the "current rate" rule to Use Primary if set then Override, and set the override rate to the same as the employee's normal pay rate.
If the employee doesn't have a primary payment set, go to their payment settings and make sure at least one of their payments is marked as primary.
Could not accurately determine pro rata as no primary payment set error
The error "Could not accurately determine pro rata as no primary payment set" appears if the employee doesn't have a primary payment set. Go to their payment settings and make sure at least one of their payments is marked as primary.
"Could not find costing template" error
To resolve a "could not find costing template" error:
Go to the Finalise area of your pay run.
Select the Costings tab.
Find the dropdown directly under the costing breakdown table.
Select the correct costing template for this pay.
You should now be able to close the pay.
"Your current billing plan doesn't allow the use of the costing feature" error
Please contact our Support team for help if you see the "Your current billing plan doesn't allow the use of the costing feature" error.
Still stuck?
If you're seeing an error or warning that isn't covered in this article, get in touch via the chat function in PaySauce and our team will help you resolve it.