Surcharges

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    Overview

    Surcharges automatically evaluate time records against legal or contractual compensation rules and record the results in structured wage type accounts. This feature enables construction companies to automate the calculation of overtime, night-shift premiums and holiday benefits, replacing manual Excel-based tracking with an auditable, export-ready system.

    1. Status order: Every entry starts as Preview. After review it moves to In Review, and once you send it to payroll it becomes Sent to payroll. You can move between statuses at any time.

    2. Getting-started flow: Enable Surcharges → create wage types → create rules → review in the Personal Calendar → send to payroll.

    3. What Surcharges doesn't do: Surcharges calculates hours or values per wage type. It doesn't calculate money; rates are applied in your payroll system. 

    Important: 

    • Surcharges functionality is dependent on your subscription plan. If this functionality is not available, please contact your Sales Agent.
    • “Sent to payroll” is a payroll status in CrewCenter. It indicates that the data has been finalized for payroll processing. Exporting or transferring the data to the payroll system is handled separately.

     

    Common Surcharge Examples

     

    Surcharge Description Example condition Example
    Overtime Tracks working time that exceeds the employee’s standard daily schedule. Total daily working time exceeds 8 hours. An employee works 10 hours in one day. The additional 2 hours qualify as overtime.
    Weekend Work Provides additional compensation for work performed during weekends. Work is recorded on Saturday or Sunday. An employee works 6 hours on Sunday. The recorded hours qualify for the Weekend Work surcharge.
    Holiday Work Compensates employees for work performed on an official public holiday. The work date matches a public holiday configured in the employee’s calendar. An employee records 8 working hours on a configured public holiday. The hours qualify for the Holiday Work surcharge.

     

    Enabling Surcharges

    Roles: Admin | Interface: Web 

     

    To activate the Surcharges functionality for a tenant, the Administrator must perform the following steps:

    1. Navigate to Settings in the main menu.
    2. Select the General tab.
    3. Locate the Surcharges section.
    4. Toggle the Surcharges switch to ON.
    5. Click Update to save the changes.

     

    When the feature is enabled, a dedicated Surcharges menu item appears in the main navigation, containing four primary tabs for administrative tasks:

     

    Tab Purpose
    Wage Types Create and maintain accounts, including codes, units, and effective dates.
    Surcharge Rules Configure rules, filters for employees/projects, and activation status.
    Transaction History View every wage type transaction per employee, including value, origin (rule or manual) and status.
    Personal Calendar Review payroll results, surcharges, and related time & attendance data per employee in a calendar view, recalculate values, and manage payroll status before sending data to payroll.

     

    Wage types

    Admins use Wage Types to define specific accounts - such as overtime, night surcharges, or travel expenses - that match their ERP system requirements. The system automatically accumulates values into these accounts via surcharge rules, creating a persistent ledger with a full audit history.

    The following capabilities are available for managing Wage Types:

    1. Manage Wage Types: Create, view, and update Wage Types, including unique codes and units.
    2. Soft-delete: You can delete a Wage Type only if no active surcharge rule uses it as a target.
    3. Employee Assignment: Choose which employees the Wage Type applies to. All employees are selected by default. A surcharge rule can automatically record values for an employee only if that employee is included in both the Wage Type assignment and the rule’s employee selection. (The two employee selections serve different purposes: Wage Type assignment defines which employees can receive automatically calculated values in that Wage Type. Rule employee selection defines which employees a particular surcharge rule applies to.)

    1. Table View: View all Wage Types in a centralized table with statuses, key attributes, and row actions.

       

    How to create a Wage type

    Roles: Admin | Interface: Web 

    To create a new Wage Type, follow these steps:

    1. Go to the Surcharges → Wage Types.
    2. Click Create.
    3. Enter a name for the wage type, e.g. Weekend Work.
    4. The status is set to Active by default.
    5. Select the Measurement unit:
    • Duration – define the lower and upper limits.
    • Custom – enter your own unit, e.g. hours or days, and define the lower and upper limits.
    1. Assign employees:
    • Keep All employees enabled to assign the surcharge to everyone. 
    • Alternatively, disable All employees and select one or more specific employees.
    1. Enter an External ID, if applicable.
    2. Add a comment to describe the surcharge and its intended usage.
    3. Click Update to create the wage type.

     

    Limits

    The system rejects values that are unrealistically large (in the trillions or more). You don't need to configure this limit.

    This is separate from the optional upper limit you can set per wage type: the upper limit caps the value at the maximum you define. 

    Example: with an upper limit of 50, an entry that results in 51 is stored as 50.

     

    How to deactivate or delete wage types

    Roles: Admin | Interface: Web 

    To deactivate a wage type, follow these steps (can you deactivate if there is an active surcharge rule?):

    1. Click the three dots on the right side of the wage type.
    2. Select Deactivate.

    Note: Previous entries are retained. Deactivation marks them as Inactive instead of deleting them. The Wage Type remains visible in the table.

    To permanently delete a wage type:

    1. Select the deactivated wage type.
    2. Click the three dots on the right side.
    3. Select Delete.

    Note: Previous entries are retained. The Wage Type disappears from the table.

    Surcharge Rules

    There are two rule types defined:
    • Time Window - surcharge rules allow admins to automatically apply specific wage types based on when the work is performed, for example during weekdays, weekends, public holidays, or defined time periods.
    • Threshold (not available yet)- define how much time must add up over a day, week, or month before a specific rate is applied. This differs from Time Window rules, which focus on when the work happens (e.g., night shifts).

    Examples:

    • Threshold: Overtime 8+ Hours - If an employee works more than 8 hours per day, they receive a 25% surcharge for each additional hour.
    • Threshold: Overtime 10+ Hours  - If an employee works more than 10 hours per day, they receive a 50% surcharge for any time worked above 10 hours.
    • Time Window: Public Holiday Work
      Employees who work on a public holiday receive a 100% surcharge for all hours worked.

    How to create surcharge Rules - Time Window

    To create a surcharge rule with the time window, follow these steps:

    1. Go to the Surcharges tab.
    2. Open the Surcharge Rules tab.
    3. Click Create and stay on the "Time window" tab.
    4. Enter a name for the surcharge rule.
    5. The status is set to Active by default.
    6. Add a description explaining how the surcharge rule works.
    7. Define the times and days when the rule applies, such as weekdays, weekends, or public holidays.

    Notes: 

    • Only the overlapping part of a time entry counts. 

    Example: 

    rule 06:00–20:00:

     time entry 05:00–21:00 → 14 hours count

    • If several rules match, each writes its own entry (e.g. a weekday rule and a holiday rule on the same day).
    • A night shift crossing midnight is stored as two records. Each part counts for its own calendar day.
    1. Assign the rule to a wage type that has already been created in the Wage Types tab.
    2. Choose how the surcharge should be calculated:
      • Multiply by* – multiplies the value by the specified factor.
      • Add* – adds the specified value.
      • Subtract* – subtracts the specified value.
    3. Assign the rule to all employees or select specific employees.
    4. Assign the rule to all projects or select specific projects.
    5. Click Create to save the surcharge rule.

    * To apply a negative factor or value, enter the minus (-) symbol before the value:

     

     

    How to create surcharge Rules - Threshold - not yet available 

    To create a surcharge rule with the threshold window, follow these steps:

    1. Go to the Surcharges tab.
    2. Open the Surcharge Rules tab.
    3. Click Create 
    4. Click on the "Threshold" tab.
    5. Enter a name for the surcharge rule.
    6. The status is set to Active by default.
    7. Add a description explaining how the surcharge rule works.
    8. Define when hours cross the threshold on selected timeframe (day/week/month). 
    9. Select the measured input.
    10. Choose the direction (positive, negative or both possible)
    11. Set the threshold as a flat value or take it from the employee's work schedule. Employees without a work schedule are skipped, and the skip is reported in the run summary.
    12. Assign the rule to a wage type that has already been created in the Wage Types tab.
    13. Choose how the surcharge should be calculated:
      1. Multiply by* – multiplies the value by the specified factor.
      2. Add* – adds the specified value.
      3. Subtract* – subtracts the specified value.
    14. Assign the rule to all employees or select specific employees.
    15. Assign the rule to all projects or select specific projects.
    16. Click Create to save the surcharge rule.

    * To apply a negative factor or value, enter the minus (-) symbol before the value.

     

    Example:

    If an employee works 46 hours in a week where the threshold is set to 40 hours (paid at 1.5x) with an upper limit of 50 hours, the calculation is as follows:

    1. Total Hours: 46 hours.

    2. Qualifying Hours: 46h (Total) - 40h (Threshold) = 6 hours.

    3. Verification: 46h falls between the 40h lower limit and 50h upper limit.

    4. Result: 6 hours qualify for the 1.5x rate.

    5. Calculated wage type value: 6h × 1.5 = 9h. The monetary amount is determined later by the payroll system.

    Hours worked

    Qualifying hours

    Value at 1.5x

    46h

    46 − 40 = 6h

    9h

    55h

    50 − 40 = 10h (the 5h above 50h aren't counted)

    15h

    The hours above 50h aren't lost. They just aren't counted by this rule. To pay them, an admin can add a second rule, for example a 50h threshold with no upper limit at 2x.

    Timeframe: How often hours reset

    Decides how many days are calculated in hours, are added together before checking whether someone has exceeded the limit: daily, weekly, or monthly.

    DAY

    WEEK

    MONTH
    Resets every day

    Example:

    Daily overtime
    “Anything over 8h today”    		 Resets every Monday

    Example:

    Weekly overtime
    “Anything over 40h this week”    		 Resets on the 1st

    Example:

    Monthly bonus
    “Anything over 160h this month”

    Note: Every employee's hours start adding up again from zero at the start of the next period

     

    Measured input: what count towards the total

    The Measured Input determines what specific time entries count toward the total threshold. Administrators must select the appropriate input type that matches your payroll rules.

    Measured Input What counts towards the total Normal work Breaks Paid special conditions Unpaid special conditions Paid absences Unpaid absences
    Attendance Everything between clock-in and clock-out, including breaks and special conditions Yes Yes Yes Yes No No
    Normal Work Only normal working time, with breaks removed Yes No No No No No
    Work Normal working time plus paid special conditions Yes No Yes No No No
    All Paid All paid working time, including paid special conditions and paid absences Yes No Yes No Yes No
    Absence Only absence time, whether paid or unpaid No No No No Yes Yes

     

    Personal Calendar

    The Personal Calendar provides an overview of surcharge-related information for each employee. It is available as a dedicated tab under Surcharges page.

    The calendar helps you review work data and surcharges for a selected weekly or monthly pay period. Each employee and pay period can have one of three statuses:

    • Preview – the data is available for review.
    • In Review – the data is currently being checked.
    • Sent to payroll – the pay period has been finalized and sent for payroll processing.

    Surcharge calculation

    Surcharges are automatically calculated when you open an individual employee’s Personal Calendar.

    To open the Personal Calendar click on the name of the employee in the left side column or click the three dots and choose "View personal calendar"

    Calendar overview

    The Personal Calendar focuses on durations and totals, rather than individual start and end times.

    At the top of the calendar, you can see key work metrics. Additional sections provide an overview of:

    • Total Work
    • Normal work
    • Expected time
    • Extra time
    • Breaks
    • Surcharges
    • Cost Codes*
    • Cost&Quantities*
    • Absences*
    • Time Types*

    *not yet available

    This layout makes it easier to review all relevant payroll-related information for an employee within the selected pay period.

    Note: The columns in the Personal Calendar represent a time-based calendar structure. For this reason, standard CrewCenter table options such as resizing or reordering columns are not available in this view.

    To view the details of a timesheet entry, click the cell that displays the number of hours. This action will open the timesheet’s side panel for the selected day, where you can review the entry and access any additional available information.

    If the underlying data changes, you can also use the Recalculate button to refresh the calculation. During recalculation, automatically generated surcharge entries are replaced with the latest calculation, while manually added entries remain unchanged.

    Note: Entries can be calculated if they are in the "In review" and "Preview" status only. 

    Status behavior

    You can change the status from either the Employee List or the Personal Calendar view.

    The status follows this workflow:  Preview → In Review → Send to Payroll

    Important:

    • Status is set per day. The status button shows the lowest status in the visible range.

    • You can move to any status, including directly back to Preview.

    • Moving away from Sent to payroll shows a confirmation dialog with a 3-second countdown.

    • Moving to Sent to payroll while days are not fully locked shows a warning; you can still proceed.

    • Changing the status never changes Approve/Lock, and unlocking timecards never changes surcharge entries or status.

    • Once an entry has the Send to Payroll status, it cannot be recalculated without changing the status. If you need to recalculate the data, first change the status back to Review.

     

    How to send timesheets and surcharges to payroll?

     

    Once the employee’s calendar has been reviewed, their recorded working hours can be processed for payroll in several ways:
     

    From the Personal Calendar

    1. Click the three dots on the employee’s calendar on top.
    2. Select Send to payroll.

    From the Personal Calendar Overview

    1. Find the employee in the Personal Calendar overview.
    2. Click the three dots on the right.
    3. Select Send to payroll.

    Send Multiple Calendars to Payroll 

    To send calendars to payroll in bulk:

    1. In the Employee list, select the employees whose calendars you want to update. You can select employees with different payroll statuses.

    2. In the action bar at the top, click Send to payroll. If another action appears on the primary button, open the three-dot menu (⋯) and select Send to payroll.

    3. If a warning appears because some days are not locked, review it and confirm to proceed.

     

    Payroll columns in the Employee list

    Column

    Description

    Payroll status

    Shows the lowest payroll status across the employee’s displayed period: Preview, In review, or Sent to payroll. For example, if some days are In review and others are Sent to payroll, the column shows In review.

    Payroll updated at

    Shows the date and time of the most recent payroll status change to any day within the employee’s displayed period.

    Payroll updated by

    Shows who made that most recent payroll status change.

    Transaction History

    The Transaction History tab provides a detailed overview of all wage type transactions. It allows administrators to see which wage type was affected, for which employee and date, the calculated and raw values, which rule triggered the transaction, its status, and when the entry was created.
     
    Note: A maximum of 10,000 entries is loaded. By default only the first employee (alphabetically) is shown. If your filters match more entries, a message asks you to narrow your selection by employee, wage type or timeframe.
     

    How to add a new entry in the Transaction History

    Users can add entries directly from that page. To do it follow steps:
    1. Go to Surcharges Tab.
    2. Choose Transaction history.
    3. Click on the Date field and select a date or a custom period (week/month/custom).
    4. Select the Employee from the dropdown.
    5. Choose the Wage type.
    6. Type the calculated value (the result after the rule is applied, e.g. 15 for a factor of 1.5. If you leave the raw value empty, 0 is saved).
    7. Type the raw value (the original quantity, e.g. 10 hours worked).
    8. Add a comment .

    Notes:

    • The comment is required, not optional.

    • If the raw value is left empty, 0 is saved.

    • Manual entries are kept when a calculation is refreshed and don't trigger a recalculation.

    • An entry can be created for any employee, even if the wage type isn't assigned to that employee.

    The top panel provides several options to quickly find specific transactions:

    • Use the search field to search for entries using any relevant keyword.
    • Filter the list by wage type.
    • Select one or more employees to display only their entries.

    For more filtering options, click Filters. A side panel opens where you can further filter the transaction history by:

    • Created by – filters entries based on who created them.
    • Status – All, Preview, In review, or Sent to payroll.
    • Entry type – All, Manual, or Rule.

    Export 

    Currently, surcharge reporting is available only through a custom export template, which is created individually for each customer by our Support Team. If you require such a report, please contact us at support@crewcenter.com. 

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