Understanding employee status: Inactive vs. Terminated
What's the difference between Inactive and Terminated status in 7shifts?
In 7shifts, Inactive and Terminated are two distinct employee statuses that control different things. Inactive removes an employee's access to the 7shifts platform but doesn't affect payroll. Terminated signals an employee's official departure from the company and controls when payroll stops. These are sometimes confused as equivalent, but they serve separate purposes.
Why This Happens
7shifts separates platform access from payroll eligibility by design. An employee may need their login access removed temporarily (for example, during a leave of absence) without being removed from payroll. Setting an employee to Inactive handles access only. To stop payroll inclusion, a Termination Date must be set regardless of whether the employee is also marked Inactive.
The Termination Date is the key factor for 7shifts Payroll. If an employee is set to Inactive before their Termination Date, they continue to appear in payroll runs and receive pay through that date. After the Termination Date passes, the employee is excluded from payroll processing.
For example, consider an employee named Staci with a Termination Date of February 1st. Staci receives regular salary payments up to and including February 1st. Even if Staci was set to Inactive before February 1st, she's still paid through her Termination Date. After February 1st, Staci is excluded from payroll processing.
What To Do
Use the status that matches your intent:
- Inactive — Use when you need to revoke an employee's access to 7shifts without affecting their payroll eligibility. The employee won't be able to log in, but will continue to appear in payroll runs.
- Terminated — Use when an employee has left the company. Set the Termination Date to the employee's last day of pay. 7shifts Payroll uses this date to determine the final pay period. After the Termination Date, the employee is excluded from payroll runs.
To set an employee to Inactive, refer to How to make an employee inactive. To set a Termination Date, refer to Set an employee's termination date.