When approving timesheets, managers may see a "Timesheet must have an employment agreement" error. This article explains why the error happens, how to fix it, and how to prevent it from affecting future payroll processing.

Before you read

• Target audience: This article is for System Administrators and users responsible for timesheet approval or payroll. 
• Plan restrictions: This applies to customers on the new Timesheet Approval experience.

This article covers:

• What you're seeing
• Why the error appears
• How to identify missing Pay details assignments
• How to fix the timesheet approval issues
• Best practices to prevent this error

What you're seeing 

A “Timesheet must have an employment agreement” error may appear during timesheet approval and cause the following issues:

• Timesheets remain stuck in the Time approved  status
• Payroll approval fails
• Timesheet approval works correctly for some locations, but fails for others

Why the error appears

The error message usually means the team member has been assigned to a work location that does not have Pay details configured. This commonly occurs for team members who work across multiple locations.

In Deputy's pay centre and payroll workflows, employees must have valid Pay details assigned for every location where they work.

If an employee works a shift at a location that is:

• Newly assigned
• Missing pay setup
• Not linked to the employee’s pay profile

then Deputy cannot calculate payroll correctly, and the timesheet cannot be approved.

To resolve this error, you should identify the missing Pay details assignments, then add the missing location to the employee's Pay details.

How to identify missing Pay details assignments

Step 1: Open the employee profile

Go to People → Team member → Employment, then select Edit.
 

Step 2: Review assigned work locations

Under Work details, review all assigned locations.

Locations missing pay setup will show indicators such as:

• PAY UNASSIGNED
• Missing pay configuration
• No linked pay rate or profile

These locations can still be scheduled, but payroll approval may fail later.
 

Step 3: Compare the locations against Pay details

Open the Pay details tab.

Expand the employee’s pay profile and review the locations attached to the pay setup.

If a location appears under Work details but not under Pay details → Locations, payroll cannot process timesheets correctly for that location.

How to fix the timesheet approval issue

After you've identified the missing Pay details assignments, you need to add the missing location to Pay details using the steps below.
 

Step 1: Open Pay details

Go to People → Team member → Employment then select Edit. 

Navigate to the Pay details section.

Step 2: Add the missing Pay details 

From this section, you can assign locations to pay details or create a pay detail.

Step 3: Re-approve the timesheet

Return to the timesheet where you were receiving an error message and approve it again.

Once the location is linked to valid Pay details, the timesheet should approve successfully.

Best practices to prevent this error

Below are two recommendations to help prevent this issue from impacting future payroll processing:

Always update Pay details when assigning new locations

When adding a work location to an employee profile, make sure the location is configured in their Pay details.

Assigning a location under Work Details alone is not sufficient for payroll processing.
 

Audit employees after adding new locations

This issue mainly occurs when:

• New stores or sites are added
• Employees transfer locations
• Seasonal teams move between locations
• Admins bulk-update work locations

Conduct periodic audits to ensure all active work locations are included in employee Pay details.