---
title: 'Overtime decision preferences'
summary: 'A default rule for how an employee wants their overtime treated at period close: cash payout, bank as time-off, or 50/50 split. Per-employee always wins over per-company.'
section: features
tags:
  - crud
  - tempus
  - overtime
updated: '2026-06-17'
---

> An **overtime decision preference** in Tempus is a **default rule for how an employee wants their overtime treated** at period close: pay it out as cash, bank it as compensatory time-off, or split it 50/50. It seeds the default split on each [overtime decision](tempus_overtime_decisions.md) so HR is not typing the same choice for every employee every period.

## Overview

A preference can be set per-employee or per-company, and the page lets you create, edit, and activate or deactivate them via the *is active* toggle without deleting. HR can still override the split on any individual decision regardless of the preference.

## What it does

At period close, the system resolves the preference in this order:

1. Active **per-employee** preference, if one exists.
2. Otherwise active **per-company** preference.
3. Otherwise the **tenant default** (typically bank as time-off).

So you set a company-wide default and let specific employees opt into something different with their own preference. Inactive preferences are skipped, and reactivating one restores it.

Resolution happens at period-close time, not when the preference is saved, so changing a preference does not touch a decision already generated. To apply a different split to a past period, edit that decision directly.

> [!WARNING]
> Per-employee always wins. A company-wide "bank as time-off" is overridden for any employee who has a per-employee "cash payout". To make them follow the company default, deactivate their per-employee preference.

## See also

- [Overtime decisions](tempus_overtime_decisions.md) - the decisions that consume these preferences.
- [Employees](tempus_employees.md), [Companies](tempus_companies.md) - the two preference targets.
- [Overtime periods](tempus_overtime_periods.md) - the trigger for preference resolution.