Request for Salary Hold
Request for Salary Hold is the written request to stop paying somebody from a date, with the reason recorded. It is the paper trail. It does not by itself keep him out of the payroll run.
What it is for
Salary is held for a reason that somebody has to be able to produce later: an inquiry has been opened, a man has stopped coming without resigning, equipment has not been returned. Holding pay on a verbal instruction is how a client ends up in a labour court with nothing in writing.
This screen is the record. One request per man, with the date the hold starts and the reason written out, so that six months on it is clear who asked for it and why.
Be straight with the client about what it does not do, because the name suggests more than it delivers. The payroll run does not read this request, and the Salary Block tick on Recurring Payments and Deductions is not read either. A man with a hold recorded against him is picked up by the next run exactly like everybody else, and his pay is calculated exactly as it would have been.
So the hold has to be applied by a person, and the client needs to agree which way before the first one happens. There are two honest ways:
- Hold it at the payment stage. Run the payroll as normal, and when the bank file or the cash list is prepared, leave him out of it. His payslip exists, the money is not released. This keeps his entitlement on the record, which is what you want if the inquiry clears him and he has to be paid in full.
- Hold it in the payroll. Raise an Employee Additional Payment Or Deduction line on a Credit wage type for the amount being withheld, so the run itself produces a net pay of nothing, and reverse it with a Debit line in the period he is cleared. Only do this if the client wants the hold visible on the payslip.
The first way is cleaner and is what most clients settle on. Either way, this request is the document that authorises it.
Every field, in plain words
| Field | What it means | What to put in it | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Request No | The request number | PYSH-000019 | Required. It numbers itself |
| Date | The date the request is made | 03 Feb 2026 | Required |
| Employee | Whose salary is being held | Zubair Ahmed | Required. Pick him from the list |
| Date From | The date the hold starts | 01 Feb 2026 | The date the hold is effective from, which may be earlier than the date of the request |
| Reason | Why the salary is being held | INQUIRY | Pick it from the Reason list. Have the client agree a short set of reasons so that a year of holds can be counted |
| Reason Details | The reason in full | Store stock discrepancy, inquiry committee appointed 02 Feb 2026, reference HR/INQ/2026/04 | Write it properly. This is the field that will be read back to somebody. Name the authority and the reference |
How to configure it
- Make sure the Reason list carries the reasons a client actually holds salary for, so the field is a choice and not free text.
- Agree with the client, before go live, which of the two ways above a hold is applied, and write it into their payroll procedure.
- Open the screen, pick the man, set Date From to the date the hold takes effect.
- Pick the Reason and write out Reason Details with the authority and the reference.
- Save.
- Apply the hold the agreed way, because saving this does not apply it.
Scenarios
A man's salary is held while an inquiry runs
Record the request here with the inquiry reference in Reason Details. Then run the payroll normally for the period - he is included, his payslip is produced, his pay is calculated in full. Leave him off the bank file. If the inquiry clears him, release the held amounts; if it does not, the amount comes into his Final Settlement as a recovery line, which you enter, with this request number as the reference.
We ticked Salary Block and he was paid anyway
That is what happens. Neither the tick nor this request keeps anybody out of a run. The hold is applied by the person preparing the payment.
He has absconded and we do not know if he is coming back
Record the hold, and leave his employee record alone until the client formally separates him. A man who is still active and whose resignation date is empty keeps being picked up by the payroll, so his pay keeps being calculated whether or not it is released. Once the separation is recorded with a last working date, Final Settlement is the screen that closes him out.
What it is connected to
- Needs the employee record and the Reason list.
- Related to the Salary Block tick on Recurring Payments and Deductions, which is also a record only.
- Payroll does not read either of them.
- A hold that becomes a recovery is entered as a line on Final Settlement.
If something looks wrong
- "We recorded a hold and he was still paid" - the run does not read this request. Hold the payment, not the calculation.
- "The Reason list is empty" - no reasons have been set up yet. They come from the shared Reason list, not from this screen.
- "We need to hold only part of his salary" - this screen cannot express a part hold. Use a Credit additional payment line for the amount being withheld, and note the request number on it.