To help us track time and entitlements for future leave requests, we ask that you provide historical transfer leave data for any leaves that started before your launch with Cocoon.
What You Need to Know About Transfer Leaves:
A Transfer Leave includes:
Leaves completed before the launch.
Active leaves that overlap with the launch.
In some reports, 'Active' may be labeled as 'Open'
Leaves with additional time planned after the launch (e.g., bonding periods).
You only need to provide information for the 12 months prior to your launch date. If you choose to provide data beyond 12 months, please note it may take extra time to compile from your team.
Tips for Proactively Preparing Transfer Leave Data
To ensure a smooth process, here are some key steps to take in preparing your transfer leave data:
Identify who will compile the data: Determine if it will be your previous leave administrator, a few members of your team, or both. You may need to involve your team even if your previous leave administrator handles the initial data collection.
Gather data from multiple sources: You may need to use a combination of reports from your previous leave administrator, your HRIS, and/or any internal systems where employees report the hours they’re taking off. Use our template to guide you on which fields are best to select for downloading reports.
Action the report close to your launch date: To minimize ongoing work, complete the task as close to your launch date as possible. This helps ensure that active (open) leaves with changing dates are minimized and allows you to ingest closed leaves (with final dates) as they are the best source of truth.
It's recommended to action this no more than 3-4 weeks before launch.
Review and add missing information: Even if your previous leave administrator managed the records, you may need to review or add additional details. Make sure the data is complete and up-to-date before uploading.
By preparing in advance, you can help streamline the process and avoid delays.
Building Your Transfer Leave Data for Ingestion
Step 1: Guidance on Completing the Transfer Leave Sheet
Download the template: Use the provided template to ensure all required fields are included and formatted correctly.
Please note that a basic template will be available in the upload tool. For additional guidance, it's best to use the template provided here within this article.
Enter the required data: Fill in the transfer leave details, such as leave type, dates, and employee information. Make sure to include any leaves that were completed, are active, or have additional time planned post-launch.
Reminder: Any net-new leaves that are due to begin after launch should not be included in this sheet. We recommend that these leaves be entered directly in Cocoon by employees so we can fully support them.
Review for accuracy: Double-check all entries to confirm the data is accurate and complete. Inaccurate or missing information can cause delays later in the process.
Refer to the instructions tab: If you're unsure about any fields, refer to the Instructions tab within the sheet for guidance on what data is needed.
Step 2: Finalizing Your Transfer Leave Data Before Upload
Before proceeding to Step 3, ensure you’ve completed either a census upload or set up your integration—which is part of your onboarding tasks. This allows us to link employees from your transfer leave data sheet. Additionally, your onboarding specialist will align with you to build leave rules that reflect your company policy alongside state and federal entitlements, as well as employee types where applicable (e.g., full-time, part-time).
Step 3: Next Steps for Uploading the Data Using One Schema in Cocoon
Select the Transfer Leave section: Log into your Cocoon admin account and navigate to the Settings section, locate and select the Transfer Leave section. Then, choose New Transfer Leave to open the upload tool.
Upload the file: Click on the upload button, select your completed transfer leave sheet, and submit the file.
Wait for upload completion: Please note that it can take a few hours for the upload to complete. Once you've uploaded the file, reach out to your Onboarding Specialist who can review and confirm that the data ingestion is complete.
Transfer Leave Data Ingested—What’s Next?
Once all leave data has been ingested, you can view the leaves in your Employer Dashboard. You can search for specific leaves by entering the employee's name at any time.
What’s Supported with Ingested Transfer Leaves
Employer and employee ability to view entitlements
Employee ability to edit leave and create a new leave leg within their employer policy and entitlements
If historical transfer leave data is provided by the employer, the date range will reflect any remaining leave time for the employee
Employee ability to request ADA handoff for medical leaves if they’ve exhausted their time
What’s Not Supported with Ingested Transfer Leaves
Pay support
Claims support
Compliance notices
Note: If an employee needs to take a new type of leave (e.g., transitioning from parental leave to caregiver leave), Cocoon will treat this as a new leave.
Employer Leave Detail View:
Employee Leave Detail View:
::Pending::
FAQ
What happens if I don’t upload the historical leave data?
What happens if I don’t upload the historical leave data?
Without historical leave data, our system has no way of knowing how much time your employees have already taken for leave and will assume that each employee begins with a “blank slate” that assumes they have a fresh balance of time from FMLA and your company’s policy. A “blank slate” means Cocoon’s platform assumes your employee has not taken any leave in the last 12 months and that the employee could end up getting more time (or pay) if in fact they had taken time in the last 12 months.
How will my employee know to set up an account and access their remaining balance?
How will my employee know to set up an account and access their remaining balance?
You can inform employees to create a Cocoon account. Once they do, their historical transfer leave data will be linked to their account. Employees will not receive any emails until they claim their Cocoon account. However, if an employee is on active leave and has not claimed their account, your team and their manager may still receive notifications, such as return-to-work reminders.
Below are sample comms for your team to edit and share with employees:
Hi [First Name],
Since you've previously taken a leave with [Your employer name], we’ve partnered with Cocoon to ensure accurate tracking of your leave entitlements by importing your past leave details.You can create your Cocoon account anytime, and once you do, your leave details will automatically be linked. There’s no need to sign up immediately unless you're currently on leave or need to make updates—but you’re welcome to create an account now to review your information.
Create your account at: app.cocoon.com/youremployerurl
Article: How to Create Your Cocoon Account as an Employee
Until you claim your Cocoon account, you won’t receive any emails. However, if you're currently on leave, your employer team may receive notifications, such as return-to-work reminders, based on the imported leave details.
I Need to Update a Date on an Ingested Leave
I Need to Update a Date on an Ingested Leave
If the leave was ingested before launch, please inform your onboarding specialist, and they can manually update the leave date. If there are multiple leaves, we may recommend deleting and re-ingesting them.
After launch, you can reach out to [email protected] for one-off leave updates if there was an error. However, we always recommend employees claim their Cocoon account to make any desired updates.
Why doesn’t Cocoon send compliance notices for existing takeover leaves?
Why doesn’t Cocoon send compliance notices for existing takeover leaves?
Because Cocoon does not have a record of any notices sent prior to an employee adding their leave to Cocoon, we cannot be held responsible for the accuracy of entitlement & employer policy calculations that previous vendors or in-house team members have done. This does not prevent us from offering leave date changes that are “in policy” with the employee’s entitlements.
Employers are obligated to send only one compliance notice so we would not want to send a second notice for the leave that already was approved by the employer or previous vendor.
Please note that the employer remains responsible for sending any required updated compliance notices –e.g., if the employer previously approved a subsequent leave leg but in the interim, the employee took another unanticipated leave and exhausted leave.
When would Cocoon be responsible for sending compliance notices for a Transfer Leave?
When would Cocoon be responsible for sending compliance notices for a Transfer Leave?
Cocoon will send compliance notices for a new leave that occurred while Cocoon is the leave administrator. For example, let’s say an employee was approved for a medical leave before Cocoon. The same employee takes a new leg for the previously approved medical leave (for the same condition), but also takes a new caregiver leave with Cocoon. In this case, Cocoon would send a compliance notice for the caregiver leave.
Why doesn’t Cocoon offer payroll calculations for existing takeover leaves?
Why doesn’t Cocoon offer payroll calculations for existing takeover leaves?
Due to limited insight and quality of data provided by previous leave vendors, Cocoon unfortunately cannot properly calculate previous pay balances paid out to an employee, including how much and from which source.
Due to this, employers will remain the main point of contact for pay for an employee with a Transfer Leave in Cocoon.
Why doesn’t Cocoon offer claims guidance for existing takeover leaves?
Why doesn’t Cocoon offer claims guidance for existing takeover leaves?
Due to limited insight and quality of data provided by previous leave vendors, Cocoon cannot reconcile what an employee has already been instructed from a past provider or an employer how to file claims or where they should file. We strongly advise that your employees follow the instructions they were previously given to complete their leave.
Due to this, employers will remain the main point of contact for claims for an employee with a Transfer Leave in Cocoon.
Any questions? Please reach out to the Support Team at [email protected]