Operations
Parallel approval workflows: when admin can approve without participant
4 min read
Timesheet approval in California SDP follows a parallel-approval pattern: both the participant (or their Authorized Representative) and the FMS admin need to sign off before a timesheet can flow into payroll. The participant approves because they received the service; the admin approves because the FMS is the legal employer responsible for accuracy and compliance.
The happy path
Worker submits a timesheet → participant reviews and confirms → FMS admin reviews and approves → entry is ready for the next payroll run. Both parties have complete control. Both are auditable.
When the participant doesn't respond
Not every participant logs in to confirm every timesheet. Some don't have reliable internet. Some rely on an AR who's busy. Some are simply unresponsive. The FMS still has to run payroll on schedule.
FMSLio handles this two ways:
- Auto-escalation. If a participant doesn't respond within 7 days of a worker submission, the timesheet auto-escalates to the admin's queue. The admin can then approve without the participant confirmation explicitly recorded.
- Force approve. Before auto-escalation triggers, the admin can still override — useful when the participant has been reached out of band (phone, email, in person) and confirmed the timesheet but can't get to the portal. The override is captured in the audit log with the admin's identity and a timestamp.
Why the override needs to be explicit
FMSLio's primary Approve button is disabled when the participant hasn't confirmed and the timesheet hasn't auto-escalated. To approve, the admin clicks a separate "Force approve (no participant confirmation)" button, which opens a confirmation modal explaining the override. The split makes it impossible to bypass participant confirmation by accident — it's always a deliberate decision, always audit-trailed.
What this looks like at audit time
For each timesheet, the audit log shows the worker submission, the participant confirmation (or its absence + auto-escalation timestamp), the admin approval (with any override reason), and the payroll export. Across every timesheet across every participant, the chain is consistent and queryable. Audit prep stops being a multi-week document scavenger hunt.
Want to see how FMSLio handles this?
30-minute demo. We'll show your specific California SDP scenarios.