Can unused leave be paid out?
Leave types carry an encashable flag, marking which allowances an employer's policy permits to be paid out rather than taken. The flag is a marker on the type, so the answer sits in one place. The amount itself comes from the employer's policy and pay process.
Encashment is a real distinction between leave types and worth recording, because the answer differs by type within the same company.
An annual allowance is commonly encashable where an emergency allowance is not, since one is a deferred benefit and the other is a contingency.
Marking that on the type keeps the answer in one place, instead of in a paragraph somebody has to find and interpret each time.
The flag answers whether. Turning days into money is the job of the pay process, working from the policy.
That split keeps the answer clean. The flag says whether a policy permits the exchange. How much, when and under what conditions belong to the policy.
Those three answers live in the leave policy, which sits in the published set alongside the others. The flag is a pointer to the policy, not a substitute for it.
Benefit records carry a similar marker, showing whether each benefit is included in the payroll export. It records the same kind of decision, once, in one place.
The two flags are easy to mix up, so it helps to say them apart. One says whether an allowance is paid. The other says whether unused days can be traded rather than taken. A type can be either, both or neither.
Read the flag first, then the policy. The flag answers whether. The policy answers when, how much, and on what terms. Neither answer is in the other place.
The flag says a policy permits encashment. Whether a particular request is granted, and under what conditions, stays with whoever handles it.
Read the flag on the relevant type before assuming either way, then check the policy for the conditions. The flag answers whether; the policy answers when and how much.
Related questions
Which types are encashable?
Whichever an administrator has flagged. The flag sits on the leave type configuration alongside the annual quota and the paid or unpaid marker.
Where is the amount decided?
In the employer's leave policy and pay process. The flag marks which types qualify; the policy sets the terms.
Is encashment the same as carry-over?
No. Carry-over moves unused days into a new period. Encashment ends them in exchange for something the employer's policy defines.