My worker already started. How do I set an assignment start date in the past?
Last updated: October 6, 2026
Applies to: staffing Partners, and client users whose role allows it, who create assignments in the Ascen platform.
Summary: You cannot choose a start date in the past when you create an assignment yourself. If your worker has already started, set the start date to today, submit the assignment, and email support@ascen.com with the date the worker actually started. We can move the start date back for you once the assignment has been entered. Ask straight away, because an assignment only has timesheets for days on or after its start date.
Why the date picker will not go back
When you create an assignment, the start date can be today or a date ahead. Only Ascen can set a start date in the past, which is why the earlier dates are not available to pick. There is also a limit on how far into the future a start date can be set, which is configured on your account.
Why it matters for pay
An assignment does not produce a timesheet for any day before its start date. Until the date is moved back, the worker’s first days have nowhere to go: the worker cannot enter them, you cannot enter them, and they will not appear for approval. To your client and to the worker it can look as if those shifts never happened.
The same thing happens in reverse. If a start date was set later than the worker’s real first day, for example to have the assignment ready in advance, the earlier days have no timesheet either. The fix is the same: email us with the correct date.
Please note, that Ascen's Form I-9 Policy requires employees to have their Form I-9 (section 1 and section 2) fully completed before they can start work.
What to send us
The worker’s full name as it appears on their Ascen record.
The client and the assignment.
The exact date the worker first worked. A request with a name but no date means another round of emails before we can act.
Whether any hours for those days have already been entered against a different assignment, or emailed to us.
Once the date is corrected, the earlier days open up and the hours can be entered and approved in the usual way.
Please do not work around it
Do not put the hours on a later date. Hours are paid and billed by the date they were worked, so moving them changes overtime and invoicing.
Do not delete the assignment and start again, or leave a second copy of it open. Two live assignments with the same details make it easy for hours to land on the wrong one.
Something else can still hold the first days
Moving the start date fixes the date. It does not override other rules about which days can be paid. For US W-2 employees, hours dated before the worker’s Form I-9 was completed are not accepted, even if the assignment starts earlier. See Why can't I submit my timesheet yet?. If the start date looks right and the hours still will not go in, email support@ascen.com and we will check what is holding them.
Who to contact
Changing an assignment’s start date, or hours that will not go in: email support@ascen.com.
The worker’s schedule and which days they work stay with you as the staffing Partner.