Why can't I submit time for a future date?

Last updated: October 27, 2026

Applies to: US W-2 employees, US independent contractors and Canadian T4 employees who enter their own time in Ascen. If you are an International EOR employee working outside the US and Canada, you can skip this: you do not enter time in Ascen at all, and your in-country HR partner handles time where your country requires it.

Summary: You can only enter and submit time for shifts that have already ended. Enter your hours after each shift ends, and make sure the whole week is in by your weekly deadline, which is the end of your workweek. Hours you are scheduled or planning to work cannot be entered ahead of time, even when you already know your schedule.

Why the portal will not take future hours

Your timesheet is the record of the hours you actually worked, so time can only be entered once it has been worked. If you try to submit time for a date that has not happened yet, or for a shift that has not ended, the portal will not accept it, and you may see a message saying you cannot submit time in the future. A shift that is still in progress will not accept time until it ends. This is expected and is not a fault with your account.

How to enter your time instead

  • Enter each shift after it ends. You can enter your time at the end of each day you work, or enter the whole week in one sitting once the week is over.

  • Do not enter planned or scheduled hours ahead. Even if your schedule is fixed, wait until each shift has been worked, then enter the start and end times you actually worked.

  • Use the real date. Do not put hours on a different date to get them to go through. Hours are paid and billed by the date they were worked.

  • Get the week in by your deadline. Timesheets are due by the end of your workweek, and your workweek is set on your assignment, so it can differ from a coworker's. Entering time as you go makes the deadline easy to meet. See When are timesheets due?, which also explains how this differs for independent contractors.

For the steps, see How to enter your time (when time entry is enabled) and How do I add time sheets?

If you email your hours to us

The same rule applies when you send your hours to timesheets@ascen.com: we can only enter hours for days that have already been worked. Send each week's hours once that week has been worked. If what you send includes days that have not happened yet, we cannot enter those days. For example, if you send last week's and this week's timesheets together on a Monday, we can enter last week's hours but not the days of this week that have not been worked yet, so send this week's timesheet again once the whole week has been worked.

Time off is requested separately

Time off works differently from worked hours. If you are an employee and plan to take paid time off or sick time, submit a time-off request from Time Off in your portal rather than trying to enter future hours on your timesheet. Ascen reviews the request. Also tell your staffing partner and your on-site supervisor about any days you will not be working, so your schedule is covered. See How to request time off. Independent contractors do not accrue PTO or sick leave through Ascen.

If the date has already passed and you still see the message

First, open Timesheets and look for the dates you were entering. If the entries are already there with the status Awaiting approval, your hours have been submitted and are waiting for your approver to review them, so you do not need to enter them again. See What to do when your timesheet is stuck in Awaiting Approval.

If the hours are not there, email support@ascen.com with:

  • the date or dates you are trying to enter

  • your start and end times, and any unpaid break

  • the assignment or client, if you have more than one

  • a screenshot of the message

We will look into it, and if you cannot get the hours in yourself, we can enter them for you. If your weekly deadline has also passed, see How to Submit a Timesheet After Missing the Deadline.

Who to contact

  • Ascen, support@ascen.com: you see the message for a date that has already passed, or you have other trouble entering time in the portal.

  • Ascen, timesheets@ascen.com: sending us hours you have already worked so we can enter them.

  • Your staffing partner: your schedule and which shifts you are expected to work.

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