Do I submit a timesheet if I didn't work?

Last updated: November 4, 2026

Applies to: Workers who enter their own time in the Ascen portal: US W-2 employees, Canadian T4 employees and US independent contractors. If your staffing partner or a gig app sends in your hours, you do not submit timesheets yourself, and international employees outside the US and Canada follow their in-country schedule, so this does not apply to them.

Summary: No. If you did not work any hours in a week, you do not need to submit a timesheet for that week, and you can ignore the weekly reminder email for it. Only enter and submit time for days you actually worked.

Why you still get a reminder

The Weekly Timesheets Reminder is sent automatically, on a schedule, to workers with an open assignment. It does not know whether you worked that week, and there is no setting to switch it off, so you can get one for a week with nothing to enter. See I already submitted my timesheet: why did I still get the weekly reminder email?

What happens if you submit nothing

  • Nothing else is needed from you. Pay is based on approved time, so a week with no hours has no paycheck for that week.

  • Weeks you do work are unaffected. Enter your hours for those weeks as usual and submit them by your deadline. See When are timesheets due?

If you go several weeks without work

An assignment with no time submitted against it for a long stretch can be closed automatically. That is not a termination, and it does not stop you from working again. If you are a W-2 employee, you may receive a Notice of Separation when it happens. See What a Notice of Separation means (and why it doesn't affect future assignments).

If your assignment was closed and you have work coming up, tell your staffing partner so they can restart it before you need to enter time. You can also email support@ascen.com and we will look at it.

When this is not your situation

Where to get help

  • Your staffing partner: your schedule, whether there is work for you this week, and getting your timesheet approved.

  • Ascen (support@ascen.com): pay, your account, and anything about your assignment record. For hours you missed the deadline for, use timesheets@ascen.com.

Related