Field Types

There are a number of field types that are supported in the BambooHR system. The API attempts to balance the conflicting goals of providing the raw data for these fields in a machine-readable format while simultaneously requiring as few API lookup calls as possible to accomplish a given task.

To eliminate the need for additional API requests, some data will be passed using human-readable plain text strings. Locale-specific settings will be ignored in the API in order to provide a consistent machine-readable format. All values are case insensitive.

Field TypesDescription
bool A boolean value, true or false.

Example: "true"
checkbox"yes" or "checkbox" will mark the checkbox checked and everything else will default to unchecked.

Example: "yes", "checkbox", "no"
country The name of the country. Must exist in the BambooHR country list.

Example: "Australia", "United States", etc.
currency A simple quantity value without thousands separators or currency signs using a period as a decimal point.

Example: "27000.00"

To add a currency code that is different from the company default, specify the code using the currency tag.

Example: “payRate”: { “value”: “27000.00”, “currency”: “EUR”}
date A complete date with a four-digit year.

Format: yyyy-mm-dd
Example: "2010-03-19"
einA standard Employee Identification number.

Example: "12-1234567" or "123456789"
email An email address.

Example: "[email protected]"
employee A reference to another employee expressed as preferred name-space-last name.

Example: "Robert Smith"
employee_access Enabled or Disabled.

Example: "Enabled"
exemptThe FLSA Overtime Status.

Example: "Exempt" or "Non-exempt"
gender The plain text name of the gender.

Example: "Male", "Female", or "Non-binary" (If expanded gender options are enabled)
integerA whole-number value.

Example: 1, -5, 100, 0
list The exact text for an option from a list. The option must already exist in the list to be used through the API.

Example: "Marketing"
marital_status Plain text status of marriage.

Example: "Single" or "Married"
paid_perThe employee's pay per value.

Example: "Hour", "Day", "Week", "Month", "Quarter", or "Year"
passport_expiryDate specific to a passport's expiration.
passport_issuedDate specific to a passport's issuing.
passport_numberA text passport number for any country.

Example: "A12345678" or "12AB12345"
pay_type One of several predefined options for the unit of pay.

Example: "Hourly", "Salary", "Commission", "Exception Hourly", "Monthly", "Piece Rate", "Contract", or "Daily"
phone A plain text string with a phone number, no formatting is enforced.

Example: "1-866-387-9595"
relationshipThe relationship of an employee to their dependent.

Example: "Spouse", "Domestic partner", "Child", "Foster child", or "Step child"
sinA standard 9-digit Canadian Social Insurance number.

Example: "123-456-789" or "123456789"
ssn A standard United States Social Security number, with dashes.

Example: "123-45-6789"
state The full name of the state/province.

Example: "Florida"
status The employee's employment status as used to filter employees in BambooHR.

Example: "Active" or "Inactive"
text Any valid UTF-8 sequence of characters.

Example: "I do not like green eggs and ham. I do not like them, Sam-I-Am."
textarea A larger section of text that can include line feed characters.

Example: "How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?"
timestamp The UTC time that an event occurred.

Format: ####-##-##T##:##:##+##:##
Example: "2012-10-17T20:27:17+00:00"