Payroll systems · BambooHR
BambooHR Payroll
BambooHR's own documentation covers employees, hours and webhooks through the API. Access: Public docs, self-serve keys.
Integration method grade B · field-level docs publicly readable · last verified 2026-09-26 · BambooHR API — List Employee Benefits
What the API lets you do
| Question | Answer | Conf | What the documentation says |
|---|---|---|---|
| How do you get API access? | Public docs, self-serve keys | D | Users create API keys in BambooHR; multi-customer OAuth apps are registered in the Developer Portal. Source |
| Can you read employees and pay rates? | Yes — read and write | D | Fields include hireDate, jobTitle, payRate, payRateEffectiveDate and payType; compensation and jobInfo tables carry history. Source |
| Can you read pay statements? | Unverified | U | The documentation index lists no pay stub or payroll results endpoint. |
| Can you write a deduction? | No — benefits read only | — | The Benefits API states 'enrollment and benefit status changes are not currently supported through the API'. Source |
| Can you write a direct deposit account? | Unverified | U | No direct deposit or bank table or endpoint appears in the documentation. |
| Can you read W-2s? | Unverified | U | No W-2 or tax document endpoint appears in the documentation index. |
| Can you read hours worked? | Yes — Time Tracking API | D | List timesheet entries, clock entries and timesheet summaries, with create, update and approve. Source |
| Does it push change events? | Yes — employee events | D | employee.created, employee.updated (monitored fields) and employee.deleted; custom-table fields are not supported. Source |
| How does an integration authenticate? | API key or OAuth 2.0 | D | API key over HTTP Basic auth, or OAuth authorisation-code / OpenID Connect for apps. Source |
Deduction write, in detail
For benefits, HSA/FSA and 401(k) integrations. 3 of 10 fields are unverified — no public source states the answer. Compare every system on the deduction write detail page.
| Field | Value | Conf | Note — and what a correct answer needed |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deduction read | Yes — benefit deductions | D | GET /api/v1/benefit/employee_benefit (benefit scope) returns benefit deductions per employee, filtered by employee, company benefit or effective date. |
| Deduction write | Portal only (no API) | D | 'Enrollment and benefit status changes are not currently supported through the API'; admins edit non-benefit deductions on the Pay Info tab. |
| Pre-tax vs post-tax at write | Unverified | U | The employee_benefit response has no explicit pre-tax/post-tax field; types are grouped, but no field-level tax flag was found. |
| Amount vs percent | Amount or percent | D | employeeAmount with employeeAmountType ('%' or '$') and employeePercentBasedOn, plus cap and annual-max fields. |
| Effective dating | Start and end dates | D | deductionStartDate, deductionEndDate and enrollmentStatusEffectiveDate; deductions with payroll history are ended, not deleted. |
| Retro adjustment | Unverified | U | Start Now / End Now and reactivating one-time deductions are described, but not retroactive adjustment. |
| Employer contribution | Separate company fields | D | companyAmount, companyAmountType, companyPercentBasedOn, companyCapAmount and companyAnnualMax. |
| Code taxonomy shape | Hybrid | D | System deduction types (401(k), HSA, Section 125) with default codes, and company-configured benefit plans. |
| Auth model | API key or OAuth | D | Benefit endpoints need the benefit scope and Benefits Administration permissions. |
| Data freshness | Unverified | U | No public statement on latency between benefit changes and API reads. |
D vendor-documented · U unverified · — not offered. See every payroll system side by side in the Payroll API Capability Matrix.