---
title: "Deactivate a staff member"
description: "Remove someone from your active team without losing the records attached to their name, bring them back later, or erase their personal details."
type: guide
updated: 2026-10-09
canonical_url: https://help.nestlicare.com/owners/staff/deactivate-a-staff-member
roles: ["center_admin", "super_admin"]
platforms: [web]
---
When someone leaves, you **deactivate** them rather than delete them. Deactivating stops them signing in but keeps everything attached to their name (the check-ins they made, activities they posted, their timesheets), which is exactly what you want for your records and any licensing review.

## Deactivate

1. Go to **Staff & Time → Staff**.
2. On their card, open the **⋯** (**More actions**) menu and choose **Deactivate**.
3. Click **Deactivate Staff Member** to confirm.

Their access ends immediately, including any app they have open. Their card stays in the staff list, greyed out, with a **Deactivated** badge.

<Callout kind="tip" title="Clock them out first">
If someone is still clocked in, clock them out before you deactivate, so their day's hours are complete. Click **Profile** on their card, open the **Time** tab, and click **Clock out**.
</Callout>

## What stays

Nothing is lost. Their timesheets, payroll, the check-ins and check-outs they recorded, the daily activities they posted, their messages, and their staff documents all stay filed under their name. If an inspector ever asks who checked a child in on a given day, the answer is a real person, not a blank.

If the same person is also a parent at your daycare, their parent profile is separate and stays as it is.

## Bring someone back

Find their greyed-out card in **Staff & Time → Staff**, open the **⋯** menu, and choose **Reactivate**. If they've forgotten their password, see [A staff member forgot their password](/owners/staff/reset-a-staff-password).

## Erase someone's personal details

Use this only when a former staff member asks for their personal data to be removed. It is only offered after they are deactivated.

1. On their greyed-out card, open the **⋯** menu and choose **Erase personal details**.
2. Type the name shown to confirm, then click **Erase personal details**.

Their name, email, phone, photo, date of birth and emergency contact are replaced with placeholders. Their timesheets, payroll, training and documents stay as your records.

<Callout kind="danger" title="Erasing can't be undone">
After you erase someone's details, you can't reactivate them or get the details back. If they come back to work for you, add them as a new staff member.
</Callout>

## Troubleshooting

**I don't see Deactivate.** Only owners, super admins and center admins can deactivate staff. If the menu shows **Reactivate** instead, they are already deactivated.

**I can't find someone I deactivated.** They are still in the staff list, greyed out with a **Deactivated** badge. There is no separate Inactive filter.

**They could still see the app after I deactivated them.** Their access ended the moment you confirmed. Anything they try next is refused, and they can't sign back in.