Setting Up Payroll to Track Emergency Paid Leave Act of 2020

Setting Up Payroll to Track Emergency Paid Leave Act of 2020

The Federal Government recently passed H.R. 6201, Families First Coronavirus Response Act.  A part of this Act, Emergency Paid Sick Leave, provides local government employees with the ability to be compensated for leave related to COVID-19.  To learn more about this act, click here.  The following are qualifying reasons:
  1. The worker has a current diagnosis of COVID-19.
  2. The worker is quarantined (including self-imposed quarantine), at the instruction of a health care provider, employer, or government official, to prevent the spread of COVID-19.
  3. The worker is caring for another person who has COVID-19 or who is under a quarantine related to COVID-19.
  4. The worker is caring for a child or other individual who is unable to care for themself due to the COVID-19-related closing of their school, child care facility, or other care program.
Employers are being asked to initially front the costs of emergency paid sick leave.  They will then be fully reimbursed by the federal government within three months.  Currently, it appears that wages paid, employer's contribution to the employee's health insurance premiums, and employer's share of taxes for FICA will be reimbursed during the period of leave according to the limits set.

SETUP A LEAVE CODE TO TRACK THIS TIME SEPARATELY
  1. Open Payroll | Organization | Leave Rate.
  2. Click the New button on the toolbar.                                                        
  3. Enter a Rate number, Description, and Abbreviated description.                                                                                                                                                                        
  4. At the bottom, click the ellipse button under Monthly period numbers.
  5. Uncheck all Pay Periods by clicking on 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5 at the top.
  6. Click OK.
  7. Click on the Levels tab.
  8. Click the Add a new level button.
  9. Provide a Description, enter "80" in the Rate/Amount field, and "80" in the Accumulation limit field.                                                                                             
  10. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
  11. Click OK to save the record.

SETUP A PAY CODE TO TRACK THIS TIME SEPARATELY
  1. Open Payroll | Organization | Pay Code.
  2. Determine what pay code number you would like to number this new pay code.  The fastest and easiest way to create a new pay code is to copy an existing one.  Find a similar pay code (e.g. sick leave) that you can copy.
  3. Once you have that Pay Code selected, click the Copy button on the toolbar.  
  4. Enter a Pay code and Sub code number.
  5. Click OK.
  6.  Change the Title and Abbreviated Title to something more descriptive (e.g. Sick Leave - COVID-19).  
  7. If you are using Clarity, follow these steps.  If you are using Connect, continue with step 8.
    1. Click on ellipse button next to the Calculation order field.
    2. Click Sort A-Z.
    3. Click OK.
    4. Change the Leave rate to the rate created in the previous section.
    5. Change the Leave level to level 1.
  8. If you are using Connect, follow these steps.  If you are using Clarity, continue with step 9.
    1. Click on the Leave Rates tab.
    2. Click the Add a new leave rate button.
    3. Select the Leave rate created in the previous section.
    4. Click OK.
  9. Click the Close button to save the pay code.

EXCLUDE THIS NEW PAY CODE FROM BEING INCLUDED IN THE EMPLOYER'S PORTION OF SOCIAL SECURITY
  1. Open Payroll | Organization | Pay Code.
  2. Find the Social Security pay code.  Typically, this pay code is pay code 74-00.
  3. Click on the Employer tab.
  4. Click on the Used for Calculation subtab.
  5. Click the Select pay codes button .
  6. Select the Pay Code created in the previous step under Selected items.
  7. Click the <- Deselect button to move the Pay Code to Available items.
  8. Click OK.

ADD PAY CODE TO EMPLOYEES
  1. Open Payroll | Employees | Modify Existing Employees.
  2. Find the employee you need to add the pay code to.
  3. Click on the Pay Codes tab.
  4. Click the Select pay codes button. 
  5. Double-click on the Pay Code on the left.  This will move it to the Selected Pay Codes column.
  6. Click OK.

ACCRUE HOURS FOR THE EMPLOYEE
Once the pay code has been added to the appropriate employees, you can accrue the 80 hours for those employees.  Follow these steps:
  1. Open Payroll | Employee | Enter Leave Time Adjustments.
  2. Enter the Employee, Pay Code, and the number of hours to accrue (i.e. 80).
  3. Repeat step 2 for each employee.

CREATE AN ACTIVITY TO TRACK THESE COSTS
To track employees' wages and benefits related to the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act, you may want to consider creating an Activity in the General Ledger.  By setting up an Activity, the related benefits to these wages will be recorded into this Activity making it easier to report and claim reimbursement.  To setup an Activity to track these costs, follow these steps:

      Turning Activities On
We need to tell the system that we are in need of utilizing Activities in the various modules.  If you have used Activities in the past, you can skip this section and go on to the next.  
  1. Open General Ledger | Organization | Organization.
  2. On the lower left side of the screen, check the Use activity reporting checkbox.     
  3. Click the Close button.
  4. Open Accounts Payable | Organization | Organization.
  5. Click on the Interfaces tab.
  6. Click on the General Ledger sub-tab.
  7. Check the Allow activity reporting checkbox.
  8. Click the Close button.
  9. Open Payroll | Organization | Organization.
  10. Click on the Interfaces tab.
  11. Click on the General Ledger sub-tab.
  12. Check the Allow activity reporting checkbox.
  13. Click the Close button.
      Creating a General Ledger Activity
Now, we need to create an Activity to track these expenses.  Follow these steps:
  1. Open General Ledger | Activities | Setup New Activities.
  2. Provide an Activity number.  This is the number that will be used whenever we want to code an expense to this Activity.  It does need to be numeric.
  3. Provide a Title.
  4. Change the Beginning period to a period where you will begin to track expenses.  You may want to start this at 01/20.  No expenses prior to this date will be able to be recorded to this Activity.  You do have the ability to change this date at any point.
  5. Change the Ending period to period in the future.  Keep in mind that no expenses after this date will be able to be recorded to this Activity.  You do have the ability to change this date at any point.
  6. Click the Save button on the toolbar.
  7. Click Yes to add the record.



RECORDING EMPLOYEE TIME
Finally, we are ready to record time for this purpose.  To record time, it will depend upon whether you enter your time through Payroll or if employees utilize miTime to record their time.  Click on the appropriate link below to learn more about entering time to this Pay Code and GL Activity.



REPORTING ON EMPLOYEE TIME
Click here to learn more about reporting on the amount of wages and benefits associated with the Emergency Leave Act of 2020.


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