EBMS includes many tools to calculate and manage a company’s payroll benefit pay such as vacation pay, holiday pay, sick pay, and etc. Benefit pay is often part of an employee’s benefit package and will vary on the payment plan of the employer. The following section explains the steps to create hourly benefit pay such as vacation or holiday pay for an employee. Benefit pay for a salaried employee that is paid above the annual salary amount uses the same setup procedures. Review the Payroll> Salaried Pay Overview section of this manual for details on recording benefit hours for salaried employees without altering their salary.
Benefit pay can include a fixed number of days or hours per year such as holiday pay or may vary based on the employee’s employment history. The following section will list some common benefit pay types but is not limited to the following options:
Holiday Pay
Complete the following steps to setup holiday pay for employees:
1. Go to Payroll> Options> Pay Types tab. Highlight the holiday pay type and click on the properties button to view an existing pay type or click on the Add button to create a new pay type.
2. Enter an easy-to-remember pay type Description for holiday pay such as "Holiday".
3. The Base should be set to Hour since holiday pay is based on an hourly rate.
4. The Type option must be set to Benefit since it involves benefit pay. This option instructs EBMS to track the total amount of hours and pay for a specific employee. If the user does not wish to track hour history for holiday pay, the Type can be set to Standard and all benefit features will be disabled.
5. The Reset Hours Available option should be set to At the end of calendar year option.
6. Turn the Carry unused hours to next year switch OFF since holiday hours are used on the holiday and cannot be accumulated into the next year.
Click on the OK button to save changes to the pay type.
7. Insert the holiday pay type into all the employee’s pay rate tables. Go to Payroll > Options > Adding and Deleting Employee Folders highlight the Employee root folder or subfolder, and click on the Edit Defaults button. Click on the Pay tab to view the standard pay rates as shown below:
Note: To insert a holiday pay type into selected employees instead of all employees, replace the steps above by going directly into the employee record (Payroll > Employees) and click on the Pay tab.
8. Click on the Add Rate button if no holiday rate exists or highlight the holiday pay rate and click on the Properties button if the rate already exists.
9. Select the holiday Pay Type.
10. The Active option should be turned ON or this pay rate will not be used within the timecard.
11. The Work Code should reflect the benefit work code such as BENEFIT or BEN that directs the cost to a payroll overhead expense account.
12. Set the Rate Formula to Equal to so the pay rate equals the employee’s hourly rate. This setting can be set to an hourly amount if a fixed hourly rate is paid to the employee.
13. The Increment Condition should be set to Never since holiday pay is not incremented year after year as some other benefit pay such as vacation pay.
14. The number of holiday hours paid to the standard employee should be entered within the This Calendar Year field in the Hours Available section. The hours for the Current Year should = number of holidays * hours paid per holiday. Note that this value can be altered for individual employees if holiday hours are not consistent for all employees.
Click on the OK button to save the pay type.
15. Complete the following steps only to insert the holiday pay type into all employees.
a. Go to Payroll > Options > Employee Folders list.
b. Click on the Edit Defaults button and click on the Pay tab.
c. Insert the pay type into the Pay Rates tab as described above.
d. Right click on the new pay type as shown below:
e. Click the top option (Check this box to change existing data along with the folder defaults) ON to insert the new holiday pay into all employee records.
b. Save data and exit.
16. Go to the Pay tab of individual employees, highlight the Holiday pay rate, click on the Properties button, and change the Hours Available if holiday pay rates vary for each employee.
Set the Pay Type within the timecard to the holiday type whenever holiday pay is desired. The work code entered in step 2 will default within the timecard. Review the Payroll > Processing Payroll > Entering Timecards section for more details on entering timecards.
Vacation Pay
Vacation pay may be very similar to holiday pay although additional management tools are needed to record the amount of vacation days available for each employee. Complete the following steps to setup vacation pay:
1. Go to Payroll -> Options -> Pay Types tab. Highlight the vacation pay type and click on the properties button to view an existing pay type or click on the Add button to create a new pay type.
a. Enter an easy to remember pay type Description such as "Vacation".
b. The Base should be set to Hour since vacation pay is normally based on an hourly rate.
c. The Type option must be set to Benefit since it involves benefit pay. This option instructs EBMS to track the total amount of hours used and available for each employee.
d. The Reset Hours Available option should be set to either:
· At the end of calendar year if the vacation hours for all employees are reset at the end of the calendar year
· At employee anniversary if the employee hours are based on the employee’s employment year and are reset at the end of the employee’s anniversary.
NOTE: The employee’s anniversary date is determined by the hire date found within the employee’s personal tab. If the anniversary date needs to be different then the hire date because of part time status changes, place the original hire date in the employee note area and change the hire date to the desired anniversary date.
· Never is used if the user wishes to zero and change the vacation hours manually. This option is not recommended unless a high level of user intervention is desired.
e. Turn the Carry unused hours to next year option ON if vacation hours may be accumulated from one year to the next; otherwise turn the option switch OFF.
Click on the OK button to save changes to the pay type.
2. Insert the vacation pay type into all the employee’s pay rate tables. Go to Payroll > Options > Employee Folder, highlight the Employee root folder or subfolder, and click on the Edit Defaults button. Click on the Pay tab to view the standard pay rates as shown below:
Note: To insert a vacation pay type into selected employees instead of all employees, replace the steps above by going directly into the employee record (Payroll > Employees) and click on the Pay tab.
3. Click on the Add Rate button if no vacation rate exists. Highlight the vacation pay rate and click on the Properties button if the vacation rate already exists.
a. Select the vacation Pay Type that was created in step #1.
b. The Active option should be turned ON or this pay rate will not be used within the timecard.
c. The Work Code should reflect the benefit work code such as BENEFIT or BEN that directs the cost to a payroll overhead expense account.
d. Set the Rate Formula to Equal to so the pay rate equals the employee’s hourly rate. This setting can be set to an hourly amount if a fixed hourly rate is paid to the employee.
e. The Increment Condition should be set to Never if the user wished to manually set the number of vacation pay each year. This is also the recommended setting for new employees. This setting can then be adjusted for each employee.
f. The Increment Amount and Hours Available settings should be set for individual employees as explained in subsequent steps. Click on the OK button to save the pay type.
4. Right click on the Vacation pay type and select Filter Down from the context menu. (These steps are necessary only to insert the vacation pay type into all employees.)
a. Click the top option (Check this box to change existing data along with the folder defaults) ON to insert the new holiday pay into all employee records.
b. Save data and exit.
5. Set vacation days for individual employees.
a. Open the Pay tab of an employee – go to Payroll > Employees > Pay tab.
b. Highlight the Vacation pay rate and click on the Properties button and the following dialogue will open:
c. Set the Increment Condition setting to Never to manually add to the standard annual allotment of vacation days. The Never setting will set the same number of vacation days each year. Set the option to Each Timecard or Beginning of Anniversary Year to automatically add vacation days each year.
d. Enter the increment Amount. For example, if an employee receives an extra vacation day each year the Condition should be set to Beginning of Year and the Amount should be set to 8 hours. Note that the system does not automatically create thresholds for incrementing vacation so the manual setting (Condition = Never) should be used for any unique vacation incrementing policy.
6. Enter the total number of vacation Hours Available This Year for the employee. The hours From Previous Years will be disabled unless the Carry unused hours to next year option is turned on within the pay type. See Payroll > Options > Pay Types tab > Properties to change this option setting.
Save changes and exit
Enter the vacation Pay Type within the timecard for each paid vacation day. The work code entered in step 2 should default to a benefit work code.
Click on the View Years button to view the timecards that contain vacation hours.
Print Benefit hours report to view benefit hour settings, balances, etc by selecting Payroll > Employees > Employee Benefit Hours from the main report menu.
Sick Pay
Sick Pay benefit pay is structured similar to vacation pay and can be managed similarly to vacation pay. Review the vacation pay section for details.
The benefit pay type should not be used to pay for 3rd party sick pay. Contact an Eagle Solutions consultant for details on configuring EBMS for 3rd part sick pay.
Personal and other benefit pay can be configured in a variety of ways. Contact your Eagle Solutions consultant for details on configuring unique benefit pay programs.