Plan defaults:

• Creates a "bucket" of 480 hours of paid sick time (60 days, 12 weeks)

Applicable Plan Usage Dates:

• Accrual Plan Start Date: 4/1/2020 
• Accrual Plan End Date 12/31/2020 (Optional 1/1/2021 - 9/30/2021)​
   

COVID 19 – Emergency Paid Sick Leave (2 weeks/10 days/80 hours of paid leave)

 

Configuration

To make this process as easy as possible, Avionte has deployed the new FFCRA Accrual plans and associated transaction types to be automatically available for all branches. An administrator will, however, need to turn on the associated DRMs that can be used to help track sick leave balances.

DRM Setup

To turn on the COVID-19 DRMs:

1. Navigate to Admin Tools > Data Requirement Message
   
   
   1. Filter the selection of DRMs by entering the word "COVID" into the Stored Procedure filter cell. You should find three COVID-19 related DRMs:
      
      

      DRM Stored Procedure	Description
      ppv_CheckForCOVID19Limits	This error will fire in Payroll if the employee reaches one of the dollar limits for the sick leave accrual plan.
      tbv_COVID19LeaveWithNegativeBalance	This error will fire in Time Entry batch verification if an employee will reach a negative balance in hours for their COVID-19 sick leave accrual.
      tbv_COVID19DaysWorked	This error will fire in Time Entry batch verification if the employee reaches the days or hours limit for their COVID-19 sick leave accrual.

      
      
      
2. Select a DRM from the list to turn on. It is recommended you turn on all DRMs related to COVID-19.
   
   
   
   
3. Ensure a check mark is in the Active box in the New Data Requirement Message area. 
4. Turn this DRM on for your branches by placing a check mark in the far-right column of the corresponding row of each branch that will use the DRM.
   
   
5. Click Save to save changes.

Repeat steps 2-6 for all COVID-19 DRMs.

 

How to Use

If an employee will be receiving sick pay for COVID-19 purposes, the first step is to add the sick leave Accrual plan to the employee's record. Then, you will need to use certain transaction types in Time Entry and payroll to pay the employee for their time used and deplete their accrual balance appropriately.

 

Employee Setup

To add a COVID-19 sick leave accrual plan to an employee's record: 

1. Open the employee's record through an Employee search. For Employee record access instructions, visit the Employee Search article.
    
2. Click the "+" icon next to Payroll in the Employee sub-menu. The Payroll option expands to display additional options.
   
   
3. Open Accrual from the Employee sub-menu.
   • A grid displays showing any plans that are already applied to the Employee. There may be none. 
   • By default, the Accrual Info tab is shown, displaying fields that can be used to apply a plan to the employee's record.
     
     
4. Click New Accrual
   
   
5. Select one of the COVID-19 accrual plans from the Accrual Plan drop-down menu. 
   
   
   • COVID 19 – Emergency Paid Sick Leave (2 weeks/10 days/80 hours of paid leave)
   • COVID 19 – Emergency FMLA (12 weeks/50 days/480 hours of paid leave)
     
     
     
     
6. Click Save Accrual. Any values included in the selected plan will be applied to the employee.
   
   
   
   
   
   The COVID-19 Accrual plan is now applied to the employee's record and will transact according to the plan's configuration.

 

Voluntary Continuation of FFCRA Leave (4/1/2021 - 9/30/2021)

The new American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) gives employers the option of extending voluntary FFCRA benefits to September 30, 2021 (as opposed to March 31, 2021) and extends the available tax credits during that time as well. For those employers choosing to provide benefits (and taking related tax credits), there are new benefits added to the FFCRA leave to be aware of. Specifically:

• Additional hours of paid sick leave: employers may now voluntarily provide an additional 10 days of paid sick leave to employees, even if employees previously exhausted their allotted 10 days of paid sick leave prior to April 1, 2021, and the employer previously took tax credit for that paid leave.  In other words, after March 31, 2021, the 80-hour per employee limit will reset and employees are entitled to a fresh set of 80 hours of leave. This means that an employer can claim tax credits for FFCRA paid sick leave voluntarily provided to an employee on or after April 1, 2021, even though the employee exhausted FFCRA paid sick leave entitlements prior to March 31, 2021.
• Additional Qualifying Reasons for Leave: employees can now take paid sick and family leave for (1) vaccine appointments, (2) complications due to receiving the vaccine; or (3) the employee is seeking or awaiting the results of a diagnostic test for, or a medical diagnosis of, COVID-19 and such employee has been exposed to COVID-19 or the employee's employer has requested such test or diagnosis.
• Expansion of FFCRA Paid Family Leave to Include Paid Sick Leave Qualifying Reasons: Qualifying paid family leave reasons now also include all of the qualifying paid sick leave reasons (e.g., quarantine or treatment due to COVID-19 diagnosis or symptoms, care for a family member with COVID-19 diagnosis or symptoms, etc.). Previously, only absences for childcare due to COVID-19 school or place of care closure or childcare provider unavailability, qualified for the 10 additional weeks of FFCRA paid family leave beyond the two weeks of FFCRA paid sick leave.
• Emergency paid family leave cap increase to $12,000: An employer also can receive up to a $12,000 tax credit per employee for qualifying FFCRA paid family leave absences. This maximum cap has been increased from its prior ceiling of $10,000 per employee. Correspondingly, the ARPA has removed the initial two week unpaid period of family leave under the FFCRA.

Manually reloading or resetting the refreshed leave banks 

• Reload a depleted accrual balance:
  
  1. Select "Add" from the Employee Accrual page
  
  2. Enter necessary accrual amount to reload balance to 80 hours (ex - add 54.00 hours to the 26.00 balance to = 80.00)
  
  
  
  
• Reset a depleted accrual balance:
  1. Right-click the accrual & select Delete Accrual Plan
  
  
  2. Select "COVID 19 - Emergency Paid Leave" from the Accrual Plan dropdown & Save Accrual
  
  
  3. Balance will begin again with a full 80 hours
  

 

Paying Employees for FFCRA Leave

Now that a COVID-19 sick leave accrual plan has been added to the employee's record, you may pay this employee for this leave using specific transaction types. 

 

Entering Transactions in Time Entry

Follow the steps below to enter the employee's sick leave time in Time Entry: 

1. From the Main Menu, navigate to Back Office > Time Entry. 
   
   
2. Select an accounting period from the Accounting Period drop-down menu. 
   
   
3. Create a new Time Entry batch to enter employee's sick time if one is not already open.
   
   
4. Click Create Transactions
   
   
5. Click Sheet View from the sub-menu. Transactions will display in the grid.
   
   
6. Locate the transaction for an employee who will be receiving sick pay under the FFCRA. 
   
   
7. Right-click the employee's name in Sheet View
   
   
8. Select Insert Transaction Type.
   
   
   
   
9. Place a check mark in the box under the Choose column next to the proper transaction as outlined in the table below:
   
   

   COVID-19 Accrual Plan Name	Transaction Types to Deplete Balance
   COVID19 - Emergency FMLA	FFCRA - Emergency FMLA FFCRA - ARPA FMLA (effective 4/1/21)
   COVID 19 – Emergency Paid Sick Leave	FFCRA - Employee FFCRA - ARPA Employee (effective 4/1/21) FFCRA - Dependent Care FFCRA - ARPA Dependent (effective 4/1/21)

   
   
10. Click Insert Items.
    
    
11. Enter the hours that the employee used of their sick leave accrual in the Pay Unit column. 
    
    
12. Enter the employee's pay rate for the sick leave time in the Pay Rate column.
    
    
    
    
13. Verify and close the Time Entry batch as normal.
    
    
14. Process the employee's payroll in Back Office > Payroll as normal. 

Please note:
FFCRA payments are NOT subject to employer portion of Social Security taxes (effective 4/1/2021 FFCRA - ARPA transactions will be subject to FICA ER if utilized).

When processing payroll, you may have a DRM fire that mandatory taxes are missing. To continue with payroll processing, change the DRM to Warning instead of Severe. 

To do that, go to Admin Tools > System > Data Requirement Message: 

Change the Error Type to Warning. Save. 

There is an additional DRM to be aware of. It also fires in Payroll for those using the new FFCRA transaction types. It is SP: ppv_CheckForTaxAmountEquility. The message it shows is the following: "All Med EE Tax must equal to Med ER AND FICA EE Tax must equal to FICA ER."

Reporting

Below is a list of Standard Reports & Advanced Queries that are helpful to view who has used COVID-19 leave hours and the # of leave hours processed in Back Office. 

• Pay Bill Only Transaction
• Processed Transaction Detail AQ
• Time Entry Batch by Accounting Period Date
• Time Entry Sheet View

Additionally, there is required reporting for the CARES Act, specifically for the PPP loan program and other tax credits.  Useful reports include: 

• Accrued Hours AQ 
• Check Register AQ
• Taxes Summary AQ