Revised 11.16.20
New Program Update: A program update is now available for printing California Supplemental Covid-19 Paid Sick Leave Balances on payroll check stubs.
Go to Tools > Check for Updates to download and install the update.
IMPORTANT NOTICE: This update contains new internal fields in the payroll check file. That means the Data File update process will take longer than other updates. We recommend installing the update on your server. Then, open each database/company from the server before opening the software on workstations.
Does AB 1867 affect my company?
In September 2020, Governor Newsom signed AB 1867 into law. The new law essentially seeks to fill the gap left by the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (which only applies to private sector employers with fewer than 500 employees).
It requires private sector employers with 500 or more employees in the United States to provide up to 80 hours of supplemental paid sick leave to employees. (Excludes employee’s who do not leave their homes for work.) The law also provides sick leave for health care workers and emergency responders that were exempt under the FFCRA and provides additional protections for food sector workers.
Unless Congress or the State Legislature extends Covid leave, this will expire on December 31.
New Pay Stub Requirements
The bill incorporates certain provisions of the existing CA sick leave law, including its pay stub requirement (Labor Code 246(i)). Labor Code section 246(i) states that employers must provide employees with written notice of the amount of paid sick leave they have available on their itemized wage statement, or in a separate writing provided on the designated pay date with the payment of wages. This requirement also applies to supplemental COVID paid sick leave.
Federal vs. State Covid-19 Leave
Federal: Under the Federal Families First Coronavirus Response Act, employers with fewer than 500 employees are required to provide paid sick leave and expanded family and medical leave. Employers receive compensation for these wages through tax credits.
State: The CA state Covid-19 leave applies to employers with more than 500 employees. There are no tax credits for these wages, the employer is responsible for the costs.
How do I know which category I am in?
The DOL guidance points to counting employees at the time leave is to be taken. Therefore, it is possible that part of the year an employer may fall into the federal Covid-19 leave requirements and at other times under the state law.
Additionally, only specific types of leave taken under Federal law may count towards the state hours.
Review the reasons that count towards Covid leave.
Using the chart, you will see numbers one and two of the State and Federal leave reasons are the same. The rest are different. It is important to know which reasons carry over and which do not.
Setting up California Covid-19 Leave Balances
Step 1
To identify the wages separately as California Covid-19 Leave, you need to set up a new Wage Type. You must use a separate Wage Code from the Federal Leave code because wages paid under the state law are fully taxable. You may also want to set up a separate Job ID or Cost Center*.
*Farm Labor Contractors may not want to use a separate Cost Center/Crop ID for Covid-19 Leave in order to link the wages to a Cost Center/Crop ID that is linked to a Grower for billing purposes.
Step 2
Define a New Leave Type for the California Covid-19 Leave. Go to Payroll > Setup > Paid Leave Type Setup.
Add a new entry for California Covid Leave. Select California Covid in the Leave Type entry.
Select the Wage Type used for the CA Covid Leave and G/L account that will be used for the Wages and Job ID.
You may specify a Crop/Cost Center, or as mentioned above you may leave the Cost ID blank if you will be allocating wages to Cost/Crop ID’s specific to a Grower.
Step 3
Calculate hours available/hours used.
Go to Payroll > Setup > California Covid-19 Leave Balance Setup.
When you open this window, only employees that have received a check since Jan. 1, 2020 will be displayed.
Based on the law, full-time employees are eligible for up to 80 hours of sick leave. Part-time employees receive either their normal weekly scheduled hours for 2 weeks or an average based on the last 6 months.
Click here for specific details on this calculation from the DIR FAQ page, question 16.
There are two options available for auto-assigning available hours. These options will not override any data currently entered on the CA Covid-19 Leave Balance Setup window.
1. Auto Calc Avail/Used
Use this option to calculate the available hours (up to 80) based on the average hours worked over the previous six months. If an employee was previously paid California Supplemental Covid Leave wages, the software will calculate the average from the six months prior to the day they took CA Covid Leave.
Note: The amount of hours made available to variable hour employees is based on the average over six months prior to the leave taken. However, because the bill incorporates check stub printing requirements, a balance available has to be calculated to print on the stub.
2. Auto 80/Calc Used
This option will simply apply 80 hours of available Covid-19 wages to all employees that have worked, regardless of their previous hours.
In both methods, if you had previously paid California Covid OR EPSL 1 or ESPL 2 wages, the program will apply those hours to the Used hours and calculate the balance accordingly.
Update Hours Used
This option is only used for updating the hours used column. You can use this option if you correct the paid leave type setup and only need to recalculate used hours. It will override any information currently entered in the Used Hours column based on your account leave setup.
Start Over
ONLY use this option if you want to clear out ALL the information from this window and re-calculate. You will lose any data you have entered. This cannot be undone.
What if you paid leave under Federal (FFCRA) law and are now under state rules?
Previously paid Supplemental Covid Paid Sick Leave under Local, State, and Federal laws can count toward the State obligations, as long as the reason falls under the state law. This would allow you to count hours paid under EPSLA reasons 1 or 2, to the state allotted hours.
If you did not set up individual job codes for different types of paid Covid leave, you will need to manually review the reasons leave was taken by each employee. Then adjust the hours used as needed.
Check Stub Printing
The California Supplemental Covid-19 Leave Balance will appear as “Covid Hours” below/after your normal sick leave balance, depending on which print settings you are using.
Questions
Please contact our support department with any questions.
Support@DatatechAg.com