Year End Update Adds Ability to Change Sick Pay Anniversary Dates

We have made a few major changes to our sick pay system. The first one you will notice is that all of the sick pay options are now found under Payroll-> Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance. This will allow you to find all of these windows in one central location. But that was just one of many changes.

We have received many requests for the ability to change an employee’s sick pay anniversary. In most cases, employers want to be able to sync their employee’s anniversary dates. This would cause all of their employees’ plans to start and rollover on the same day. Therefore, Datatech is happy to introduce this ability in the 2017 Year End Update. This is already live and ready to download. This article will provide instructions on how to successfully update an anniversary date and it will go into some of the other features introduced to sick pay with this update.

Updating an Anniversary Date

The Sick Pay Anniversary Update Window has been added to the program and can be found at Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance->Sick Pay Anniversary Update. See this widow in the following screenshot:

This window’s main purpose is to update anniversary dates. However, you can also use it to switch plans; for more information on this, contact Datatech customer support for additional documentation or see the in-program help.

To update a plan’s anniversary date follow these steps:

1. Open the Sick Pay Anniversary Update window.
2. Select the plan you would like to update in the Current Plan ID.  Press [F4] to access the plan list.
3. Enter the desired starting date in the New Starting Date entry. Press [F4] to access a date picker.
4. Now enter the SAME plan ID in the New Plan ID entry.
5. Enter a date in the Employees Paid On or After are Current Employees entry. Only employees that have been paid on or after this date will have their anniversary dates updated. The rest will remain unchanged until they return to work.
6. Finally, Click “Start”

After you finish these steps, the program updates all of the current employees that are assigned that plan. Make sure to use the Employees Paid On or After entry because that is what determines whether an employee is current or not. The program only updates current employees.

Important Note: Do not change anniversary dates until after you have completed the final payroll in the current year. The accrual for the previous year needs to be completed before doing the rollover. The accrual is finished when the checks are printed. So for those of you who want to synchronize anniversary dates in January, make sure you finish December’s payroll first.

Creating a Plan with a Fixed Anniversary Date

There is now the option to create a plan with a fixed anniversary date from the beginning. This option has been added to the Sick Pay Plan Setup window and is highlighted in red in the screenshot below.

When you are creating a new sick pay plan with a fixed anniversary date, enter that date in the Fixed Anniversary Dates, Starting entry. The program will automatically enter the ending date. Now all current employees that are assigned this plan will be given that anniversary date.

However, only current employees will be assigned this date. Employees hired after that date will still be assigned their hire date as their anniversary. Then when the fixed anniversary comes back around, they will be reassigned to that date. For that reason, a Prorate Lump Sum Hours to Anniversary Date option has also been included. This is highlighted in blue in the screenshot below. If this option is checked then the program will give late hires a prorated amount of sick leave. For instance, an employer offers a lump sum of 40 hours of sick pay. Most employees at the beginning of the year receive that, however, an employee is then hired July 1st. That employee would only receive 20 hours of leave because they only worked half of the year.

However, California and Arizona DO NOT allow prorating. Do not check this box if you are a California or Arizona employer. Make sure to check the laws of your own state.

The Set Up/Edit Sick Pay Balances Window

Another addition to the program will make it easier to make adjustments to sick pay. This is the Set Up/Edit Sick Pay Balances window. Find this window at Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance->Set Up/Edit New Sick Pay Balances. This window can be seen in the following screenshot:

This window is designed to rapidly make changes to individual employees. The top portion of the window controls which employees are displayed. This can be by Plan ID, Date Last Worked, Department, Active vs. Inactive, and displayed in Account or Name order. Once you have the employees that you want to display, navigate through the list using the page up/down key or by scrolling through the list. There is no search feature on this window.

Use this window to make changes to Hire/Work Dates, Anniversary/Available Dates, Assigned Plan, YTD Accrued/Paid and carryover.

Steps to edit an employee’s paid sick leave using this window:

1. Navigate to the employee you want to edit.
2. Go to the column you want to edit by using [Tab] or clicking into it.
3. Make the edit.
4. Tab through that line to save your changes. The changes will be automatically saved once you go to the next line.

The Sick Pay Adjustment Inquiry

Another window that has been added to make managing sick pay easier is the Sick Pay Adjustment Inquiry. Find this window at Payroll->Sick Pay Set Up/Maintenance->Sick Pay Adjustment Inquiry. This window allows you to look up employees to see any adjustment made to them. This includes changes made by the program, an adjustment, or Set Up/Edit New Sick Pay Balances window.

This window is for information only, you cannot edit anything on this window. However, you can print a Sick Pay Transaction report for any given employee by looking them up in the Employee # entry then clicking the Print button in the lower left-hand corner.

For More Information

There are a number of changes, not mentioned in this article. For more information on any of these topics please see the in-program help, contact Datatech customer support, or read the Year End Update notes when they are made available.