Datatech Accounting Software Webinar Training Day 2

Datatech Accounting Software

Webinar Training

Day 2 – Payroll Setup

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Datatech

1911 North Fine Ave

Fresno, CA 93727

Toll free (888) 222-DATA

Fax (559) 226-5418

www.DatatechAg.com

[email protected]

Revision Date: May 14, 2018

This manual was produced using ComponentOne Doc-To-Help.™

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Payroll Setup

This manuals covers the basics of setting up the payroll module for data entry.

The information was compiled from our Help documentation, but some items

have been simplified or edited for space reasons. If there are any questions on

items not covered in this manual, please refer to the Help documentation (F1 in

your Datatech software) for complete details.

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TableofContents

PayrollSetup...............................................................................................3



Federal Tax Rate File ................................................................................................................................................ 5

State Tax Rate File .................................................................................................................................................... 7

Setup Wage Types ................................................................................................................................................... 10

Miscellaneous Payroll Deductions ........................................................................................................................... 12

Worker's Comp Table .............................................................................................................................................. 14

Employee History Codes ......................................................................................................................................... 17

Overtime Rules ........................................................................................................................................................ 18

Creating Sick Pay Plans ........................................................................................................................................... 20

Initial Assignment of Sick Pay Plans ....................................................................................................................... 34

Employees ............................................................................................................................................................... 40

Crews ....................................................................................................................................................................... 66

Crew Sheets ............................................................................................................................................................. 70

Crew Sheets Using an Excel Template .................................................................................................................... 72

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Federal Tax Rate File

The Federal Tax Rate Tables contain the annual table information for

calculating federal income tax deductions.

At the end of each year, Datatech sends a year end update to all customers

covered by a Software Support Agreement or under the initial warranty period.

This update includes tax rates for the upcoming year, so normally you should

not need to edit this information or manually enter it yourself. The following

window will appear when you select the Federal Tax Rate Tables option on the

Payroll Setup menu:

The tax tables contain the tax brackets for the annual wage totals. The program

uses the Pay Cycle setting on the Employee file to convert the amounts on these

tables for employees that are paid on a daily, weekly, biweekly, monthly, and

semimonthly basis.

G/L Accounts

The fourth tab page has the settings used by the Payroll Journal for updating the

general ledger, and the vendor account for writing federal tax deposit checks:

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Enter the general ledger liability account used to accrue the taxes payable

for each tax. Press [F4] or click on the lookup button to get the general

ledger selection list.

If you do not have any ag employees, you may leave these account numbers

blank.

If you have both ag and regular employees, be sure that the account

numbers you use for both types are different. If the same account numbers

are used for both, then the amounts will be combined and duplicated on the

payroll tax deposit window.

Vendor For Tax Deposits

Name Key / Vendor Name

Enter the name or name key of the vendor account or the vendor name for

your federal tax deposits. Click on the lookup button or press {F4] to get a

selection list of vendors.

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State Tax Rate File

The state tax rate file keeps track of state taxes for each year that you have

payroll records for. In addition, if your company employs workers in multiple

states, this file can keep track of different tax rates and tables for each state.

The State Tax Rate File option is found on the Payroll Setup sub-menu.

Other Taxes

The second tab page contains additional information needed to calculate state

withholding as well as the State Unemployment, Disability, and local taxes (if

applicable).

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State Unemployment Insurance

SUI Rate

If your state taxes the employer for unemployment insurance, enter your

rate here. Since this may varies from employer to employer, this rate is not

included in Datatech's end-of-year tax updates. The rate should be entered

as a decimal value, not a percentage. For instance, 5.4% would be entered

as 0.054.

Training Tax

If there is an additional training tax besides the SUI rate, enter it here.

SUI Wage Limit

Enter the limit for unemployment wages for this state.

FUI Credit Reduction

When a FUI Credit Reduction rate is entered in the State Tax Rate Table,

the 940 Form will automatically mark the Credit Reduction box, calculate

the amount of credit reduction and fill out the Schedule A (Multi-State

Employer and Credit Reduction Information).

You can also have the program accrue liability for the FUI credit reduction

and if you are a labor contractor, include the FUI credit reduction rate in the

FUI tax billed to growers. These behaviors are controlled by settings in the

Program Setup window.

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G/L Numbers

Enter the general ledger liability accounts for each of these payroll taxes.

Each tax must have its own general ledger account. Press [F4] or click on

the lookup button to get a general ledger account selection list.

Not all account numbers are required. If you do not enter an account for the

ETT Payable, then any training tax accrued will be include with the SUI

amount and posted to the SUI Payable account.

If you do not have any local withholding, it is not necessary to enter an

account number. Examples of local withholding are the Worker’s Benefit

Fund tax in Oregon and the L&I tax in Washington.

The Worker’s Comp account is not required either. If you do not enter an

account number here, then the Worker’s Comp Payable account will be

used that is entered in Tools->Program Setup->General Ledger->Account

Numbers. Enter an account here only if you are a multi-state employer and

you want to accrue worker’s comp insurance separately for each state.

Name Key

Enter the vendor name key to write state tax deposit checks. (e.g. the

Employment Development Department in California, or the appropriate

agency in your state.)

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Setup Wage Types

This window is used to define different how various pay types are taxed and

handled by the program. Most users will not need to add any entries to this file.

A standard set of wage types in included when the software is installed (see

Standard Wage Type section below for a list).

Standard Wage Types

The following wage types are automatically set up for you. You should not

modify or delete these entries, but you may set up new entries.

Code Description

RH Regular Hours

OT Overtime Hours

DT Double-time Hours

SA Salary

CO Commission

BO Bonus

PW Piecework

MW Minimum Wage Payment

PO Overtime Piecework

GP Guaranteed Wage Piecework

GW Guaranteed Wage Payment

BH Base Hourly (Incentive Pay)

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IP Piecework (Incentive Pay)

HO Paid Holiday

SP Sick Pay

VA Vacation Pay

RH, OT, and DT are used for hourly wages. When employees have overtime

and/or doubletime wages, separate lines are entered with each wage type. The

program automatically multiplies the pay rate you enter by 1.5 or 2.0

respectively, for overtime and doubletime wages.

When entering piecework wages, use PW as the wage type and you will be enter

both the number of house worked and the number of pieces. The program can

then use this information in minimum wage verification calculations.

In cases where you have a base hourly pay rate plus a piecework incentive

bonus, use the BH and IP wage types together (each wage type is entered on a

separate line). By using these wage types, you can distinguish these wages from

straight hourly wages or piece rate only wages. The minimum wage verification

calculations are still done, but the wages entered under the base hourly pay type

are combined with the incentive pay wages.

The salary, commission, bonus, and paid holiday wage types should be self-

explanatory. These wage types are provided for other types of compensation

that aren't covered by hourly or piecework wages.

The sick pay and vacation pay are treated differently by the program if you are

accruing sick and/or vacation time/pay. By default the accrual is based on

wages, but you can change this to accruing by hour in the Program Setup. When

accruing wages, you should enter 1 for the Units and the amount to pay under

Rate. When accruing by hour, enter the number of hours under Units and the

employee's regular hourly pay rate in the Rate column.

When a regular check is printed for an employee, the wages or hours are added

to the employee's accrued vacation and/or sick pay totals. When a check with

the vacation and/or sick pay wages types is printed, the wages or hours are

subtracted from the accrued totals.

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Miscellaneous Payroll Deductions

The payroll system allows you to deduct non-tax items from employee

paychecks, such as deductions for tools, child support, garnishments, 401(k)

plans, etc. A deduction type must be set up for each different kind of

miscellaneous deduction you have.

The deduction type only needs to be set up once. For instance, you may have

several employees with a child support deduction, but you only need to set up

one entry in the Miscellaneous Deduction file. Then you can set up the child

support deduction on each employee account where it is needed.

To open the Miscellaneous Payroll Deduction window, go to the Payroll option

on the main menu, select Setup, then select Setup Misc Deductions:

Each deduction type is listed on a separate line.

Deduction #

In the first column enter a number from 1 to 99.

Description

Enter a description for the deduction. This description will appear on the

payroll check entry and the employee's check stub.

If you have some employees set to print Spanish language check stubs, a

second description column can be enabled where you can enter the

description to use on Spanish language check stubs. To enable this column,

right click on the grid and select the Enable Spanish Descriptions option.

G/L #

Enter the general ledger account number to use when updating the total

deduction from employee checks. When you print the Payroll Journal and

update it to the General Ledger, this general ledger account is used. The

general ledger account may be an asset, liability, income or expense

account, depending on the nature of the deduction.

An asset account is typically used for deductions for advances or similar

situations where the employee owes the company money.

Liability accounts are normally used when the money that is withheld on

behalf of the government or another company. Amounts withheld become a

liability because you must pay them to someone else. For instance, child

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support payments withheld must be remitted to the district attorney or state;

back taxes must be paid to the state or federal governments; 401(k)

deductions must be remitted to the company that administers your

retirement plan.

If an amount withheld represents income to the employer, an income

account would be used. For instance, if an employer provides housing for

some employees, a rent deduction should be posted to an income account.

An expense account is normally used when the amounts withheld are

offsetting an expense the company has incurred. For example, a company

that pays for half of the health insurance premiums will expense the bill for

health insurance to an expense account. Amounts that are withheld from

employees paychecks are posted (as credits) to the same account, reducing

the total expense for the company.

Wage Type

For some deductions, such as 401(k) or cafeteria plans, wages that are

withheld are not subject to certain taxes. You can specify the wage type

that corresponds with the deduction in this column. (The wage type is what

tells the program which taxes the wages are not subject to.)

Active

This checkbox will determine whether or not this deduction type is

calculated for all employees with this type. For instance, if you have a one-

time deduction for tools, you can disable the deduction by unchecking this

box after the deduction has been made. On the next checks, the Tools

deduction will not be taken out.

Column

This specifies which column amounts for this deduction type will appear in

on the Miscellaneous Deduction Report. This setting is not currently used.

Heading

This is the heading that will appear at the top of the Miscellaneous

Deduction Report. This setting is not currently used.

Cost Center

When the Payroll Journal updates the general ledger, the credits amounts

that are posted for miscellaneous deductions normally do not have a cost

center. In some situations you may want these transactions to be assigned

to a cost center, and you can enter the cost center to use in this column.

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Worker's Comp Table

The Worker's Comp table allows you to set up multiple workers’ comp rates for

any combination of crop and job. Generally, for farming operations, each crop

may have its own rate. However, if you are able to pay a lower rate for some

jobs (for example, weeding in an orchard may have a lower rate than harvesting

in an orchard) then you can set up different rates based on the job.

In addition to setting up rates by crop, you can also set up the worker's comp

class codes and their rates, which allow the Worker's Comp Report to provide

subtotals by the class code. So if for example you have six different vineyards,

the Worker's Comp Report will not only give you a total for each vineyard, but it

will also give you a single total for all vineyard work.

If you have a non-farming operation, then you can base the worker's comp rates

only on the general ledger expense account for the employee's labor.

In addition to setting the worker's comp rates, this table is also used by the

Payroll Journal to specify the general ledger accounts to update the employer's

worker's comp expense and payroll tax expense amounts to. The Worker's

Comp Table option is on the Payroll, Setup menu. When selected, the following

window will appear:

If you are using the Farmer’s or Labor Contractor’s Office, the Workers Comp

entries will be created when you set up your Cost Centers or Fields. Before you

set those up, it is recommended that you set up the W/C Codes on the second

tab. This way, you can assign the Code to each cost center/crop that is entered.

See the Worker’s Comp Classes section below for more information on setting

up your codes.

Worker's Comp Classes

The second tab page on the Worker's Comp window allows you to enter the

class codes, descriptions, and rates for your various workers’ comp rates.

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Code

Enter the code here. This can be up to eight letters or numbers.

Description

Enter the description for this code here. It will print on the Worker's Comp

Report summary.

Rate

Enter the rate here. This will be used as a default when you are making

entries on the W/C Rates tab. Also, if you are changing the rate on an

existing class code, the rate will be updated on the W/C Rates table

automatically. This means that when you worker’s comp rates change; you

do not need to manually edit each line on the W/C Rates table.

Copying G/L Expense Numbers

If you’re g/l accounts are modified after cost centers/Crops have been created

and assigned to workers comp classes, to copy the general ledger account

numbers that are entered on the current line to all lines in the worker’s comp

table, press Ctrl+G.

How the Worker's Comp Table is used

This table is used to determine the worker's comp rate to apply to labor, as well

as the payroll tax expense account and worker's comp. insurance expense

account to use for accruing taxes and worker's comp.

By setting up this table correctly, you can separate ag and non-ag payroll tax

expenses, or keep separate payroll overhead expenses for different divisions of

your business (for example, keeping farming and dairy payroll expenses

separate).

The key to doing this is to set up the information in the first three columns so

that the program will use the entry that you want. In the simplest example, with

farm-only payroll, you may leave the first two columns blank on each entry, and

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simply enter the cost center in the third column. The program will select a line

to use based on the cost center entered on the payroll check.

To extend this example, suppose you have an office worker who has a different

worker's comp rate (and you want to keep the payroll overhead for office wages

separate from farm wages). In this case you should have a general ledger

expense account for office wages, and you would enter this in the first column,

and leave the job and cost center columns blank. The program will match the

office wages general ledger account entered on the check to this entry, and thus

will use it for the worker's comp rate and general ledger expense accounts.

When determine the entry in this table to use, there is a specific order that is

used to search the table. The program will use an entry from the table based on

the first entry that matches:

1. The general ledger account, job code, and cost center

2. The general ledger account and cost center

3. The job code and cost center

4. The general ledger account

5. The cost center

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Employee History Codes

The Employee History table allows you to record events for each employee

account with a series of user-definable codes to define the event. The History

table is located on the History/Benefit tab page of the Employee Setup window.

The Employee History Codes window allows you to set up the codes and

descriptions that are used on the history table. A default set of pre-defined

codes will be included on the initial installation, and you may edit, delete or add

to this list.

Find this window at Payroll->Setup->Employee History Codes, the following

window will open.

Code

Enter a 1 or 2 character code for each entry. Codes must be unique.

Description

Enter a description for this code. The description will appear in the drop-

down list on the Employee History grid.

Rehire

Check this box if this code will be used for a rehire event. Rehire record

will result in the employee being reported on the New Hire report. In

addition, the Rehire Employee dialog window will require you to select one

of the codes marked as rehire events when recording a rehire record.

Term

Check this box if this code will be used for any type of termination (fired,

laid off, end of season, etc.). When you use the Terminate button on the

Employee Entry window, the Terminate Employee window will list only

the codes that have the Term box checked to select the reason for

termination.

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Overtime Rules

The Overtime Rules feature allows you to enter all hourly wages using the

Regular Hours (RH) wage type, and then have the program determine which

employees should be paid overtime and/or doubletime wages. Overtime and

doubletime pay is based on limits defined for each day, the entire week or how

many days the employee has worked.

On the Daily Payroll entry

window, right click on a

line to get the popup menu

and select the Apply

Overtime Rules… option.

Then select which set of

rules you want to use from

the lookup.

Overtime rules can be applied to entries on the Daily Payroll window. After you

enter the time for all employees on a crew for the entire week, you can apply the

overtime rules to the daily payroll entries, print reports to verify totals are

correct, and then create checks.

You can set up different sets of overtime rules to apply to different groups of

employees. This is typically done when you have employees covered by

different wage orders. For instance, the rules for field workers may be different

than the rules for employees that work in a packing shed.

To use the Overtime Rules features properly, you must be familiar with the

overtime requirements set by the state and/or federal governments. If you are

not sure if your overtime rules are set up correctly, we suggest you enter test

lines in the Daily Payroll window and apply your rules. Check the results to

make sure the program has added the correct number of overtime and/or

doubletime hours.

To set up overtime rules, go to the Payroll menu and select the Utilities option.

On the Setup sub-menu, select Overtime Rules. The following window will

open:

As you can see from the window, there are two types of rules that the program

applies: rules applied to each day and rules that apply to the entire week. For

the rules applied to the entire week, there are two types of rules: rules that are

based on the number of hours that are worked, and rules for the number of days

worked.

The rules are applied in a “bottom-up” order to each day in the pay period. If

you specify the number of days an employee must work to receive either

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overtime or doubletime wages, those rules are applied first. Otherwise, the

program will check the totals hours worked for the entire week to see if overtime

or doubletime wages should be paid. If the limit for the week has not yet been

reached, then the program checks the limits for the day to see if overtime or

doubletime should be paid.

Note: If you do not need to pay overtime or doubletime over a certain number

of hours worked in a single day, enter 99 for the number of hours for each day.

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Creating Sick Pay Plans

The first step in using our Sick Pay system is to create sick pay plans. These will

then be assigned to employees to provide the parameters for their sick pay. Each

state that requires sick pay have different standards that must be met and most of

that information will be entered when you create the Sick Pay plans. So it is very

important to enter this information accurately.

How Many Sick Pay Plans Do I Need?

For some, one plan will suffice, but others will need to create multiple plans.

You will need to define more than one plan if:

1. Some employees will use the accrual method, while others will use

the lump sum method (also known as frontloading).

1. You have different plans for different classes of employees.

2. You have different classes of employees that have different

schedules. For instance, office employees that work 8 hours per

day, and field workers that normally work 10 hours per day.

3. You have employees in multiple states.

Important Note: For employees that work in multiple states, the sick pay

plan assigned to them must cover the requirements of BOTH states.

For example, an employee works in both Oregon and Washington.

Oregon requires 1 hour per 30 hours worked, whereas Washington

requires only 1 hour per 40 hours worked. So in this case, the sick pay

plan assigned to that employee must give 1hour sick pay per 30 hours

worked because it fulfills both requirements.

So in our example above, if that employer had some employees that

worked only in Washington, some employees who worked only in

Oregon, and still other employees that worked in both, the employer

would then need to have 3 different sick pay plans. One for

Washington, one for Oregon, and one hybrid plan that would cover

requirements for both.

Sick Pay Plan Setup Window

Find the Sick Pay Plan Setup window (as seen in the screenshot) by navigating

to Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance->Sick Pay Plan Setup.

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The example entry you see above is for a standard 8 hour per day, 40 hour per

week employee, using the accrual method.

The entries are as follows:

Plan ID

This is a unique ID for this plan. Once entered, you cannot change it. You

can use a maximum of four alphanumeric characters.

Plan Description

Enter a description of the plan, for your own use. As you can see from the

example, in the description we have identified the type of plan (accrual) and

hours worked per day.

State

Enter the two-letter abbreviation for the state. This is optional if you only

have employees in a single state. If you have employees that perform work

in multiple states, this entry will determine whether or not employees

accrue sick pay depending on the state in which they work.

When an employee works in one or more different states and the sick pay

plan uses the Accrual Method, the program will only accrue sick pay time

on checks that are issued in the state that matches the sick pay plan’s state.

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If you leave the State entry blank, then the program will accrue wages on

checks issued in any state.

If you do enter a state, then you can also check the Accrue Sick Pay on Out

of State Wages box to accrue wages on checks issued in any state.

Method

Select Accrual or Lump Sum Pre-Funded for the method of determining

sick pay hours.

See the Lump Sum Method (also known as frontloading) and Accrual

Method Sections following this one for more information.

Accrual Rate

If the method is accrual, enter the accrual rate as a decimal.

Do not enter a rate if you are using the lump sum method.

See the Accrual Section immediately following this one for more

information.

Salary Hours/Week:

This entry is used for salary employees that do not have their hours tracked

elsewhere. The program will use these hours to determine the accrued sick

pay for each week they work. But only when the employee is using a wage

type that has “Salary” as its base wage type.

Enter the number of hours they are credited for each week worked.

Normally this would be 40 hours.

If you have salaried employees that regularly work more hours per week,

you will need to set up a sick pay plan that defines their default hours per

week.

There are states that require tracking hours for salaried employees (Oregon

and Washington). If that is the case, you would probably have your

employees set to the “Piecework” base wage type and their hours would be

entered on their payroll checks. The “Salary Hours/Week” entry is for

the Salary base wage type only.

Waiting Period to Accrue (Days)

California, Arizona, Oregon, and Washington do not allow a waiting period

to start the accrual of sick pay, so this should be left blank (0).

Waiting Period to Pay (Days)

Each state’s law allows you to have a waiting period before the employee

may begin using the sick pay. This is from the date that employment starts.

Each state determines their own waiting period. For now, most states use 90

days, but this is subject to your state’s laws.

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This entry allows the program to calculate the date on which the employee

may begin using the accrued sick pay and prevent the payment of sick pay

before that date.

Discard Sick Pay Accrual (Days after Termination)

Each state’s law provides that an employee that is laid off, then returns

within a certain time period (varies by state), must have any unused sick

pay accrual reinstated. If they return after that period of time, the accrual is

discarded. This is handled automatically during the check entry or rehire

process.

For California and Washington, this entry should be set to 365 days

For Oregon, this entry should be set at 180 days (6 Months).

For Arizona, this entry should be set at 270 days (9 Months).

(Above suggestions are based on laws as of 1/1/18)

Maximum Sick Pay Accrual (Hours Accrued)

Each state’s law provides that an employer may cap the number of sick pay

hours accrued at a certain amount. If you wish to provide a higher cap, you

may. Enter that number here. More information can be found in the Accrual

Method section following this one.

This is required to use the accrual method. Also, do not forget to include

this in your company’s written policy.

Maximum Allowed Sick Pay per Year (Hours Used)

Each state has a different Usage Cap for sick pay. This is how many hours

an employee can USE of their sick pay. This is not the same as the Accrual

cap discussed previously. Typically, employees can accrue more time than

they can actually use in one year. If you wish to provide a higher cap, you

may.

Sick Pay Average Rate Lookback Period

This entry controls how far back the program looks when calculating pay

rate based on the lookback method. More on this method is found below in

the Rate of Pay for Sick Pay section.

This entry will vary be by state. Some states do not use he lookback

method, others look back over a different length of time. Consult the Sick

Pay Requirements Table, online resources, or a legal professional for more

information pertaining to your state.

Sick Pay Work Gap

This entry controls the work gap allowed when fulfilling waiting periods. If

someone stops working for equal to or longer than this entry, their available

date will be pushed back by that amount of time they were not working.

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For instance, an employee has a 90 day waiting period and a 14 day work

pay gap. He works 4 weeks and then misses 20 days of work. His available

date will then be 20 days later than it was originally, or 110 days after his

start date. This is because he missed work longer than his Sick Pay Work

Gap.

Had our example above only missed 13 days or less, his available date

would have remained the same. He would have been able to use his sick pay

at 90 days instead of 110.

Fixed Anniversary Dates, Starting

If you would like to use a fixed anniversary date instead of the employee’s

hire date as the anniversary date, enter the date desired in this box.

However, this date will not apply to employees hired after that date. In that

case, the employee’s hired date will be used then that date will be updated

the next time the fixed date passes.

For instance, you set Jan 1

2017 as your fixed date, but you then hire

someone on the first of July. That employee’s sick pay plan will start on

July 1

and then will roll over on Jan. 1

2018.

For more information on fixed anniversary dates, see the section entitled

Sick Pay Anniversary Update.

Also, if a fixed date is used, you may be able to prorate your sick pay plan.

For more information on this, see the Prorate Lump Sum Hours to

Anniversary Date prompt below.

Default Sick Pay Rate to Use

This dropdown menu controls the default way the program will calculate

sick pay for this plan.

More on this topic can be found in the Rate of Pay for Sick Pay section.

Print on Check Stub

This dropdown controls what information is printed on the check stub and

where it is printed. Some states require this information to be printed on

each check.

There are five different options for this: Print Accrued/Available/Paid,

Print Available, Print Available and Accrued, Print Available and Paid, and

Everything.

The first four options listed (All of the ones that begin with “Print”) will

print this info below the YTD Totals on the left side of the check stub.

The Everything option will print the available, accrued, paid amounts,

anniversary date, and other plan information on the right side of the check

stub.

Prorate Lump Sum Hours to Anniversary Date

This checkbox is used in conjunction with the fixed anniversary date option.

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Check this box to prorate the paid sick pay for any employees hired after

the fixed anniversary date. This will prorate any sick pay given through the

lump sum method.

Example: You enter a fixed date of 1/1/2018 and use the lump sum method

to load everyone with 40 hours. Then you hire someone on 7/1/2018. They

will be given 20 hours of sick pay if you check the prorate box.

Accrue Sick Pay on Out of State Wages

If an employee is set up with a sick pay plan assigned to a certain state and

he will be paid sick pay on wages earned outside of that state, check this

box.

The determining factor for payment of sick pay by state is the state for

“State Income Tax”, as entered on the employees’ check, where an

employee is a multi-state employee.

Automatically Calculate Rate for Daily Payroll

When this box is checked the program will automatically calculate and

apply the correct sick pay rate.

This completes the entries needed for a sick pay plan, and the entry can be

saved.

Lump Sum Method

All four states that require sick pay have an option for Lump Sum payments,

also known as Frontloading. This is used instead of the accrued method and

allows employers to give their workers sick pay up front, each year. When this

method is used, it will restart every year on the anniversary date.

This option is used in the program by selecting the “Lump Sum” Method option

when creating the sick pay plan. When using this option, do not put an accrual

rate, the “Max Allowed Sick Pay per Year” will tell the program how much sick

pay to give for each year. However each state has their own requirements for

using the lump sum/frontloading method. As seen in the screenshot that follows.

(Example is for a California employer.)

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However, each of the four states have their own requirements for using this

provision. Those requirements are discussed below (current as of 1/1/18).

California

Employers can choose to pay a lump sum of 3 days’ pay. The term “3 days”

is relative to the amount of hours an employee works. If an employee works

10 hour days then they must receive at least 30 hours of sick pay.

There is, however, a 24 hour minimum. So, if an employee works only 6

hours a day, their sick pay will still be 24 hours a year instead of only 18.

Oregon

Employers can frontload their employees with at least 40 hours of sick pay.

Arizona

Arizona has two different thresholds for their lump sum requirements. For

large companies (15 or more employees), the state requires 40 hours.

For small companies (14 or less employees), 24 hours are required.

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Washington

Frontloading is allowed. However, Washington requires employers to

match how much an employee would have received if they were accruing.

This may change from employee to employee, depending on how many

hours they work.

This makes it difficult to accurately frontload the correct amount of sick

leave. For that reason, we recommend using the accrual method. Consult

your accountant or attorney for advice regarding lump sum in Washington.

Accrual Method

The accrual method is the typical method used for sick pay. Every state that

requires sick pay can use the accrual method. To use this method, select the

“Accrual” Method option when creating your sick pay plans. Then enter the

accrual rate as a decimal.

However, each state has different requirements for sick pay accrual. This refers

to both the accrual cap and the accrual rate. The accrual cap correlates to the

Maximum Sick Pay Accrual entry on the setup window. Following the

screenshot is a list of each state’s requirements.

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California:

The accrual rate has to be, at least, 1 hour of sick pay for 30 hours worked.

This comes out to a decimal of .033334

The maximum accrual cap can be set at a minimum of 48 hours, based on

an 8 hour day (6 days).

If the sick pay plan is for 10 hour per day workers, your cap must be 60

hours (6 days @ 10 hours per day). See the sample screen above that

demonstrates this.

Oregon:

The accrual rate is 1 hour of sick pay for every 30 hours worked. Just like

California. This comes out to a decimal of .033334

The accrual cap can be set to a minimum of 40 hours per year.

Arizona:

Just like their Lump Sum method, Arizona has two different thresholds for

their Accrual Cap.

Large Companies (15 or more employees) can cap their accrual as low as 40

hours per year.

Small companies (14 employees or less) can cap it as low as 24 hours per

year.

Washington:

Washington does not allow an accrual cap. At this time, to comply with the

laws, leave this entry at zero (or blank) to ensure that there is no accrual

cap.

Usage Cap vs Accrual Cap

The previous section mentioned an accrual cap that can be used when dealing

with sick pay. As mentioned previously, this limits the amount an employee can

accrue. In other words, how many sick pay hours an employee can stock up

within one year.

There is, however, another cap that employers need to keep in mind. This is the

usage cap. (This was mentioned briefly when discussing the Sick Pay Plan

Setup window.) A usage cap limits the amount an employee can actually use

within one year. This correlates to the Maximum Allowed Sick Pay per Year

entry in the Sick Pay Plan Setup window.

So it is important to remember that the accrual cap and usage cap are two

different figures.

Many employers wonder why an employee can accrue more than they can

actually use in one year. This is done so when the next year comes around, the

employee will already have sick pay accrued that he can use right from the start.

They can then use it before needing to accrue more sick pay.

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Each state that requires sick pay has their own standards for what this usage cap

may be. Following is a list of the current standards (as of 1/1/18) for the 4 states

with mandatory sick pay.

California:

An employer may cap the number of sick hours that are

available for the employee to use at 24 hours, based on an 8-

hour day (3 days).

If this sick pay plan is for 10 our per day workers, your cap

must be a minimum of 30 hours (3 days @10 hours per day).

See the sample screen that follows in this section.

Oregon:

The Sick Pay Usage cap can be set as low as 40 hours per

year.

Arizona:

Arizona has two different usage cap thresholds. Small

companies (14 employees or less) can cap the usage at 24

hours per year.

While large companies (15 or more employees) can set the cap

at 40 hours per year. So large companies must allow for more

sick pay usage.

Washington:

Usage caps are not allowed in Washington, however, an

employer can require notice of approved use.

Rate of Pay for Sick Pay

Each state that requires sick pay has a different way of calculating what the rate

should be for that time. The Datatech Payroll Software has a number of different

settings that can be changed to cater to each state. This section will go over

those settings, how each state should configure these settings, and how to use

them in actually paying out employees.

Selecting Rate of Pay When Entering Batch Checks

There is a quick and easy way to select the rate of pay on each check. On the

Batch Payroll Check Entry window, you can press Ctrl+R to open the

Calculate Sick Pay Rate window, which will automatically make two

calculations:

Check the “Use This Rate” box next to the rate that you want to use, then click

the Ok Button. That rate will be entered for you on the line item that you are

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currently on. This will calculate the employee’s current rate and the average rate

for that pay period.

The Calculate Sick Pay Rate window will automatically select one of the rates

to use based on settings in the Program Setup.

Setting the Default Rate of Pay

The Default Sick Pay rate to Use (on the Sick Pay plan Setup window) setting

controls which calculation the Calculate Sick Pay Rate window will choose

automatically.

Do not worry, these settings can be overridden on an individual basis when

entering the checks, using the method previously discussed.

There are four settings for the Default Sick Pay Rate to use:

Lookback Period.

The average hourly rate for the lookback period (Setting right below this

one) will be the default rate selected.

Regular Rate of Pay

The regular rate of pay for the current check will be used for the default

rate.

Higher.

The higher of the two rates will be selected as the default.

Lower.

The lower of the two rates will be selected as the default.

The Daily Payroll Batch Report will use these settings to automatically

calculate the sick pay rate to use when sick pay has been entered into Daily

Payroll. This means if the default rate to use is ok, there is no need to edit the

rate on the Batch Check Entry after checks have been created as before.

If you do not want the Daily Payroll Batch Report to automatically calculate

the sick pay rate for some reason, a setting on the Sick Pay Plan setup allows

you to turn this off:

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Suggested Settings for the Four States Requiring Sick Pay:

California

California law permits the use of two different methods of finding the Rate

of Pay. They can use either the current rate of pay that the employee would

have made or the lookback method. Therefore any of the sick pay rate

options will work for California employers.

If using the lookback method, California uses the last 90 days as their

lookback period.

Oregon

Oregon law states that employers should use the wages the employee would

have been paid, if known, for the period of time in which sick time is used;

or the weighted average of all regular rates of pay during the previous pay

period.

So the default option should be to use the current rate. If it is not known at

the time, it can be overwritten using the Keyboard shortcut Ctrl + [R] on the

Batch Payroll Check Entry window.

The lookback period should be enough to see the last pay period.

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Arizona

Taken from the Arizona State Website: “In the absence of statutory and

judicial guidance, the Industrial Commission is proposing rules consistent

with the following methods for determining hourly wage rate:

For employees with a single hourly rate

For employees paid on the basis of a single hourly rate, an

employer is required to pay the employee the same hourly rate that the

employee would have earned for the period of time in which sick time is

used. For example, if an employee’s hourly rate is $15 per hour, the

employer is required to pay the employee $15 for each hour of earned

paid sick time.

For employees with multiple hourly rates

If known, an employer is required to pay a multi-rate employee the

actual hourly wages that the employee would have been paid for the

period of time in which sick time is used. If unknown, an employer must

pay an hourly rate equivalent to the weighted average of all hourly

rates of pay during the previous pay period.

For salaried employees

Employers must pay a salaried employee an hourly rate equal to

the employee’s total wages earned during the pay period covered by

the salary divided by the number of hours agreed to be worked in the

pay period for which the salary is intended to compensate. If a salaried

employee’s hours of work vary from work week to work week, for the

purpose of calculating the same hourly rate to be used for the payment

of earned paid sick time, the employee is presumed to work 40 hours

per workweek.

For commissioned, piece-rate, or fee-for-service employees.

Such employees’ hourly rates are determined in the following

order of priority:

1. The hourly rate of pay agreed upon by the employer and the

employee, if an hourly rate of pay was previously established.

2. The wages that the employee would have been paid, if known,

for the period of time in which earned paid sick time is used.

3. A reasonable estimation of the wages that the employee would

have been paid for the period of time in which the earned paid sick time

is used.

4. The weighted average of all hourly rates of pay during the

previous 90 days, if the employee worked regularly during the previous

90-day period.”

As you can see, Arizona has a lot of different factors going into their pay

rate. We recommend setting the default to the current rate of pay but

overriding it when need be when entering the checks.

The lookback period should be set to 90 days.

Washington

For each hour of paid sick leave used, an employee must be paid their

normal hourly compensation.

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An employer must calculate an employee’s normal hourly compensation

using a reasonable calculation based on the hourly rate that an employee

would have earned for the time during which the employee used paid sick

leave.

An employer must apply a consistent methodology when calculating the

normal hourly rate of similarly situated employees.

The default setting for pay rate should be set to their regular rate of pay.

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Initial Assignment of Sick Pay Plans

After creating the sick pay plans, we must assign them to employees. When a

plan is first created, there will be a large number of employees to assign to that

plan. So the program has two different windows to use when performing that

initial assignment.

Which of these two windows you use depends on whether you have already

been using Datatech software or you are starting a brand new company.

The program must assign the sick pay plans differently depending on the history

of the employee. If there is no work history entered into the program then a

different method must be used. Which is why there are two different windows.

If you have already been using our software and have history entered into the

program, use the window found at Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance-

>Assign Sick Pay Plan to Employees, Existing Company and see the

corresponding section to follow.

If you have not been using our software or are starting a new company file, use

the window found at Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance->Assign Sick

Pay Plan to Employees, New Company and see the corresponding section to

follow.

Assign Sick Pay Plan, Existing Company

Find this window at Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance->Assign Sick Pay

Plan, Existing Company.

The purpose of this window is to do your initial assignment of sick pay plans.

IMPORTANT NOTE: DO NOT use this window to modify sick pay plans

after you have set them up and started issuing checks in the new sick pay

year.

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Plan ID:

Select the Plan ID that will be assigned.

The following selections determine which employees will be assigned this plan.

It is our recommendation that all employees, whether active or not, be assigned

a sick pay plan, so that if and when they are rehired, this information will

already be in place.

Any selections you make to limit the employees must all be met in order to

apply to an employee. For instance, if you check the Active Only box and the

Not Terminated box, an employee that is active, but has a date terminated in the

file will not be selected.

Therefore, make your selections carefully.

Department

Select a department to apply the plan ID to, or ALL if all employees will be

assigned the same plan.

Active Only

Checking this box will select only employees that are active. We

recommend leaving it unchecked.

Not Terminated

Checking this box will select only employees with no termination date. We

recommend leaving it unchecked.

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Anniversary

This is the date that the plan will go into effect. For the states that require

sick pay, the program will automatically enter an anniversary date based on

the state entered in the sick pay plan setup.

This date may need to be changed depending on your circumstances or

timing. However, the plan should go into effect as soon as legally required.

Current Employees Must Work Within (days)

A current employee is one that is currently working, for which the program

will calculate a Date Available. Due to variations in schedules, possible

temporary time off, or other factors, we have built in the ability to identify a

current employee by checking for a date last worked within X days of your

target date.

Enter number of days here.

Days of

Enter the date for determining a current employee here.

State for WHT

Enter the state for withholding for this plan.

Review your selections, and then if correct, click on the button labeled “Do It”.

This will then assign this plan to all employees that meet the parameters given.

How is the current employee status used?

If the employee is considered current, the program will calculate a Sick Pay

Date Available. This calculation will take into consideration whether or not the

employee has fulfilled the waiting period already.

If the employee is current, but has not fulfilled the waiting period, a Date

Available will be calculated based on the number of days remaining in the

waiting period.

If the employee is not current, a Date Available will not be entered. The Date

Available will be calculated if and when the employee returns to work.

Assign Sick Pay Plan, New Company

Find this window at Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance->Assign Sick Pay

Plan, New Company.

The purpose of this window is to do the initial assignment of a sick pay plan.

However, this window is only for customers that are just starting their

company file. This is either because they’re brand new to Datatech or they are

starting a new file and not keeping their old records. Do not use this window if

you have already been using Datatech software and already have work history

entered.

This window operates very similar to the Assign Sick Pay Plan, Existing

Customer window. However, because there is no work history in the program

yet, you must manually enter the Date Available and Date Last Worked. This is

discussed in further detail below.

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Plan ID:

Select the Plan ID that will be assigned.

The following selections determine which employees will be assigned this plan.

It is our recommendation that all employees, whether active or not, be assigned

a sick pay plan, so that if and when they are rehired, this information will

already be in place.

Any selections you make to limit the employees must all be met in order to

apply to an employee. For instance, if you check the Active Only box and the

Not Terminated box, an employee that is active, but has a date terminated in the

file will not be selected.

Therefore, make your selections carefully.

Department

Select a department to apply the plan ID to, or ALL if all employees will be

assigned the same plan.

Active Only

Checking this box will select only employees that are active. We

recommend leaving it unchecked.

Not Terminated

Checking this box will select only employees with no termination date. We

recommend leaving it unchecked.

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Anniversary

This is the date that the plan will go into effect. For the states that require

sick pay, the program will automatically enter an anniversary date based on

the state entered in the sick pay plan setup.

This date may need to be changed depending on your circumstances or

timing. However, the plan should go into effect as soon as legally required.

State for WHT

Enter the state for withholding for these employees.

Date Available

Set the date on which sick pay will be available. This must be manually

entered in the case of new companies because there is no work or payment

history in the program yet.

This will assign all the employees selected this availability date. However,

in some cases, this date may not be correct for all employees. If any

employees need to have a different available date, you can use the Set

Up/Edit New Sick Pay Balances window to make changes to the date

available and date last worked if need be. See that section for more detail.

Date Last Worked

Set the date that these employees have last worked. This is used along with

the date available to determine which employees can use their sick pay.

Like the Date Available entry, whatever date you enter may not necessarily

be accurate for all employees that it is assigned to. If you have employees

where this would be the case, fix the discrepancies using the Set Up/Edit

New Sick Pay Balances window. See the section with that title for more

information.

Why Might I need to Make Adjustments to The Available

Dates?

This window assigns the same available date to all employees that have been

selected. In most cases, it is quickest to assign this date to ALL of the employees

that will use this plan and then fix the ones that it won’t actually be available to

for some time.

If an employee has not actually fulfilled his waiting period, then you will want

to go back into the program and manually make those changes.

For example, if you assign a plan to start January 1

and include all current

employees, if there were employees hired in December then they would not

have finished there waiting period. So it would be beneficial to change their

available date to whenever their sick pay would actually be available.

Using the Set Up/Edit Sick Pay Balances Window to Quickly

Make Needed Changes

A window has been designed to help manually set up the available dates for

employees. Why this might be needed was discussed in the previous section.

Incases like the one mentioned earlier, there may be a large number of

employees that need to fixed. To do this, use the Set Up/Edit Sick Pay Balances

window. This is found at Payroll->Sick Pay Setup/Maintenance->Set Up/Edit

Sick Pay Balances.

39 | Page

That window displays a list of all employees. That enables you to make a large

number of edits by simply going down the list. However, for any other change,

we recommend using the normal Sick Pay Adjustment screen.

For more information on using that particular window, see the section Set

Up/Edit Sick Pay Balances in the in-program help.

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Employees

Before you can write payroll checks to a person, an employee account must be

set up for them. Selecting the Employees option on the Payroll menu will open

the following window where you can add new employees or edit the information

on existing employee accounts:

Personal Information

Account #

If you are editing an existing account enter the account number, press [F4],

or click on the look up button to get a look up list of employees.

When entering a new employee, the "Auto-Number Employees" option in

the Program Setup determines whether or not you assign the employee

account numbers yourself or whether the program will assign the next

available number.

If the "Auto-Number Employees" box is checked, you can leave the

Account # entry blank and the program will assign the next available

number automatically for you. You may also assign the account number if

desired. For example, you might want to reserve accounts 1-99 for your

crew supervisors, and number employees that do field labor starting at 100.

In this case, you would enter the first field labor employee with account #

100, and then every field labor employee after that will be automatically

numbered from that point on. If you are entering a new crew supervisor,

you can check to see what the next available account number is below 100,

and assign his account number manually.

41 | Page

If the "Auto-Number Employees" box is not checked, the Account # is a

required entry. You must enter a number for the new employee.

Name Key

The name key is used by the program to alphabetize employees. When

entering checks, you can also use the name key instead of the account

number to find employees. Because the name key can be used for finding

employee accounts, each employee’s name key must be unique.

When entering a new employee, you can leave the name key entry blank

and the program will create a name key automatically for you by taking the

first six letters of the last and first names. If an employee already exists

with the name key, the program will try using a different combination of

letters and numbers from the employee's social security account until a

unique name key is found.

You can of course enter the name key yourself. For instance, if you have

few employees, you may wish to enter the employees with a shorter name

key than the program would generate.

Social Security Number

The employee’s Social Security number must be unique. If you are entering

a new employee, and after the social security number is entered, another

employee’s name appears this number has already been entered under

another name.

To find an employee by their Social Security number, enter the number and

press [F9], press [F4], or click on the look up button to get a look up list of

Social Security numbers.

To help you keep track

of employees without

valid Social Security Numbers,

the Employee Lists Report has

an option to print a list of all

employee accounts that have

invalid social security numbers.

If an employee has not supplied you with a social security number, or has

supplied an invalid number, click on the button with the question mark just

to the right of the social security number entry. This will generate a unique,

temporary social security number for the employee account. The temporary

number will be 000-00-xxxx, where the "xxxx" is replaced with a unique

number starting at "0001". You can quickly and easily see which

employees have invalid social security numbers, since they will appear at

the beginning of any report printed in social security number order.

Active

If you are entering a new employee the Active button should be checked.

When an employee is no longer working with the company, the employee

should be set to inactive, so you can print reports and employee lists that

have only active employees.

Last Name

The program will automatically capitalize names and addresses. Because of

the requirements for electronic file reporting, leading letters (e.g. "O",

"Mc", ect.) must not be separated from the rest of the surname by a blank

space. For example: O’CONNELL should be entered OCONNELL, and

MC DONALD should be entered as MCDONALD.

First & Middle Names

Enter the employee’s first and middle names.

Mailing Address

This field is for the address you intend to mail the employee’s check.

42 | Page

City/State/Zip

Enter the employee’s mailing, city, state and zip code. (The state should be

the two letter postal abbreviation for the state.)

Phone #

Enter the employee’s telephone number. This field is an optional entry.

Street Address

If you need to keep track of a street address for the employee, click on this

button or press [Enter] when it is selected. The following window will pop

up for you to enter the street address:

If you don't need to enter a street address, simply press [Tab] when the

street address button is selected.

Date of Birth

This is an optional entry. The date should be enter in MM/DD/YYYY

format.

Gender

To choose the employee gender, click on the drop down menu button, and

choose either Female or Male. You can also simply press “F” or “M” to

select the gender.

Driver’s License # / Expiration Date

Enter the employee’s driver’s license number and expiration date, if

available. This entry is not required.

I9 Alien Reg. # / Expiration Date

This field is used for recording alien registration numbers. Employees with

a number will appear on the registered Alien Employee List, along with the

expiration date that you enter. Leave this blank if the employee is not a

registered alien.

Enter the date in which the employee’s registration number expires. Enter

the date in MM/DD/YYYY format.

Need Alien I9 Reg #

Check this box next to the Alien Reg # entry if you need an I-9 number for

this employee but you do not have it yet. An Employee List can be printed

for all employees that do not have the Alien Registration # entered yet.

Need W-4

Check this box if you have not received a W-4 for this employee yet. When

this box is checked, it will trigger the “Need W-4” message on the

employee’s check stub (assuming you have enabled messages printing on

payroll check stubs).

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S.S. # Not Matched

Check this box if you receive a “no match” letter from the Social Security

Administration for this employee.

On Pension Plan

Check this box if the employee is on a company pension plan.

ACA Seasonal

Passport # / Expiration Date

Enter the employee’s passport # and expiration date.

The following entries will only appear if you have the H-2A Payroll option

enabled:

H-2A

Check this box if the employee is an H-2A worked.

Hours Offered

Enter the total number of hours offered this employee under his or her H-2A

contract.

Visa # / Expiration Date

Enter the employee’s visa # and expiration date. These entries are only

enabled for H-2A employees.

Employment Information

Crew #

This is a one to four digit user-defined number that will allow you to

segregate employees into crews or locations.

This allows you to print lists of employees and crew sheets by crew.

Department

Position

Type of Employee

Pay Type/Rate

To select the pay type, click on the drop down menu button, and select,

either hourly, piecework, or salary. This setting serves only as a default

when entering payroll time, which you may override. An employee may

have any combination of pay types on his or her check, for example, hourly

wages and piecework wage types may be used together on the same check

regardless of the pay type setting in the employee file.

Pay Rate

This is a numeric entry that sets the rate of pay for the employee. What you

previously entered in the pay type determines what kind of rate this is.

If this is a salaried employee, the amount you enter here is the total amount

to be paid on each paycheck.

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If the employee is entered as hourly, the amount here will be multiplied by

the number of hours worked for the gross check amount.

If you leave the rate of pay at zero, the program allows you to enter the rate

of pay while entering the payroll check. This is necessary if you are paying

an employee more than one rate on the same check

Date Hired

Enter the date the employee was originally hired in MM/DD/YYYY format.

When a new employee is entered the hire date should be entered, so that the

employee appears on the DE-34 report. (New Hire report)

This field should not be edited for re-hires. The pay history file should be

used to record re-hires, absences, terminations, etc.

Date/Reason Terminated

In the first field the date of termination can be recorded for a quick

reference for unemployment requests. The date should be entered in the

MM/DD/YYYY format. The second field can be used to record the reason

for termination.

Not Rehireable

Check this box if the employee is not rehireable after termination.

Date of Last Raise

When an employee receives a raise in salary, you may put the date of the

raise in the employee’s file for future reference. The date should be entered

in MM/DD/YYYY format.

Note: This Information may be entered in the history file instead or in

addition to the Employee Info File.

Last Check #/Date

Every time a check is printed through the system, the program will

automatically record the check # and date here.

To see the date the employee last worked, place the mouse pointer over the

last check date. A tooltip will appear showing the last date worked on that

check. (This feature requires that the Day entry was filled in on the payroll

check for the program to determine the last date worked.)

Default Labor G/L #

This is the default General Ledger Account number to which you wish to

charge this employee’s wages on a regular basis. If you enter a number

here, it will automatically appear when entering the employee’s checks.

If you do not enter a number, you can enter a general ledger account

number while entering the employee’s checks. This item should be skipped

if the general ledger account number will vary from week to week or if

you’ll be expending this employee’s wages to more than one general ledger

account number on one check.

To set the default account number enter the general ledger number, press

[F4], or click on the look up button to get a look up menu of general ledger

account numbers.

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Advance G/L #

This entry is used when you set up a separate general ledger account for

each employee. If you are using separate accounts, enter the general ledger

account number to which any deductions or advances will be credited for

this employee.

If you use one general ledger account number for all employees’ advances,

leave this entry blank. The general account number you use for all

employees is set up in the Program Setup.

Chk. Stub Language

You may select either English or Spanish to use for printing headings on the

payroll check stubs. (The <Undefined> setting will default to English.)

The Miscellaneous Deduction window allows you to enter Spanish

language descriptions in addition to English descriptions.

Note that this entry will not appear if you are printing checks on a dot

matrix printer. Only laser check formats support printing the check stub in

Spanish.

PIN/Badge #

If you use a data collection or a time clock system that uses a separate

number to track employees, enter that number here. (If you are not using of

these systems, this entry will not appear.)

W/C Class Code

Deductions Page

This tab page contains the settings for calculating federal and state tax

deductions as well as miscellaneous deductions (for advances, child support,

health insurance, garnishments, etc.)

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Tax Information

The Tax Info group includes all the setting necessary for calculating state and

federal income taxes. (All of the entries in this group are required except the

additional withholding amounts.)

Type

Select either Agricultural (943) or Regular (941). This setting determines

whether the employee will appear on the quarterly report (941) or the

annual report for agricultural workers (943).

Fed. Marital Status

Select either Married or Single. This is used to determine which

withholding table to use for federal income taxes.

State Marital Status

Select either Married or Single. This is used to determine which

withholding table to use for state income taxes.

Pay Cycle

Select Weekly, Daily, Biweekly, Monthly or Semimonthly.

Special Tax Status

If the employer is a sole proprietorship, and this employee is either a child

or spouse of the owner, select the Child or Spouse here. When set to Child,

SDI, FICA, and Medicare are not withheld. When set to Spouse, SDI is not

withheld. Also, the unemployment taxes (SUI and FUI for the employer)

are not calculated for both the child and spouse settings.

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The default for this setting is "None". Note: If you do not have your

company type set to Sole Proprietorship in the Program Setup, this entry

will be disabled.

EIC

If the employee is eligible for the Earned Income Credit, select one of the

"Yes" options, either married or single. Otherwise, you should select "No".

(The default setting is No.)

State for Withholding

Enter the state for calculating state income taxes.

State Rate

For Arizona, enter the withholding rate for this employee. (This is a

percentage of the federal income tax withheld.) For other states, this entry

is disabled (the regular tax tables will be used for other states).

State For SDI/UI

Allowances, Federal / State

Enter the number of allowances claimed for both federal and state income

tax purposes from the W-4 and/or equivalent state form (e.g. the DE 4 for

California).

To disable withholding of either federal or state income tax, enter 99 for the

number of dependents. This would be used if the employee claims

“Exempt” status on the W-4 or equivalent state form. Or if the employee

wants a fixed amount withheld for federal or state income tax, you can enter

99 for the dependents and the amount to withhold in the Additional

Withholding entries (see below).

An employee may want to claim more allowances for federal withholding

than for state withholding, for instance to account for the federal child tax

credit.

Additional Withholding, Federal / State

Enter dollar amounts for additional federal or state withholding tax.

Hire Act Employee

This checkbox was used for the New Hire Tax Credit available in 2010. It

does not have any affect after 2010.

Hire Credit Start Date

Miscellaneous Deductions

In this section you can set up deductions for advances, loans, child support,

withholding, health insurance, 125(c) and 401(k) plans, or any other non-tax

deduction. The first two entries are used for advances/loans, then ten entries are

provided for user defined miscellaneous deductions.

Advance/Loan Balance

This is the current balance of the employee's loan. Normally you don't need

to edit this, but you can manually set up a balance (for instance, if you gave

the employee cash).

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Deduction

This amount will be taken out of each of the employee's checks until the

current loan balance is zero. (The loan balance is updated each time a

check for this employee is printed.)

You can override the deduction amount for advances on the check entry

window.

User Defined Deductions

Up to ten different miscellaneous (non-tax) deductions may be set up for each

employee. These deductions may include garnishments such as child support,

health insurance, etc. Deduction types are set up under the Miscellaneous

Deductions option.

As soon as a check is entered, the miscellaneous deduction information on the

employee account is used to calculate the deductions for that check. Editing the

information on the employee account after a check has been created will not

change the deductions that have already been calculated for that check. For

instance, if you notice a deduction on a check that should not be taken, deleting

the deduction amount from the employee setup will not remove it from check as

well. The check needs to be edited through the Batch Check Entry window.

Likewise, it you add a deduction on an employee account, that deduction will

not be added to a payroll check that has already been entered. It will be

necessary to delete the check and reenter it.

Type/Description

Select the type of deduction. You can have up to 99 different deduction

types. Deduction types are set up in the Miscellaneous Deduction window.

Method

Select the method to use for this deduction from one of the available

options:

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Flat Rate. A set amount is deducted on each check. You will enter the

deduction amount in the Amount column. During check entry, you can

override the amount you have entered here if needed.

Adjust Each Check. Similar to the Flat Rate option, but the program will

remind you to adjust the amount of the deduction before you finish entering

the check.

Percent of Gross. This setting will calculate the deduction as a percentage

of the gross wages.

Percent of Net. This setting will calculate the deduction amount as a

percentage of the net wages (gross wages less tax withholdings).

Percent of Net (-Misc). This setting will calculate the deduction amount as

a percentage of the net wages less any previous miscellaneous deductions.

This can be useful in a situation where you have two child support orders,

and the second one must be calculated as a percentage of the net wages less

the first order.

Per Hour. Enter the amount to deduct per hour worked in the Amount

column.

Percent of IRA Wages. This option will calculate the deduction based on

the total wages on the employee check that are used to calculate the

employer’s contribution to an IRA/401(k) plan. If you have some wage

types set up for mileage, meal(s) or other types of reimbursements, these

wage types will not have this setting enabled so that the employee

deduction amount calculation will not include these in the total wages.

Percent of Union Wages. This option may be used by labor contractors

with employees that may or may not work under a union. This is normally

determined by which grower(s) they are working for. A union checkbox on

the grower setup window indicates the union status for each grower. The

Calculate Union Deductions Report must be run to calculate the union

deduction amounts before checks are printed.

Custom. This option is not used at this time.

Amount

If you specify a Flat Rate for the Method, enter the amount here. If the

amount may vary from check to check, you can leave this blank, and

manually enter the amount on each check.

Percent

If you specify either a percentage of the gross or net check amounts, enter

the percentage here.

Min Amt / Max Amt

For deductions that are calculated based on a percentage, you can enter a

minimum amount and/or a maximum amount to withhold.

Weeks

This entry can be used to control which weeks of the month each deduction

is taken. The pay period ending date is used to determine which week a

check falls in. An ending date from the 1st to the 7th is week one; from the

8th to the 14th is week two; from the 15th to the 21st is week three; from

the 22nd to the 28th is week four, and from the 29th to the 31st is week five.

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If this entry is blank, the deduction will be always be taken on the

employee's checks.

If you have a deduction that you want to be taken out twice a month, you

could enter "13" or "24" to take the deduction out just on those weeks. Or,

if you have a total amount for the month that needs to be deducted and you

have split it into four amounts, you can enter "1234" and the deduction will

not be taken out on checks with an ending date from the 29th to the 31st

(the fifth week).

Total to Deduct

The Total to Deduct allows you to enter the total that needs to be deducted.

This would be used for a deduction like Income Tax Garnishment that has a

total amount to be withheld.

Ded. to Date

This field will display the total amount that has been withheld for this

deduction. The program uses this amount and the Total to Deduct amount

to keep track of when to stop making deductions.

Note that this amount is not a year-to-date amount, but a total that has been

deducted since the deduction was started. The program will only keep a

total in this entry if you have entered an amount for the Total to Deduct.

Case #/Ref #

Enter the case number or reference number for a garnishment order (such as

for child support or back taxes). This

Vend#

Enter the vendor account number that you need to remit withholding

amounts to. You can press [F4] or click on the lookup button to select an

account from the vendor lookup list.

Loan

If you advance wages to employees, the program can keep track of each

employee's loan balance, and a current deduction per check. This deduction will

be taken out of the employees check until the loan is paid off.

Employee Totals Page

The Totals page contains quarter to date and year to date employees for the

employee. Normally you do not need to edit these amounts; they are displayed

for your reference. In certain cases you may need to make adjustments or

corrections to these numbers, so they can be edited.

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QTD Totals

These totals are accumulated as checks are issued each quarter. When a quarter

is closed, these totals are reset to zero for the next quarter.

YTD Totals

These totals are accumulated as checks are issued through the year. When a

year is closed, these totals are reset to zero for the next year.

Misc. Deductions YTD

These totals are accumulated as checks are issued through the year. When a

year is closed, these totals are reset to zero for the next year.

Taxable YTD Wages

The Taxable YTD Wages are accumulated as checks are issued through the

year. These amounts are calculated taxes. When certain deductions are used

that have special taxability status, the wages that are subject to taxation will

vary.

Union/Insurance Hours

If you have the Union/Insurance Hours report turned on, these house totals will

accumulate through the month. The Month #1 total is always the total for the

current month. When you have a pay period that extends into the next month,

the Month #2 accumulator will contain the hours that belong in the next month.

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When the Union/Insurance Hours report is run after the last payroll of the month

and you clear totals, the hours in the Month #2 accumulator will be moved to the

Month #1 accumulator, and the Month #2 accumulator will be cleared.

Benefits/History Page

This tab page includes settings for sick pay, vacation, 401(k) contribution, the

history file and notes entry where you can record additional information about

employees. The history file can be used for changes to the employee's account,

such as pay rate changes, dates hired, rehired, or laid off, etc.

Sick Pay/Vacation Settings

The payroll system can automatically accrue and keep track of vacation and sick

pay amounts, controlled by these settings:

Sick Pay Plan ID

If you are using sick pay plans to define the rules for accrual

Accrued Sick Pay

This is the total

YTD SP Accrued

This is the total sick pay accrued since the anniversary date.

Anniversary

This is the starting date for the employee’s sick pay accrual. Normally this

will be based on the date that the employee was originally hired. If an

employee is rehired after an absence, the anniversary date may change

based on the rehire date.

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Prior YR SP Carryover

This is the amount of sick pay carried over from the prior year (if the

employee is allowed to carry over unused sick pay from prior years).

YTD Paid

This is the amount of sick pay paid to the employee for the current year

(since the anniversary date).

Date Available

This is the date that the employee will be able to start taking sick pay. The

program calculates this automatically, based on the employee’s hire/rehire

date normally. This date may be adjusted if the employee stops are restarts

working prior to the available date.

Sick Pay Rate

If you are not using a sick pay plan, enter the accrual rate for sick pay

wages/hours in this entry. Refer to the instructions for the Vacation Rate

for an explanation of how the rate is used.

Vacation Rate

The rates are either a percentage of the wages (or hours) or the number of

hours to accrue per week worked, depending on the settings you have made

on the Program Setup. For instance, to accrue two weeks of vacation pay

per year using a percentage method, you would use four percent. (4% of 50

weeks worked per year is 2 weeks of vacation pay.)

When accruing a fixed number of hours per week worked, enter the number

of hours to accrue per week here. If the employee is paid on a weekly basis

(as specified by the pay cycle) then the program will add this number to the

accrued vacation/sick pay total. If the employee is paid on a biweekly

basis, the program will multiply the number of hours by two and add that to

the accrued vacation/sick pay total.

Accrued Vacation

This is the employee’s current balance for vacation pay. If necessary, you

can override the balance if you need to (for instance, to give employees

more vacation pay). When the employee receives vacation pay, the accrued

amounts will be reduced by the wages paid.

Employer 401(k) Contributions

The payroll system can automatically keep track of the employer’s contributions

to employee 401(k) or Simple IRA accounts. The 401(k) Report can be used to

keep track of employer contributions.

Percentage

Employer contributions are based on a percentage of either the gross wages

or the employee’s 401(k) deduction.

Max Contribution/Year

Enter the maximum dollar amount of the employer’s contribution. Once the

maximum amount for the year is reached, the program will stop calculating

the employer contribution.

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YTD Contributions

This is the total of employer contributions for the current year. Each time a

payroll check is printed, the program updates this amount.

Miscellaneous Settings

Insurance Coverage Through

This date indicates how long the employee is covered by a health insurance

program. Certain reports may update this date automatically. You can also

enter a date manually here.

S.S. # No Match

This box can be checked if you have received notification that the

employee’s personal information (name, date of birth, sex) does not match

the social security number that the employee has provided you with.

Employee History

Date

Enter the date for this change.

Type

Enter a type code for this change. Press [F4] to get a list of codes to select

from. Codes are user definable and may be set up using the Employee

History Codes option under the Payroll->Setup submenu.

Notes/Descr/Job Title

Enter any notes for this change.

Pay Rate

If this is a pay rate change, you can enter the new rate here.

Per

Enter the unit type for the pay rate (hourly, week, month, etc.)

Employee Notes

This is a notepad entry where you can type in any additional information

that you want to record for this employee account. An option in the

Program Setup window allows you to specify that the notes entry should be

displayed when you enter a check for the employee.

Emergency Contacts

Each employee may have its own set of emergency contact. Click on the Add

button to open a window to enter the information for each contact:

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If you need to edit or remove a contact, double click on the entry in the contact

list and the information will be displayed in the Enter Emergency Contact

window. To delete a contact, click on the Delete button at the bottom left corner

of this window.

Employee Check Profile

The Check Profile page allows you to set up line items that will be added

automatically to any check entered for this employee. For instance, you might

have a salary employee whose wages need to expense to the same cost center on

each check. By entering a profile line with the cost accounting information, you

will not need to edit each check.

In the past, this was also used for employee deductions that have a special

taxability (pre-tax) status. In most cases, this is not necessary, as the program

can automatically generate line items for pre-tax deductions.

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Line

You can enter a line number to determine the order of multiple check

profile lines.

You can use line numbers over 1000 to prevent these lines from being

printed on the check stub. This is normally used for line items that are

entered for pre-tax deductions.

G/L #

Enter the general ledger wage expense account here. Press [F4] or click on

the column header to open the general ledger selection list.

Job ID

If you are using the Cost Accounting module, you can enter a Job ID to use

on each line item. Press [F4] or click on the column header to select a Job

ID from the lookup.

Cost ID

If applicable, you can select a cost center for each line. Press [F4] or click

on the column header to open the cost center lookup.

Year

If you enter a cost center, enter the crop year here also.

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Type

Enter the wage type code here. Press the [F4] key or click on the column

header to open the pay type lookup.

PW Hours

Enter the piecework hours here, if applicable.

Units

Enter the units for this line item.

Rate

Enter the rate for this line item.

Weeks

If you enter week numbers in this column, the program will only add the

check profile line if the week # of the check matches. The logic used for

this is the same as used to determine whether a deduction should be taken.

See the information on the Weeks entry on the Deductions tab page for

more information.

Data Entry Notes

This entry provides you with a second notes entry that can be displayed

during check entry. If notes are entered here, these notes will be displayed

to the data entry operator on the Daily Payroll or Batch Check Entry

windows instead of the notes entered on the Benefits/History tab page.

Check Stub Message

If you are using a custom check format for payroll checks and have set up a

position for messages to print on the stub, you can enter a message that is

specific to the employee here. This will be combined with any other

messages that are set up to print automatically or based on certain

conditions.

Clear Message After Printing on Check

Checking this box will cause the message that you enter to be printed on the

employee’s check stub only once. It will be cleared after it is printed.

ACA Hours Worked/Day

These entries are used by the ACA Employee Count Report to provide a

standard number of hours worked for employees where you do not record

the hours worked (e.g. salary employees).

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Archive

This tab pages lists the quarterly and yearly archive records for the employee

account. This information is for reference purposes only and cannot be edited.

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Direct Deposit

The Direct Deposit tab is where you enter information for employees that have

their pay deposited directly to their bank accounts or a debit payroll card. If the

Direct Deposit option is not enabled, then this tab will be disabled.

The ACH Direct Deposit option is designed to be used with a 3

party program

such as Treasury Software to create and upload an ACH file to the bank. If you

purchase Datatech’s Direct Deposit option, Datatech will provide the Treasury

Software program.

If an employee account has anything entered for the Deposit Account #1 entry,

the program considers that employee to be a direct deposit employee and will

not print a payroll check for that employee. This means that you can still print

checks for some employees while having other employees on the direct deposit

system.

For each employee, enter the following information:

Deposit Account #1

Enter the account number to deposit this employee’s wages to.

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Routing Number Account #1

Enter the nine digit bank routing number (if applicable) for the first bank

account. If the direct deposit is to a payroll card, a routing number should

not be necessary.

Type of Account

Select either Checking or Savings account.

Split Method

The Direct Deposit system can split the total wages for an employee

between two different accounts. The Split Method determines how much is

allocated to each account. Select all to deposit wages into account #1 only.

Select Flat Amount to deposit a specific amount into account #1 and the

excess in account #2. Or select Percentage to deposit a specific percentage

of wages into account #1.

Amount/Percentage

If you select either Flat Amount or Percentage for the Split Method, enter

either the dollar amount or the percentage that the employee wants

deposited in the first account number.

Minimum Amount, Acct #1 / Maximum Amount, Acct #1

When you select Percentage for the Split Method, you can also specify the

minimum and maximum dollar amount that the employee wants to deposit

to account #1.

Deposit Account #2

If splitting the employee’s wages between accounts, enter the second

account number to deposit wages to.

Routing Number Account #2

Enter the bank routing number (if applicable) for the second bank account.

If the direct deposit is to a payroll card, a routing number should not be

necessary.

Type of Account

Select Checking or Savings account.

HSA Account #

Employees with a Health Savings Account (HSA) can have their

contributions deposited directly to their individual HSA accounts. Enter the

bank account number for the employees HAS account here.

For the HSA deduction amount to be included in the direct deposit entries

that are generated by the program, you must enter the miscellaneous

deduction number for the HSA deduction under Tools->Program Setup-

>Payroll->External Programs.

HSA Routing Number

Enter the bank routing number for the employee’s Health Savings Account.

HSA Type of Account

Select either Checking or Savings account.

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ACH Test Generated

It is strongly recommended that you generate a test file for any new direct

deposit accounts you set up. A test file will credit each new employee’s

bank account with a penny (.01) transaction. The employee can then verify

that the deposit appears in their account.

When you set up a new employee, leave this box unchecked so that a test

will be generated. Once the test file has been generated, this box will be

checked automatically to indicate such.

If the bank account needs to be corrected, uncheck the box to test again. If

the employee changes banks, uncheck the box to test again.

NOTE: The test is not complete until an ACH file is generated and

uploaded to the bank. See the instructions for “Create Direct Deposit File”

to create a test file.

NOTE: The ACH test file option is only available if you are using the ACH

Direct Deposit option with an ACH program such as Treasury Software. If

so, the Direct Deposit option on the Program Setup screen will be set to “TS

CSV File”.

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Deleting Employees

An employee with wages or checks on file cannot be deleted form the program.

If you have issued a check to an employee and then voided the check, the

employee cannot be deleted because the checks are still on file.

If wages were paid to the wrong employee and the checks issued to this account

need to be moved to a different account, use the Move Payroll Check option.

Once all checks have been moved to another account, you may delete the

account.

To delete an account without wages, first display the employee account

information by entering the account number or using one of the selection lists to

choose the employee. When the employee account is displayed click on the

Delete button, or press [Shift]+[F2]. The program will then confirm that you

want to delete this employee, to delete the account click on "Yes".

Terminate Employee

When an employee is terminated or laid off, several changes are typically made

to the employee’s account. The Terminate button at the bottom left corner of

the Employees window provides a shortcut for handling this. When you click

on the Terminate button on the Employee entry window, the following window

will appear for you to enter the termination info:

Date Terminated

Enter the date the employee was terminated.

Type

Select from the available options: Fired, Medical Leave, Laid Off, or Quit.

Description

Enter the reason the employee was terminated here.

Clear Crew

Select this option if you want to remove the employee from any Crews it is

on.

Inactive

Normally you will want to check this box so that the employee account will

be set to inactive. If for some reason you want this account to remain

active, uncheck this box.

Click on the Ok button to record the information. A record will be created in

the Employee History file, and the date terminated and reason for termination

fields will be updated on the employee account. Click on the Cancel button if

you do not want to save this information.

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Rehire Employee

When an employee comes back to work for your company, there are typically

several changes that need to be made on the employee account. The Rehire

button provides a shortcut for making these changes. The following window

will open when you click on the Rehire button:

Date Rehired

Enter the date that the employee was rehired on. An entry will be made in

the employee history file on this date showing the employee was rehired

and the employee will appear on the next New Hire report that is printed.

Code

Description

Enter any additional notes here.

Crew #

Enter the crew number, if any, that the employee is assigned to.

Pay Rate

The employee’s previous rate of pay will be displayed here. You can

update this if needed.

Request ID Badge

Check this box if you want to request an ID badge for the employee.

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Sick Pay Plan ID

Enter the Sick Pay Plan ID that will apply to the rehired employee.

Sick Pay Status

Sick Pay Anniversary

Enter the sick pay anniversary date for the rehired employee. Whether that

is a new date or returning to their old anniversary.

Sick Pay Available

Enter the date on which sick pay will be available to the employee.

Click on the Ok button to finish the rehire process. If the employee was set to

inactive, the employee’s account status will be changed to active. Click on the

Cancel button to close the window without recording the rehire information.

Right-Click Menu

You can click with the right mouse button on a blank area of the window to get

a menu with several shortcuts including options for printing reports, labels, and

entering checks.

Security Options

Using custom security options, you can disable certain sections of the employee

entry window. Create a line in the security grid for PR.EmployeeEntry, and

click on the View Settings… button to set the custom permissions:

If unchecked, the View/Edit direct deposit information will remove the Direct

Deposit tab page from the employee entry window for this user or group

completely. This allows you to prevent users from seeing the bank account

information that has been set up for direct deposit.

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The other two boxes will disable either the Employment Information or the

Miscellaneous Deduction groups on the employee setup window. The

information will still be visible, but users will not be able to edit it.

Quick Employee Setup

An employee setup window has been streamlined for quick entry of new

employees. It only includes a minimum set of entries for the required

information for new employees. To access the Employee Quick Setup window,

right click on a blank area and select the Switch to Quick Entry Window option.

The program will remember which employee setup window you have selected

until you exit the program. That window will appear when you select the

Employees option on the main Payroll menu. To switch back the regular

employee setup window, right click on a blank area of the Employee Quick

Setup window and select the Switch to Full Entry Window option.

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Crews

Each employee account may be assigned to a different crew number. The

Employee Crews window can be used to easily add, remove and move employee

between crews.

Select the Crews option on the Payroll menu and this window will open:

Crew ID

Each crew is assigned a number from 1 to 9999. Enter the crew number

you want to create or edit.

Description

Add a description of the crew. If you pull up an existing crew, the

description will appear.

Supervisor Account # / Supervisor Name Key

Each crew may have a supervisor assigned to it. Enter either the account

number or name key of the crew supervisor here. The employee's first and

last names will be displayed next to the Name Key entry. Click on the

lookup button or press [F4] to get the employee lookup.

Titles/Rates…

Click on this button to set up additional employees that have specific jobs

and pay rates that are different from the rest of the crew. A separate

window will open for you to enter these employees. This window also

allows you to enter a description and default Job ID for this crew. See the

section titled ‘Employee Job Titles/Pay Rates/Crew Settings” for more

information.

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Add…

To add an employee to the crew, enter the name key or account number, or

click on the lookup button to get a list of employees to select from. Once

you have an employee account displayed, click on the Add button to add the

employee to the list.

The following buttons will work on either a single employee account or multiple

employee accounts:

Remove

This will set the crew number of the selected employee(s) to zero, removing

them from this crew.

Move To…

Click on this button to move the employees that you have selected to a new

crew number. A window will appear for you to enter the new crew number.

Set Inactive

This will set the account status of the selected employee(s) to inactive.

They will disappear from the crew list, but they are still assigned to this

crew. (Since the account status is inactive, they will not appear on the crew

list or other reports that only list active employees.)

Terminate

This option will terminate the selected employees.

Pay Rates…

Use this option to set or change the pay rate for the entire crew.

Edit Account…

Selecting this will open the employee information for the selected

employee.

Add Dept…

Add a department for the selected employees.

How to select multiple employee accounts:

Click the mouse on the account number of each employee account you want

to select. The box in the left hand column will be checked. Clicking a

second time on an employee account will deselect it. Alternatively, you can

press the space bar and use the arrow keys to select multiple employee

accounts.

Once you have multiple accounts selected, the Remove, Set Inactive, and

Move buttons will operate on the selected accounts. If you have not

selected multiple accounts, this button will only operate on the highlighted

account, whether it is selected or not.

The Invert Selections button will select the accounts that are not selected,

and deselect the accounts that are selected. This is useful, for instance, if

there are 30 employees on a crew, and you need to move 25 of them to

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another crew. Instead of selecting all 25 employees, you can select only the

five that are staying on the crew, and then click on Invert Selections. The

five will be deselected, and the other 25 will be selected. Then you can

click on the Move button to move them to the other crew.

Supervisor List

This button will print a list of all employees that are assigned to be

supervisors on crews.

Print Crew Sheets

This button will open the Crew Sheets report window. Click here for the

help page for the Crew Sheets.

Crew Sheet Type Menu

Save

This button will save the crew to your files.

Clear

This button will clear the window of all information.

Delete

This button will delete the crew file.

Employee Job Titles/Pay Rates/Crew Settings

This window allows you to enter job titles and hourly pay rates for up to four

members of the crew. On the Crew Sheet Wizard, these pay rates will be used

instead of the pay rates specified for the entire crew. You can also enter a

description for the crew, as well as a default job code that will be used for this

crew.

The following window will open when you click on the Titles/Rates button on

the Employee Crews window:

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Enter the account number, title, and pay rate for up to four different employees.

The job title may appear next to the employee’s name on your crew sheet.

Because there are several different crew sheet formats, some programmed for

specific customers, the crew sheet you are using may not print the titles.

Contact Datatech if you would like changes made to how your crew sheet is

printed.

At the bottom of the window, you can enter a description for the crew (this is

currently not used anywhere, so it can be entered solely for your reference) and

a job code to use as a default when entering payroll for employees on this crew.

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Crew Sheets

Crew Sheets can be used for recording time and/or pieces worked each week.

On the Payroll menu, go to the Employee Lists sub-menu, and select Crew

Sheets. This window can also be opened from the Employee Crews window.

Note that these instructions are for the Standard Crew Sheet. Custom crew

sheets may have additional options

Payroll Ending Date

Enter the ending date for the payroll period for which you are printing the

crew sheet. This will print at the top of the crew sheets.

First Day of Week

Select the first day of the payroll period here.

Print All Crews

Check this option to print Crew Sheets for all crews. If you uncheck it, you

will be able to select a single crew to print.

Crew # to Print

Enter the crew number you wish to print, or click on the lookup button to

select a crew from the selection list.

Blank Extra Lines

The crew sheet can print extra lines for the crew supervisor to write in

additional employees, when added to the crew in the field.

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Next Crew Sheet #

If you use crew sheet numbers, the next available crew sheet # will appear

here automatically. You may override it if you wish.

Print S.S. #

Be default, the crew sheet will print the social security number for each

employee. Uncheck this box if you do not want the social security number

to appear on the crew sheet.

The printing of the Social Security number on the crew sheet will be

governed by the S.S. # Printing setting in the Program Setup window. The

crew sheet will only print the last four digits of the social security number if

you have selected that setting. If you have selected the “Do Not Print S.S

#” setting, then the crew sheet will not print the Social Security number at

all, regardless of whether this box is checked or not.

Print Hash Total

Check this box to print a hash total (the total of all employee account

numbers) at the end of the report. This can be used during data entry to

confirm that the correct employee account numbers have been entered.

If employees are added by hand to the crew sheet, the hash total needs to be

updated with the handwritten employee account numbers before comparing

to the hash totals that appear on the daily payroll reports.

Print Order

Select either Alphabetic or Account # order.

Orientation

Select the orientation the report here. Landscape mode provides more room

to write in hours/units, but prints fewer employees on the page.

Preview

Click on this button to see a preview of the report on the screen.

Print Setup

Click on this button to select a printer to use for this report. If you do not

select a printer, the report will automatically be printed to the current

default printer. To see the current printer, you can move the mouse pointer

over the button and a tool tip will appear showing the printer name and port.

Click on this button to print the report to the current printer. To see the

current printer, you can move the mouse pointer over the button and a tool

tip will appear showing the printer name and port.

Cancel

Click on this button to close the window.

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Crew Sheets Using an Excel Template

One of the custom Crew Sheet options allows you to create a spreadsheet in

Excel for use as a template. The program fills in the employee, crew, and pay

period information on this template and prints out the crew sheet through Excel.

By using this setting, you can actually create several different crew sheet

templates.

To use the Excel Template option for the Crew Sheet printing, go to the

Program Setup option on the Tools menu, click on Payroll, then Settings. Under

the Payroll Settings group, select “Excel Template” as the Crew Sheet Type.

When you select the Crew Sheet option from the Employee Lists menu or click

on the Print Crew Sheets button on the Crews window, the following window

will appear:

Payroll Ending Date

Enter the ending date for the payroll period you are printing the crew sheet

for.

First Day of Week

Select the first day of the payroll period here.

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Print All Crews

If you want to print crew sheets for all crews that are set up, check this box.

Otherwise leave it unchecked and enter the Crew # to print in the next entry.

Crew # to Print

Enter the crew number you wish to print, or click on the lookup button to

select a crew from the selection list.

Next Crew Sheet #

If you use crew sheet numbers, the next available crew sheet # will appear

here automatically. You may override it if you wish.

Check Date

If you enter a check date, the crew sheet will list only the employees that

received a check on that date under the crew # specified. If the check date

is left blank, the crew sheet will print all employees that are assigned to the

crew # specified.

(This option is only available if you are using a SQL database.)

Print Order

Select either Alphabetic or Account # order.

Activate/Inactivate # Days

This entry will be disabled unless you have enabled the Auto-Update Crew

#’s option. If the option is enabled, you can enter the number of days since

the last check date to inactivate an employee account. Once an employee

account is inactivated, the employee will no longer appear on the crew

sheet. (Note that the employee account will still be assigned to the crew

number, but simply won’t print due to the inactive status.)

For instance, if you do not want employees who have not received a check

in the last 10 days to appear on the crew sheet, enter 10 days.

Template File

Enter the full path and filename of the Excel spreadsheet to use as a

template here. Click on the button to the right to select the file from an

Open File dialog.

You can press [F12] while the cursor is in this entry to open the template

file in Excel for editing.

Test Export

Click on this button and the program will fill in the template and display the

results in Excel. If there are more employees than will fit on a single page,

additional worksheets will be added to the spreadsheet and all employees

will be listed.

# of Copies

By default, one copy of the crew sheet will be printed. You may change this

if you want multiple copies to print.

Save As Excel Filename

Instead of printing the crew sheet, you can export the crew sheet to another

Excel file. After exporting, you can make changes to the crew sheet before

printing it. If multiple pages are required to list all of the employees, a

separate worksheet will be created for each page. When printing the

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finished crew sheet, you will need to select the Print Entire Workbook

option under Excel Print Settings to print all of the worksheets.

Export

Click on this button to Export the crew sheet to a new Excel spreadsheet.

Preview

Click on this button to see a preview of the crew sheet in Excel.

Print Setup

Click on this button to select a printer to use for this report. If you do not

select a printer, the crew sheet will automatically be printed to the current

default printer. To see the current printer, you can move the mouse pointer

over the button and a tool tip will appear showing the printer name and port.

Click on this button to print the crew sheet to the current printer. To see the

current printer, you can move the mouse pointer over the button and a tool

tip will appear showing the printer name and port.

Cancel

Click on this button to close the window.

Creating a Template

The template that you create in Excel should print on a single page. The

program will look at each cell for specific field names enclosed in square

brackets and replace those field names with data from the employee file, crew,

or pay period. After replace all of the fields in the template, the program will

instruct Excel to print the spreadsheet. If there are additional employees to print

(i.e. a large crew doesn’t fit on one page) then the template will be cleared, the

additional employees will be entered into the template, and additional page that

is needed will be printed.

Any data, formatting, borders, etc. that you have set up on the template will be

printed as-is. For instance, if you enter you company name in cell A1, then it

will print in this position on all crew sheets pages. If you format a field to print

bold, then it will be printed in bold on the crew sheet.

Keep in mind as you are designing the form that you can use the Print Preview

option in Excel to preview the crew sheet to make sure it fits on a single page.

You can also use the Preview button on the Print Crew Sheets window to do a

test printout of the crew sheet. Remember though that the program will process

and preview one page at a time, so the Preview window will appear for each

page. When testing your template, it is best to use a crew with just a few

employees.

Field Names

The following fields may be used to insert general information on the crew

sheet:

[DATE_TIME_STAMP]

Inserts a date and time stamp for when the crew sheet was generated,

similar to the date/time stamp that appears at the top of reports.

[COMPANY_NAME]

Inserts the company name (useful if you have multiple companies that use

the same template files).

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[COMPANY_ADDR]

[COMPANY_CITY]

[COMPANY_PHONE]

The following fields may be used to insert information from the employee file

on the crew sheet:

[EMPL_NAME]

This will insert the employee last name followed by a comma and then the

first name.

[LAST_NAME]

This will insert the employee last name.

[FIRST_NAME]

This will insert the employee first name.

[FIRST_LAST_NAME]

This will insert both the employee’s first and last name.

[ACCT_NUM]

This will insert the employee account number.

[ACCT_NUM39]

This will insert the employee account number with asterisks appearing

before and after the account number and use the “Free 3 of 9” bar code font

for this cell, resulting in a Code 3 of 9 barcode.

[TITLE]

This will insert the employee title that is set up on the crew record. For

supervisors, the program will automatically insert “Supervisor”. If you set

up other employees on the Titles/Rates window from the Crew setup, the

titles that you entered on that window will be printed here. Any other

employees that are assigned to the crew will not have a titled printed.

[SS4]

This will insert the last four digits of the employee social security number.

[PIN]

This will insert the employee’s PIN. The PIN is normally the unique

numeric identifier/account # used by a third party data collection system.

[BADGE_NUM]

This will insert the employee’s badge #. The badge number is normally set

by importing it from a payroll data import file. The badge # is a six

character alpha-numeric ID.

[PHONE_NUM]

Inserts the employee’s phone number.

[CELL_PHONE]

Inserts the employee’s cell phone number.

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[CELL_OR_PHONE_NUM]

Inserts the employee’s cell phone number if one has been entered, otherwise

inserts the employee’s phone number.

[ALIEN_NUM]

This will insert the employee alien registration number.

[EXP_DATE]

This will insert the employee alien registration expiration date.

[PAY_RATE]

This will insert the employee’s pay rate.

[DEPARTMENT]

This will insert the employee’s department

The following fields may be used to insert information from the crew record.

They would normally be used in the header section of the crew sheet.

[CREW_NUM]

This will insert the crew number/ID.

[SUPERVISOR]

This will insert the crew supervisor’s name.

[SHEET_NUM]

The program will insert the next available crew sheet number.

[HASH_TOTAL]

This will print the total of all of the employee account numbers that are

printed on the time sheet. This total may be compared to the hash total on

the Daily Payroll Entry window and Daily Payroll Reports (assuming that

all of the employees on the crew sheet have time and no additional

employees are manually added to the crew).

If some employees that are listed on the time sheet do not work, during data

entry you can subtract their account numbers from the hash total. Likewise,

if there are employees that are manually added to the crew sheet, you can

add their account numbers to the hash total.

The following fields are related to the payroll period:

[PAY_PERIOD]

This will insert the payroll period starting and ending dates in the same cell,

in the format “starting TO ending”.

[PAY_PERIOD_START]

This will insert the starting date for the pay period.

[PAY_PERIOD_END]

This will insert the ending date for the pay period.

[DAY1] … [DAY7]

This will insert the day of the week.

[DATE1] … [DATE7]

This will insert the date for each day in the pay period.

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Sample Template

The following screen shot from Excel shows a simple crew sheet template:

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This template results in the following crew sheet printout:

Notice that the formatting for various cells, including colors, borders and text

alignment, are preserved in the resulting crew sheet. The program simply

replaces the field names that it finds in the spreadsheet with the appropriate text.