Employee Maintenance: Auto Pays
Some employees can have payroll that requires a significant amount of data entry. This is very common in Job Costing or Piece Work scenarios. In these cases, Employee Auto Pays can be used to customize the payroll entry grid, thereby reducing the amount of entry time.
Employee Auto Posts are similar to Company Auto Posts in their purpose, but provide more features and flexibility than company level Auto Posts. Employee Auto Pays can be turned off during individual payrolls if not needed. Company Auto Posts are always present.
For information about Company Auto Posts, click here.
Employee Auto Pays are displayed in the Payroll Entry Grid below any Company Auto Pays entries (if present).
If the company uses a Time Import, the employee Auto Pays entries are displayed above the imported payroll entries.
Working with Employee Auto Pays
To add a new Auto Pays entry, click the New (*) Button. The "Please choose a code" Dialogue Box is displayed.
The Dialogue Box contains a Drop List of every ACTIVE Deduction, Earnings and Tax Code setup on the company.
Select the appropriate code and click OK.
The system then displays an active Details Sub Tab.
| Field Name | Information |
|---|---|
| Start Date | The current Check Date from Payroll is entered automatically. Update as needed. |
| End Date | The End Date is populated with 12/31/2100 by default. Update as needed. |
| Hours | Leave at 0.00 or enter the number of hours to be posted on this Auto Pay line in the Payroll Entry Grid. |
| Amount | Leave at 0.00 or enter the dollar amount to be posted on this Auto Pay line in the Payroll Entry Grid. |
| Rate | Leave at 0.00 or enter the rate to be used on this Auto Pay line in the Payroll Entry Grid. |
| Rate Code | Leave blank or select a Rate Code from the provided Drop List. |
Cost Center Overrides
The available fields in this section reflect the Cost Center setup of the company found in the Departments tab in Company Setup. There can be from one to five available fields in this section. Our sample company has one Cost Center level called Department.
On another company, there are three fields as per the Cost Center setup on the Departments Tab.
Each field contains a Drop List reflective of the data in those Cost Centers in the Departments Tab.
Each field can be blank or populated using the provided Drop List(s).
Note: Unless overridden the rate used will be the employee's Base Rate in effect for the check date.
Unless overridden, the system will use the employee's home Cost Center settings.
| Field Name | Information |
|---|---|
| Job Code | Leave blank or select the appropriate Job Code from the provided Drop List. The Job Code Drop List is populated by the entries found on the Jobs Tab in Company Setup. |
| Applies only to pay type | Leave blank to have this Auto Pay entry present on ALL paycheck types. |
Use the provided Drop List to have the Auto Pay only applied to the selected Paycheck Attribute.
The Drop List for this field is populated using the entries on the Paycheck Attributes Tab in Company Setup.
Note: When using the Rate Code, Job Code and Cost Center overrides on Employee Auto Pays, you will need to adjust the Payroll Entry Grid settings so these fields are displayed. In Payroll Entry, Right mouse click on the column heading of the grid.
The "Pay Entry Field Selection" Option is displayed. Click it to see a list of fields you can display on the grid. Fields with Check Marks are already displayed.
Click the fields you need to add to the Grid. Use the Up/Down arrows to the right to arrange their order of display.
The Up Arrow moves the field left. Down moves right.
Common Uses
1. An employee works multiple jobs during the payroll period. The employer needs to know the expenses for each Job Codes. In our example, there are three jobs worked. Each job has a different pay rate.
Our Auto Pays entries look like this:
In Payroll Entry, the display is as follows:
2. Employee receives an add to Net Draw deduction in the amount of $250.00 on an inconsistent schedule. Since this does not happen on a consistent schedule (every payroll, first payroll of the month, etc) setting it up on the employee as a scheduled deduction on the employee is problematic. Adding it as an Auto Pay allows the user to see the entry in Payroll and allow it or delete it as appropriate.
The entry on the Auto Pays tab is as follows:
In Payroll Entry, the display is as follows:
Using the Employee Memo Pop Up Box from the Miscellaneous Tab in Employee Maintenance is helpful in these cases.
Turning Employee Auto Pays on or off globally
By turning Employee Auto Pays on or off we are discussing should they, or should they not, be posted in Payroll Entry.
On second and/or adjustment type payroll, the Employee Auto Pays may not be needed or desired.
The setting that determines if employee Auto Pays are active or not is found in multiple places.
1. Start Payroll : On the Start Payroll Now Dialogue Box, there are Option Boxes for each Batch in the Payroll.
In each Batch Option Box, there are a series of optional Overrides that can be used.
The "Apply Employee Auto Pays" Check Box controls the inclusion. Check to include. Uncheck to exclude.
Note: The "Apply Base Auto Pay" Check Box does not apply to the Employee Auto Pay entries.
It references the value of the "Base Auto Pay" field found on the Rates Tab in Employee Maintenance.
2. Company Calendar : The values displayed in "Start Payroll now" come from the the Check Date entry on the Calendar Tab in Company Setup.
Select the correct Check Date on the Calendar, Next, go to the Details Sub Tab. Find the "Emp Auto Pays" Check Box.
You can check or uncheck the box on any entry. This will only have an effect on unprocessed payrolls.
3. Calendar Schedule Setup: The Calendar Schedule Setup function is the building blocks of the Company Calendar. Each time a payroll processes, the Calendar Schedule Setup is run and adds a new record to the end of the existing company calendar. This record ensures the Company Calendar is projected out one year in advance.
In the Details option of the Calendar Schedule Setup, there are two Sub Tabs.
The Batch Sub Tab controls the Frequency, check date and period dates for each calendar entry.
The Check Sub Tab controls which employees are in the batch and whether or not to activate Employee Base Auto Pays AND Employee Auto Pays.
If the "Apply items from Employee Auto Pays screen" is checked. they will be active on all newly projected Calendar entries.