You can associate applicable benefit costs with earnings or deduction codes, so that employee and employer costs flow to the Dayforce payroll system, for one or more configured plan options. You can do this in the Payroll Mapping tab of a plan in Benefits Setup > Plans and Options.
Payroll mappings determine the payroll earnings and deductions to which benefits plan option rates and imputed income are posted.
When benefits amounts are mapped to payroll, they don't affect any existing employee-level payroll sourced earnings or deductions.
For example, if employees are already associated with a payroll deduction that represents their cost for benefits handled outside of Dayforce, Dayforce won't overwrite these deductions when Dayforce Benefits is implemented. New benefit sourced payroll elections are generated, and this can result in duplicate payroll elections being saved if the payroll sourced elections aren't end dated.
However, if benefits elections are imported through the Benefits Import, existing payroll sourced elections are end dated automatically, so manual end dating isn't required.
Two payroll integration methods are available in Dayforce:
- Based on Pay Date: The payroll election (earning or deduction) start date in payroll is equal to the earliest pay period start date for which the benefit effective start date is on or before the pay date. This is the system default functionality.
- Based on Pay Period End Date: The payroll election (earning or deduction) start date in payroll is equal to the earliest pay period start date for which the benefit effective start date is on or before the pay period end date.
Dayforce doesn't take the payroll integration type into consideration, however, if either of the following is true:
- The Calendar Days mid-period proration type is selected in the earning or deduction definition that the generated payroll election is based on.
- The pay period start date of the new election is before an employee's hire date.
See Payroll Integration Methods.
You can map multiple options to a single earning or deduction code; when employees are enrolled in multiple options that map to a single code, the earning or deduction is aggregated in Dayforce Payroll.
For example, if an employee is enrolled in a vision plan for which a $7 deduction is taken from each pay, and a dental plan for which $10 is taken from each pay, and both are mapped to the "HEALTH" deduction code, the payroll system shows a $17 "HEALTH" deduction for each pay. The same principle applies for all plan types.
When you map options to deduction codes, Dayforce automatically applies contribution limits for reimbursement and retirement plans. For US-based reimbursement plans, Dayforce automatically stops applying pre-tax treatment when government-defined limits are reached, based on the taxability settings configured for mapped deductions in Payroll Setup > Earnings and Deductions, in the Deductions tab. These automatic limits aren't visible in Dayforce. You can also configure these benefit plans to stop the withholding by adding explicit limits in the deduction definition.
Dayforce automatically stops the withholding of amounts for US-based retirement plans when government-defined limits are reached, based on the configuration of mapped deductions in Payroll Setup > Earnings and Deductions, in the Deductions tab, and Payroll Setup > Deferred Compensation and Pension Plans. Automatic limits for retirement options are shown in the deferred compensation and pension plans configuration.
See Deductions and the Deductions Tab and Deductions for Deferred Compensation and Pension Plans.
Mappings with zero-dollar costs can be configured, but Dayforce doesn't post zero-dollar cost entries to payroll.
For health and life and disability plans with a country selection of Canada, you can assign earning codes to associate the flex credit amount used during enrollment. After an employee submits the enrollment with flex credit plans and the workflow completes, Dayforce creates a payroll election. In the General tab of Benefits Setup > Plans and Options for health plans, if you select the Subject to Flex Credit Benefit checkbox, in the Payroll Mapping tab, the Flex Credit Amount Used section shows. You can select the earning code to assign the flex credit amount used.
Example 1: If the flex credit amount provided by the organization is $1500, and the employee uses $700 for their benefit elections, then the remaining flex credit amount is $800. The amount passed to the flex credit used earning code is $700.
Example 2: If the flex credit amount provided by the organization is $1200, and the employee’s benefit elections cost $1500, exceeding the flex credit amount provided, then $300 is in excess, which the employee must pay. The amount passed to the flex credit used earning code is $1200.
The following sections of this chapter cover payroll mapping information that’s specific to each plan type, along with examples for health plans and life and disability plans, followed by configuration steps.
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