Employee payroll elections refer to any payroll codes other than the salary and standard tax deductions in a payroll. For example, a performance bonus that is only paid once a year is a payroll election. Another example of a one-time election is a garnishment deduction. Another example of a payroll election is a loan deduction that is deducted in all pay periods.
The following scenarios present information about how you can set up pay elections for employees, based on the frequency of the election.
Scenario: A One-Time Earning or Deduction to be Paid in One Pay Period
Single or one-off earning elections and deduction elections are added to pay runs as quick entries.
For example, as a payroll administrator, you need to create entries for the following reasons:
- Create a $50 bonus election for an employee to be paid only in the pay period with the effective dates of June 16 to June 30, 2021, with the pay date of June 30, 2021.
- Create a $50 overpayment deduction for an employee to be deducted only in the pay period with the effective dates of June 16 to June 30, 2021, with the pay date of June 30, 2021.
To create a one-off earning or deduction:
- Go to Payroll > Pay Run Management and load the pay run that you’re adding the election or deduction to.
- Click the Quick Entry tab and create an entry for the payroll earning election or deduction.
- Click Save.
Scenario: A One-Time Ad Hoc Earning Election Paid in One Pay Period
As a payroll administrator, you need to create a $50 bonus election for an employee to be paid only in the pay period with the effective dates of June 16 to June 30, 2021, and the pay date is June 30, 2021. You would go to People, search for the employee, and go to Payroll > Payroll Elections. In the Payroll Elections section, you will click Add. Next, be sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: Enter the first day of the pay period, which is 6/16/2021.
- Effective End: Enter the day after the pay-period start date, which is 6/17/2021.
- Type: Earning
- Code: Bonus
- Amount: 50
Important: If you want to pay out a one-time earning or deduction election in a pay period, the effective start date must always be set to the first day of the pay period, and the effective end date must be set as one day after the pay-period start date.
Furthermore, the Schedule drop-down list shouldn’t have a selection. Be sure to save your changes.
Scenario: A One-Time Ad Hoc Deduction Election Paid in One Pay Period
As a payroll administrator, you want to create a $50 overpayment deduction for an employee, and you want this amount to be deducted only in the pay period with the effective dates of June 16 to June 30, 2021, and the pay date is June 30, 2021. You would go to People, search for the employee, and go to Payroll > Payroll Elections. In the Payroll Elections section, you will click Add. Next, be sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: Enter the first day of the pay period, which is 6/16/2021.
- Effective End: Enter the day after the pay-period start date, which is 6/17/2021.
- Type: Deduction
- Code: Deduction Overpayment
- Amount: 50
Furthermore, the Schedule drop-down list shouldn’t have a selection. Be sure to save your changes.
Scenario: Recurring Earning Election Paid in Each Pay Period
As a payroll administrator, you want to create an $80 child-care allowance for an employee, and you want to pay it out during each pay period, starting in the June 16, 2021, pay period. Be sure to go to People, search for the employee, and go to Payroll > Payroll Elections. In the Payroll Elections section, click Add. Next, be sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: Must be set to a date that is within the first pay period during which the earning election must be paid. In this example, an effective start date might be 6/16/2021.
- Effective End: Leave this field blank.
- Type: Earning
- Code: Childcare allowance
- Amount: 80
Furthermore, the Schedule drop-down list shouldn’t have a selection. Be sure to save your changes.
Scenario: Earning Election Paid During a Three-Month Period in Second Pay Period of the Month
As a payroll administrator, you want to create a $50 bonus for an employee, and you want to pay it out during a three-month period and only during the second pay period of each month, starting in the June 16, 2021, pay period.
Important: This scenario doesn’t apply to countries or locations where the pay group or pay frequency is monthly. This scenario only applies to non-monthly pay groups.
In this case, you must create the election and apply it to each pay period during which it must be paid, or deducted, if you are creating a deduction. Also, you must ensure that the effective start date is the first day of the pay period and the effective end date is one day after the pay-period start date. Be sure to go to People, search for the employee, and go to Payroll > Payroll Elections. In the Payroll Elections section, click Add. See the following fields that you must set for each month:
For the month of June, click Add, and make sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: 6/16/2021
- Effective End: 6/17/2021
- Type: Earning
- Code: Bonus
- Schedule: This drop-down list shouldn’t have a selection.
- Amount: 50
Save your changes.
For the month of July, click Add, and make sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: 7/16/2021
- Effective End: 7/17/2021
- Type: Earning
- Code: Bonus
- Schedule: This drop-down list shouldn’t have a selection.
- Amount: 50
Save your changes.
For the month of August, click Add, and make sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: 8/16/2021
- Effective End: 8/17/2021
- Type: Earning
- Code: Bonus
- Schedule: This drop-down list shouldn’t have a selection.
- Amount: 50
Save your changes.
Scenario: Change Amount of Recurring Election
As a payroll administrator, you created a recurring $80 childcare allowance for an employee, effective June 1, 2021, but you later find out that the allowance amount changed to $90 for the following month, effective July 1, 2021. Be sure to go to People, search for the employee, and go to Payroll > Payroll Elections, find the existing $80 recurring election, and make sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: 6/1/2021
- Effective End: 6/30/2021
- Type: Earning
- Code: Childcare allowance
- Amount: 80
Click Add. Next, be sure that these fields have the following settings:
- Effective Start: Must be set to a date that is within the first pay period during which the earning election must be paid. In this example, an effective start date might be 7/1/2021.
- Effective End: Leave this field empty.
- Type: Earning
- Code: Childcare allowance
- Amount: 90
Furthermore, the Schedule drop-down list shouldn’t have a selection, and be sure to save your changes.
Import Payroll Elections
You can import payroll elections as CSV files in Payroll Import. These CSV files use a simplified format which is described in the topic "Payroll Elections Import Template to Use in the Payroll Import Feature" in the Dayforce Implementation Guide.
Only authorized users can view, approve, or reject payroll elections before publishing them in Dayforce. For more information about how to set up a user's access to Payroll Import, see "Payroll Import Role Access" and "Payroll Import User Access" in the Dayforce Implementation Guide. There are also other security measures in Dayforce that restrict how earnings and deductions are handled by the Payroll Import feature. For example, Dayforce doesn’t permit a user to approve a transaction that they created, either by using an import or manually in the Payroll Import feature.
There are two types of elections aren’t currently supported in Payroll Import:
- Payroll elections with declining balances
- Garnishments
Details about how to import payroll elections in Payroll Import are described in the following topics: