This article that was originally published in June, 2013, has been updated to provide a link to a federal government website.
One of the more formidable employer compliance provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) that takes effect in 2014 involves determining which employees qualify as “full-time employees” under this Act. OpenRDA’s Payroll Product Group has developed the following recommendations for tracking hours worked by part-time employees:
Personnel Status / Status Title?_
Ensure that Status Titles are set up in such a way that reports can be run to include all hourly/daily-paid employees whose hours need to be tracked for reporting purposes; for example, all part time and substitutes may have a Status Title of RPT (REGULAR PART-TIME); appropriate status titles for part-time employees also facilitates the use of the Job Pay Rate Master Export report; please see the Report Description for that report for other part-time status titles.?_
Hours Per Day
It is essential for jobs paid by the day (such as Substitute Teachers) or a unit rate other than by the hour (such as Coaching assignments) to have the hours per day set.
For Enterprise customers, it is recommended that new Gross IDs (Position Tracking module) be created to account for variations in Hours Per Day; and that those Gross IDs be assigned to employee’s Job Masters; alternatively, create a unique Gross ID with Hours Per Day set on each Payroll Job Master.
For OpenRDA 101 customers, Hours Per Day are always established in the employee’s Payroll Job Master.
Payments to Part Time Employees?_
Any part-time employee who is currently paid a salary should be changed to be paid by the hour; default hours/units can be set up so that employees who regularly work the same number of hours will automatically be paid those hours (exceptions can be made when needed).
Correct Selection of Rate ID
It will be essential for the correct Rate ID to be selected when entering hours/days to be paid:
HOURLY UNIT: ?_ Must be selected when the job is paid by the hour
OVERTIME-ABOVE and OVERTIME-BASE: ?_ Must be selected when paying Overtime
DAILY UNIT: ?_ Must be selected when the job is paid by the day
IMPORTANT NOTE REGARDING DAILY UNIT: ?_ Numerous OpenRDA 101 customers (especially in North Dakota and Illinois) have been set up with a RET-DAILY Gross ID, where only the DAILY UNIT can be selected. This Gross ID should continue to be used for jobs paid by the day that are eligible for Retirement. ?_ Any jobs paid by the hour which are retirement eligible (but no other voluntary deductions apply) should no longer use this Gross ID.
MISC UNIT: ?_ Regarding the above note about the RET-DAILY Gross ID (for customers paying jobs by the hour which are retirement eligible), submit a cyber-support helpdesk ticket so that a payroll specialist can create a new Gross ID: ?_RET-MISC UNIT. This new Gross ID will contain only the Rate ID of MISC UNIT and should be used exclusively for hourly-paid jobs that are retirement eligible with no other voluntary deductions. ?_
Important note for customers not using the aforementioned standard rates: The above standard Rate IDs must be used for tracking hours for part-time employees. ?_If assistance is needed adding these Rate IDs and/or assigning them to Gross IDs, please submit a cyber-support helpdesk ticket so that a payroll specialist can assist.
Payroll Reports in OpenRDA that have been written in conjunction with these ACA provisions and show units by Rate ID:
Job Pay Rate Units (PAYJPRM-UNITS) – accessed via General Payroll Info reports submenu, Job Pay Reports. This report will be included with the June 27, 2013 programs release.
Calendar Job Rate Monthly Summaries (PAYJRCS2) – accessed via Calendar and Fiscal Year reports submenu. This report was included with the May 28, 2013 programs release.
On August 1, the federal government launched a website where employers can learn of responsibilities and options under the ACA. Click this link to vist that website. You may also want to check out HealthCare.gov (this is a federal website resource for employers and consumers).
