Rick Delaney, Strategy Manager for PeopleSoft Payroll for North America, presented PeopleSoft Payroll for North America updates to state paid family and medical leave – specifically in Washington, Massachusetts, and Washington D.C.

Payroll for North America Updates

New Translate Value for Paid Leave

To begin, there is a new translate value called Paid Leave. You will see it on the Taxable Gross Definition Table and the State Tax table. Oracle delivered this because the state of Washington had unique requirements. The value is used on the State Tax table. The image below shows this new tax base.

For the state of Washington, Oracle also delivered a new row that has an effective date of January 2, 2019, to retain your historical data in case payrolls were paid between January 1 and patch delivery.

On the Taxable Gross Definition Table, there is a new taxable gross called Paid Leave. There is also a new entry with an effective date of January 2, 2019. The base gross is all gross.

GRS Accumulator

The GRS Accumulator was delivered in the new patch. It does not need to be set up by the customer. If you have an earning code set up to add to gross pay, it will automatically add to the accumulator. This accumulator will be used on all checks, whether you need it or not. The GRS is Oracle-created and should only be used for the purpose of which it was created.

For practical application, view the Washington Check below.

The taxable gross definition was delivered to use both paid leave and gross of gross. Washington Paid Family Medical Leave Taxable Gross is equal to gross earnings. If you look at the accumulator, you’ll see that it holds the gross earnings for the check. If you look at the different taxes— FLI for employee/employer, MLI for employee/employer—they are all using the gross pay. It cross-foots up to the earnings on the check. For now, Washington is the only state that is using this accumulator as its base gross. It is expected that there will be more states utilizing it in the future.

DC Paid Family Leave Employer Contributions

This is an employer only tax for covered employers required to contribute 0.62 percent of wages for covered employees. The DC FPL taxable wages are equal to your unemployment no-limit gross taxable wages.

After posting the patch for DC, the APA reported that DC had “clarified” that PFL contributions should have covered the preceding quarter’s wages, which was Q2. Oracle was unaware of this fact at the time. Therefore, in 19-C, there will be a 4/01/2019 row for the State Tax Table along with the 7/01/2019 row. The COBOL hard code for 7/01/2019, will be removed. As for quarterly reporting requirements, there has been no clarification from DC at this time.

For the DC tax table, the Paid Leave tax base, which matched up with the Paid Leave on the Tax Definition Table, was used. Notice below that for DC, Oracle used FUT as the taxable gross base. In the example below, the dates have been changed to 4/01/2019. If you have just applied the patch, you will see 7/01/2019, unless you have made changes.

On the DC state tax data, you’re going to see an added FLI status. Before the modifications, the field was not there. After modifications, the FLI status was added to the page. Valid choices are “Subject” and “Not Applicable.”

In order to start this and get the contributions to be taken, you need to update your employee state tax data. Add a new row of 7/01/2019, and set your FLI status to “Subject.” The default is “Not applicable.”

Then, update your future dated state tax rows. Remember that UI Jurisdiction must be selected for FLI/ER to be calculated. An example is shown below.

Massachusetts Paid Family and Medical Leave is an employee tax and employer contribution. As delivered, this total premium was 0.63 percent of unemployment no limit gross wages. This is up to the social security maximum, which is $132,900 for 2019. The premiums are allocated separately from the 0.63 percent. Family leave is 17.5 percent of the total premium and Medical leave is 82.5 percent of the total premium. Employers with less than 25 employees in Massachusetts are exempt from the employer contribution. After posting, Massachusetts delayed the implementation of PFL until October 1, 2019. This also includes a change to the total premium rate for the rest of 2019. They changed the 0.63 percent rate to 0.75 percent.

There is a workaround on the Payroll Hot Topics Document. It will tell you how to go into the state tax table, change the effective date, and then change the rate on the additional rates table.

Oracle will deliver a PRP that will act as a double PRP. It will be applied to both Image 30 and Image 31. This will deliver the 10/01/2019 row for the state tax table and delete the 7/01/2019 if it still exists. It was announced too late to be applied to Image 31. With that said, when you apply Image 31 19-C, it will put the row back. Make sure to hold on to the workaround or apply the PRP to Image 31 after you’ve taken it. Once you get to 19-D, the row will officially be installed. For lower releases, there will be a special posting after 19C.

Once you receive the patch, update your employee state tax data. Add a new row effective 10/01/2019. Set FLI status to “subject.” The default is “Not applicable.”

Update future-dated state tax data rows if they exist. UI Jurisdiction must be selected for FLI/ER to be calculated. The following are examples of employee checks in Massachusetts.

Quick Tip for Massachusetts Fix

Some of you may have encountered an error when applying the Massachusetts fix. The PeopleTools error was not consistent. It could have affected any users on PeopleTools 8.57.07 or lower. This was caused by a combination of factors. Check out Document 2552516.1 to understand the cause of the issue and to take advantage of the hot fix for PeopleTools. The error code looks like this:

Washington Paid Family Leave Quarterly Reporting

Washington extended the timeline for quarterly reporting with Q1 and Q2 reporting due July 31. Single employers are to submit CSV files even if you are reporting multiple UBI numbers in a single CSV file. Oracle was under the impression that ICESA format files were going to be required. There was a last-minute clarification. Oracle had to deliver two SQRs— one for single-employer customers and anoth3r for third party agencies. Base Bug is 29955899.

Both SQRs will be delivered in a single PRP. Remember that PRPs must be applied to the current image. Download the PRP when posted so you can apply to Image 30. After 31 is posted, you must apply PRP to Image 31. This PRP also includes menu, permission list, and message catalog entries changes. The lower releases will get a special posting after 19-C.

To learn more about the Payroll for North America Updates to State Paid Family and Medical Leave, check out the presentation attached below.

Additional Resources

COLLABORATE 20 will take place April 19-23, 2020 at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada! Don’t miss this chance to share inspiration, insights, and solutions with your peers, vendors, and the Oracle team! Register before March 6, 2020, to take advantage of Early Bird pricing.

Join us this week for Quest Experience Week! This free, four-day event is jam-packed with digital education designed to provide both strategic insight and how-to-education for Oracle users of all levels. Each day is dedicated to a different product and begins with a keynote followed by afternoon breakout sessions. Join us this week – November 12-15, 2019, for conference-quality education from the comfort of your desk!

• Cloud Day: November 12
• Database Day: November 13
• PeopleSoft Day: November 14
• JD Edwards Day: November 15

If you’re looking for more PeopleSoft content, join us next year at RECONNECT 20, the premier deep-dive PeopleSoft focused event of the year! The event will take place July 21-23, 2020 in St. Louis, Missouri. Keep an eye out for more information on this event!