Pay item special calculations, overview

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Product support for the Creative Solutions Accounting platform ended on September 30, 2020.

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Payroll CS provides special types and special timing to be assigned to pay items in order to accommodate special calculations needed in various payroll situations, including union situations. The following special types are listed below.

  • Calc - % of Pay (considers overtime and double-time, if selected, at their premium amounts)
  • Calc - % of Conditional Pay (does not consider the premium on overtime and double-time if selected)
  • Calc - Conditional Hourly Amt (does not consider the premium on overtime and double-time if selected)
  • Calc - Fixed Amounts
  • Calc - $ per Hrs Worked

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Creating or modifying the special calculation pay item

  1. Choose Setup > System Configuration > Pay Items.
  2. In the Pay Items dialog, select the applicable pay item.

    Note: To copy and modify an existing pay item, press the F3 key and then choose Copy pay item from the context menu. Once you provide a new description, you can modify the information on each tab to match the needs of the new pay item.

  3. Click the Special Information tab and select one of the five special calculation types for this pay item. To include overtime and/or double-time in calculations for this pay item, mark the appropriate checkbox(es) on this tab.

    Notes

    • All of the calculation special types are automatically excluded from weighted average overtime calculations.
    • When the Calc - % of Pay, Calc - % of Conditional Pay, Calc - Conditional Hourly Amt, or Calc - $ per Hrs Worked special types are selected, the O/T and D/T checkboxes are enabled, allowing you to specify whether you want to include overtime or double-time in calculations for the selected pay item.
    • The Department specific calculation checkbox (available only when special types Calc - % of Pay, Calc - % of Conditional Pay, Calc - Fixed Amount, or Calc - $ per Hrs Worked are currently selected for the pay item) applies only to employees assigned to multiple departments. If this box is marked, the properties for a pay item apply only to the department to which it is assigned. If you do not mark this box, the application uses the properties of this pay item in the home department only, ignoring any settings for the same pay item in a subsequent department.

      For example, if a pay item of type Calc - Fixed Amount appears in more than one department, the application ignores the amount assigned to the second department and splits the fixed amount designated to the first department between both departments.

  4. Click the Enter button to save the pay item.

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Setting up special timing for the special calculation pay item

The Special Timing dialog allows you to specify any special timing for the selected pay item. In order for special timing to be active, at least one of the Special timing checkboxes must be unmarked in the dialog.

  1. In the Pay Items dialog, click the Special Information tab and then click the Special Timing button.
  2. In the Special Timing dialog, mark (or unmark) the checkboxes as appropriate for the calculation timing of the special calculation pay item. To base special timing on the check date rather than the period end date, mark the Check date based special timing checkbox.

    Notes

    • If you leave the period end date or check date (depending on the selection you have made) blank during payroll check data entry in Payroll CS, the application calculates the selected pay item only if all five checkboxes in this dialog are marked.
    • For a new pay item, all five checkboxes are marked as the default setting, meaning that the pay item will always be calculated.
  3. Click OK to save your changes and close the Special Timing dialog.
  4. Click Enter to save the pay item and then click Done to close the Pay Items dialog.

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Adding the special calculation pay item to the employee record

  1. Choose Setup > Employees.
  2. In the Employees dialog, highlight the appropriate employee in the employee list, and click Edit.

    Note: You can add the special calculation pay item to an employee template to add the item to all new employees using that template. You can also add the item to existing employee records using the Transfer Changes to Employees option.

  3. Click the Earnings tab.
  4. Click inside the first empty field of the Earnings grid and select the special calculation pay item from the drop-down list.
  5. Click the Item Properties button and enter the amount or percent to be used in the calculation of the pay item.

    Notes

    • If the special type is Calc - Fixed Amount, enter the fixed amount in the Amount field. The Percent field will be inactive.
    • If the special type is Calc - % of Pay or Calc - % of Conditional Pay, enter the appropriate percentage in the Percent field. The Amount field will be inactive.
    • If the special type is Calc - Conditional Hourly Amt, the application will use the amount entered in the Rate field on the Earnings tab.
    • If the special type is Calc - $ per Hrs Worked, enter the appropriate amount in the Amount field. The Percent field will be inactive.
  6. Click the Exclusions/Inclusions tab.
  7. If the hours entered for this pay item are to be excluded when calculating selected hourly accruable benefits or deductions, select Selected in the Exclude benefits or Exclude deductions drop-down lists and then mark the appropriate checkboxes in the grids.
  8. For special types Calc - % of Pay, Calc - % of Conditional Pay, or Calc - $ per Hrs Worked, if the wages/hours from only certain other pay items are to be included when calculating this pay item, select Selected in the Include pay items drop-down list and then mark the checkboxes next to those pay items in the Include pay items grid.

Note: The default setting is All, so wages/hours from all other pay items are included by default when this pay item is calculated.

The order in which pay items are listed in the Earnings grid can affect the calculation of special calculation pay items Calc - % of Pay or Calc - % of Conditional Pay. In a situation where one of these pay items considers, for its calculation, the wages of another pay item with Calc - % of Pay or Calc - % of Conditional Pay special type, that other pay item must be listed above it in the Earnings grid and thus calculated first.

The rows of the Earnings grid can be re-ordered via drag and drop. In Add or Edit mode, click the number button at the left of a row and drag it to its desired new position.

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Related topics

Pay Items dialog

Special Timing dialog

Employees dialog

Transfer Changes to Employees

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