I believe that there should be a distinction between the PAYROLL state of a job (the state to use to calculate payroll taxes) and the WC state of a job (the state to use for the Workers Comp state.)

Since employees may want to use one state for payroll taxes, as is their right, there should be no double-use of the Job State field for both payroll taxes AND the WC state. There should be a separate field for the WC state.

If there was a separate WC state in Job Setup, then in turn the PR system should lookup the WC state and the WC code during PR time entry this way:

When the Job and Cost Code are entered in time entry, there should be a way to lookup the Job's WC state and in turn find the correct WC Code for the job cost code entered from the PR WC Cost Code Table setup.

First the employee setup would include any Fringe IDs for any appropriate WC fringes (whether there is one labeled "WC" or multiple...the indicator that the fringe is a WC fringe is when the checkbox "Worker's comp table" is checked.

Then when the JOB_ID is entered, the WC State is found on the Job setup, and auto-filled in the time entry. (Not to be confused with the PAYROLL state.)
Next, when the JC cost code is entered, the WC code is found from the Cost Code WC Table setup. NOTE: since WC codes vary across states for the SAME work, the Cost Code WC Table Setup needs an additional column: WC State. So the lookup is which WC state, then which cost code range, return the WC code.

If the time entry view has been customized, the view will show the WC state and WC code columns, and the data entry person will see the auto fills and can override if necessary.

This way the data entry clerk does not have to remember the Job WC state, nor the correct WC code either.

If the JC Setup WC State and the Cost Code WC Table setup is not there, the WC State and WC Code come from the employee setup WC State and Code - NOT the Resident/Work state.

Critically, the Work State, the payroll taxes state, DOES NOT CHANGE because the WC State should be separate from the Payroll Taxes state. The reason being that employees can choose to have 1 and only 1 Work state for payroll taxes purposes all day long, regardless of what states the jobs are in. BUT the employer with the employees permission, may from time to time select a different WC state/policy to accrue WC costs, which vary widely between states.

by: Amory J. | 4 months ago | 6 Payroll