We’ve shown you how to set up benefits that reflect the collective agreement. Those benefits will populate the Union Settings tab so the setting amounts correctly reflect the benefit amounts. They’ll also be used to create benefit invoices for the union remittances.
In this section we’ll examine each of the fields on the setting tab. To start, navigate to the Union entry screen. Enter [c] for Payroll, [u] for Set Up, then [b] for Union Entry:
The Settings tab is the first tab under Rates:
There are tooltips for each field on this screen to explain how the field is used. You can use those as a reminder.
Here’s a more detailed explanation of the fields on the Settings tab:
Vacation Pay
Vacation pay is primarily controlled by the vacation pay type, but the ‘include travel’ setting applies to hourly and Saskatchewan pay types. It is found in the ‘other’ box at the bottom of the Settings tab:
Vacation Pay Type
Vacation pay type must be one of:
‘B’ase rates
Each occupation is set up with a base rate in addition to regular, time and a half and overtime rates. If the vacation calculation uses base rates, the vacation amount is based on all hours extended at the occupation’s base rate. Premiums that are set up to earn holiday pay will also be included.
‘H’ourly
Vacation will be based on all hourly earnings, including retro pay, payment in lieu, and all premiums. If ‘include travel’ is selected then travel hours will also factor into vacation pay.
sas’K’atchewan
In Saskatchewan, employees earn vacation pay not only for hours worked, but also for statutory holidays.
For this style of vacation pay, vacation pay will be based on all hourly earnings, including statutory pay, retro pay, payment in lieu, and all premiums. If ‘include travel’ is selected then travel hours will also factor into vacation pay.
‘R’egular
Vacation is based only on regular earnings, retro, payment in lieu, and all premiums. Overtime doesn’t contribute to vacation earnings.
‘S’cheduled
Timesheet entry has flags to differentiate between scheduled and spot overtime. Scheduled overtime is built into the project, whereas spot overtime is unforeseen. If the vacation pay type is ‘scheduled’, then vacation is calculated for regular hours and scheduled overtime hours at base rates. Premiums that are set up to earn holiday pay will also be included.
For each cheque, how the vacation pay is determined depends on how the union’s vacation pay type is set. The ‘source earnings’ box on the cheque’s Earn & Loss tab shows the dollar value the vacation percent was applied to. The tooltip on each field describes how the source earning was determined.
Statutory Pay
If all union members earn the same statutory pay, you can set that here. Otherwise statutory percent is setup on individual employee records.
You can also select if member’s statutory pay should be remitted to the union. If you select a vendor, then when the payroll is posted Abio will create an accounts payable invoice for that vendor, itemizing the statutory pay owed to each of its members.
Statutory Pay Type
‘B’ase rates
Statutory earnings are based on all hours extended at the occupation’s base rate. Premiums that are set up to earn holiday pay will also be included. If ‘include travel’ is selected then travel hours will also factor into statutory pay.
‘H’ourly
Statutory earnings will be based on all hourly earnings, including retro pay, payment in lieu, and all premiums. If ‘include travel’ is selected then travel hours will also factor into statutory pay.
‘R’egular
Statutory earnings are based only on regular earnings, retro, payment in lieu, and all premiums. Overtime doesn’t contribute.
‘S’cheduled
Statutory earnings are calculated for regular hours and scheduled overtime hours at base rates. Premiums that are set up to earn holiday pay will also be included. If ‘include travel’ is selected then travel hours will also factor into statutory pay.
For each cheque, how the statutory pay is determined depends on how the union’s statutory pay type is set. The ‘source earnings’ box on the cheque’s Earn & Loss tab shows the dollar value the statutory percent was applied to. The tooltip on each field describes how the source earning was determined.
Employee Incentives
You can set up personal safety, group safety and production bonus incentives:
These accumulate for each hour an employee works, and optionally for travel hours. Amounts are listed on the Earn & Loss tab for payroll cheques:
In the Payroll for Abio course we’ll look at how payroll is run. Part of running payroll is approving cheques. At that point you’ll be able to say how earned amounts are handled. If the group who’s cheques are being approved have earned their production bonus, you can include their production bonus with that cheque’s pay.
If, however, there’s a safety incident, cheques can be approved in such a way that each employee loses their safety bonus.
Cheque approval gives you flexibility in how you select which employees are in a group, and in turn lets you determine who earns bonuses and who loses bonuses. There are other options for releasing bonus amounts that we’ll cover in detail when we look at cheque approval.
Employee Union Dues and Fees
The union amounts for union dues and fees paid by the employee are set up in this box:
When applicable, they will be displayed in the employee union deductions box on the ‘Gross & Net’ tab on the P/R Cheque entry screen and will be deducted from gross pay:
Daily Dues
Some unions require that out-of-jurisdiction workers have daily, or permit, dues withheld. This field establishes the daily rate of such withholding up to the ‘pay period maximum daily dues’ amount.
Daily dues will be for the amount set in the trade union record. They are collected for employees who have the ‘daily dues’ option selected on their employee record.
Weekly Dues
Like daily dues, weekly dues are only taken for employees with the weekly dues option selected. The ‘weekly dues paid to’ field tracks the last period weekly dues were collected for this employee.
Permit Fee
One time union permit fee, if this field contains a non zero amount then members of this union that have not had such fees withheld before will have them deducted during P/R Cheque Entry approval. Employee entry contains a flag to show whether the employee is subject to permit fees or admin fees.
Admin Fee
One time union admin fee – if this field contains a non zero amount then members of this union that have not had such fees withheld before will have them deducted during P/R Cheque Entry approval. Employee entry contains a flag to show whether the employee is subject to permit fees or admin fees.
Dues Type
This field controls how dues are calculated
‘B’ase rate
Dues are calculated on all hours at the occupation’s base rate.
hourly ‘E’arnings
Rates for dues are defined for each of regular, time and a half, and overtime earnings.
all hours at ‘R’egular rates
For this type of dues calculation, the timesheet regular, time and a half, and overtime hours are accumulated and extended at regular rates. The regular rate for field dues/earning is applied to this amount to determine the union dues.
Field Dues on Holiday Pay
If this setting is selected, the cheque’s vacation and statutory earnings are included in the dues calculation at the field dues/earnings regular rate.
Maximum Field Dues per Month
This sets an upper limit on how much dues a member owes in a month. This only applies to field dues, not daily or weekly dues.
Employee RRSP or pension
Some agreements dictate that members must contribute to their own RRSP or pension. Set up the type and the hourly amounts here.
Employer RRSP and pension
If the collective agreement indicates the employer must contribute to the member’s pension or RRSP, set that up here.
RRSP/Pension
This field determines whether the employer is contributing to an employee pension plan or RRSP. Must be one of ‘N’one, ‘P’ension (not taxable), ‘R’RSP (taxable) or ‘B’oth – pension and RRSP.
RRSP percent
Abio allows you to set up a matching scheme, where the employer matches the RRSP or pension contributions made by the member.
Base
Percent paid by the employer to the employee’s RRSP fund
Matching
This percent will be paid by the employer to the employee’s RRSP fund if the employee is also paying to their RRSP fund. Specifically, the employee RRSP percent on the Cheques & Dues tab of Employee entry must be non-zero.
RRSP/hour
Set regular, time & half and overtime amounts for the employer RRSP.
Pension Percent:
Base
Percent paid by the employer to the employee’s pension fund
Matching
This percent will be paid by the employer to the employee’s pension fund if the employee is also paying to their pension fund.
Pension/hour
Set regular, time & half and overtime amounts for the employer pension.
Pension Number
If any kind of pension contribution is set up, a pension number is required. May be output for T4 purposes. Currently accessible through the Z action.
Employer Remittance
Monthly Remittance
Monthly health and welfare amounts to be taken from the first cheque of each month.
Earning type
‘E’arnings or ‘B’ase earnings. Base earnings are all hours calculated at the occupation’s base rate.
Remit/hr
This is the employer’s portion of the union remittance. Typically these rates include health and welfare, pensions, apprenticeship funds, trade advancement, etc.
Benefits coded to ’employer pays’ and neither pension nor RRSP are considered Employer Dues. These amounts map directly to this field, plus employer RRSP and pension amounts.
Remit per Earn
These amounts are the employer contribution to the union based on remittance earned. Pension and RRSP are not included in this number.
Other
Subcontractor Holdback %
Abio allows you to classify employees as subcontractors. You’ll still create timesheets and cheques for them, as though they were regular employees. However, when their labour costs are posted to the general ledger they are paid through the accounts payable system rather than payroll.
Abio will generate invoices for paying each subcontractor this way. If you’ve agreed on a holdback amount for subcontractors, you can set that amount in this field, and Abio will create their invoice with this percentage held back.
Include travel in dues and remittance calculations?
If this flag is set to Yes then travel earnings and travel hours are included in calculations for union dues, benefits, vacation, statutory, RRSP, and pension.