Payroll Help

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Employee Statuses

Background:

When using Patriot HR you will have the ability to set statuses and effective dates for your employees. If you have a Vestwell integrated 401(k) plan, you can also use this feature. This article will help you determine which status is correct for your employees, as well as give examples regarding pending statuses and how they work in the software.

💡If you do not have the Human Resources Software add-on or use Vestwell as your 401(k) provider, you will only have “Active” or “Inactive” statuses available.

You will have the option of several status choices when you have the Patriot HR add-on or use Vestwell for your 401(k). The Employee List will display all employee statuses.

  • Active – Employee is currently employed and being paid.
  • Inactive – Employee may or may not still be considered “employed” but is not currently being paid. The employee with an inactive status will not appear on the payroll screen. This status may be useful for a seasonal employee who returns each year, or a future employee with a pending active status.
  • Terminated – Employee is not currently employed (either through their own resignation or firing by employer). The employee is not being paid and will not appear on the payroll screen.
  • Leave of Absence – Employee is still employed, but not currently being paid. This will remove the employee who is on a leave of absence from the payroll screen so they are not inadvertantly paid.

To update the historical statuses of employees, please see our help article, Using Employee Status History in Patriot HR.

Using pending status for employees

  • You can use a pending status to indicate an employee status change with an effective date for the future. The ability to add future effective dates for status changes comes in handy when the employer is adding new employees or a future change is needed for an employee such as an upcoming termination date. 
  • This feature prevents the need to make a manual reminder to change the status later after the final payroll is run note that pre-hires are set to “inactive” until their effective date and will not show on the employee list unless you toggle “Show Inactives.”
  • To change a pending status from the employee list, click the “Edit” link to change the date or status of the employee.

Adding future status effective dates

  • When changing an existing employee’s status from the Employee List, employers can add a future status to mark them as inactive, leave of absence, or terminated with a future date. 
  • There is an optional field to indicate the employee’s final pay date.   
  • Reason and Comments are optional. 

This can also be edited or added on the “Employee Info” tab. Payroll> Employee List > {Employee Name} > Employee Info. Scroll to the “Work Info” section and click “Add Pending Status.”

Automatic status changes

  • If no final pay date has been entered, the system will keep the employee in their current status and automatically change to the new status shortly after midnight in your time zone on the new effective date. 
  • If a final pay date has been entered the system will change to the new status shortly after midnight on the day after the final pay date.  This will ensure the employee stays active in the payroll so the employee can be paid.

Example 1: Employee A

  • Employee A’s current status is active
  • Employee A’s pending status is terminated, effective 1/14/22
  • Employee A has no final pay date.  
  • The system will keep Employee A active until 1/13/22 and then automatically change the employee status to terminated on 1/14/22

Example 2: Employee B

  • Employee B’s current status is active.
  • Employee B’s pending status is terminated, effective 1/14/22
  • Employee B’s final pay date is the same day, 1/14/22
  • The system will keep Employee B active until 1/15/22 and then automatically change the status to terminated.

Example 3: Employee C

  • Employee C’s current status is active.
  • Employee C’s pending status is terminated, effective 1/14/22
  • Employee C’s final pay date is 1/21/22
  • The system will keep Employee C’s status active until 1/22/22 (the day after) and then automatically change the status to terminated.

New employee status display

When adding new employees either in Wizard or Suite, if the hire date is in the future, the employee’s current status will be “inactive” with a pending status of “active” until that hire date has arrived. 

Please read our help article, “Pending Statuses Report” for information on employees with a pending status.

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