Working with Absence Rules

This chapter provides an overview of delivered absence rules and discusses how to:

• Set up absences for Germany.

• Modify take elements.

• Calculate entitlement for paid vacation.

• Define absence entitlement plans.

• Issue advance payment for vacations.

• Enter maternity and educational leave data.

Note. This chapter supplements the absence documentation provided in the PeopleSoft Global Payroll PeopleBook. Before you begin reading about German absence functionality, read "Understanding Absences" to familiarize yourself with how Global Payroll handles absence processing.

See Also

Understanding Absence Setup and Management Tasks

Understanding Delivered Absence Rules

This section discusses:

• Absence take elements.

• Delivered entitlement elements.

• Viewing delivered elements.

Absence Take Elements

This PeopleSoft application delivers predefined rules for processing absences, and these rules comply with German laws and tariffs. You can modify some of the absence rules and create new ones to reflect your company policies, the specific requirements of tariff contracts, work agreements, and employment contracts.

This table lists the absence take elements PeopleSoft delivers with Global Payroll for Germany and identifies the units (hours or days) in which the absence take is calculated.

The Earnings Units Paid and Earnings Units Unpaid columns identify the formulas that populate the units paid and units unpaid values used by the earnings calculation. The columns show only the suffix of the formula name. The full name of each formula is DE_AB_COUNT followed by the unique suffix.

If a count formula appears in the Earnings Units Unpaid column but not in the Earnings Units Paid column, then the absence is always unpaid. If a formula appears in both columns, then the absence is unpaid only when the entitlement balance is zero or less.

The Priority column shows the relative priority of the absence when a payee has more than one absence event for the same date.

Delivered Entitlement Elements

Global Payroll for Germany delivers four entitlement elements:

• DE_AB_VACA: vacation

• DE_AB_SICK: sick time

• DE_AB_WACC: work accident

• DE_AB_TACC: travel accident

Entitlement for vacations is frequency based; entitlement for sickness and accidents is defined per absence.

See Also

Defining Absence Take Elements

Viewing Delivered Elements

The PeopleSoft system delivers a query that you can run to view the names of all delivered elements designed for Germany. Instructions for running the query are provided in the PeopleSoft Global Payroll PeopleBook.

See Also

Understanding How to View Delivered Elements

Setting Up Absences for Germany

Before you can enter and process absences, you must complete various setup steps. We describe the general setup steps under Absence Set Up and Management Tasks in the PeopleSoft Global Payroll PeopleBook. Following are the specific steps applicable to Global Payroll for Germany.

To prepare Global Payroll for Germany for absence processing:

1. Define work schedules and assign a schedule to each payee.

   Instructions for creating and assigning work schedules are in the Using Schedules section of the PeopleSoft Global Payroll PeopleBook.

2. Define holiday schedules.

   Instructions for creating and assigning holiday schedules are in the Using Schedules section of the PeopleSoft Global Payroll PeopleBook.

3. Define or modify entitlement and take elements.

   Use the predefined absence entitlement and absence take elements delivered with Global Payroll for Germany, modify some attributes of these elements, or create your own absence elements. In this chapter, we list the delivered absence elements and describe the attributes you can change.

4. Create entitlement plans.

   Entitlement plans provide a convenient way to define the amount of paid time off to which employees are entitled for vacation, sickness, accidents, or other reasons that you define. You can base entitlement on weekly work days, age, length of service, or other factors. When you run the Absence process, the system retrieves the entitlement plan associated with the payee to determine the entitlement that is appropriate for the absence that is being processed.

5. Assign entitlement plans to payees.

   After you define your entitlement plans, associate them with pay entity, pay group, or payees using supporting element override.

6. Assign absence elements to payees and process lists.

   As with all primary elements, you must assign absence entitlement and take elements to payees and include them in the process lists that you use when you run the absence processes. (This step is not necessary for per absence entitlement elements.)

   This PeopleSoft application delivers predefined sections and process lists for absence processing. Use these, modify them, or create your own.

Modifying Take Elements

This section discusses:

• Delivered take elements.

• Changing count formulas.

• Example of count formula DE_AB_COUNT_H1B (scheduled hours paid).

• Viewing delivered elements.

Delivered Take Elements

You can modify the take elements delivered with Global Payroll for Germany and most count formulas and earnings elements that these take elements use, with the exception of the PeopleSoft-maintained elements described below.

The following earnings codes and count formulas affect social insurance, tax, and DEUEV calculations; you cannot change them.

Note. The Take Config 1 field associated with the absence take element stores the reason code for a DEUEV interruption. The count formulas assign the DEUEV reason to the units of the earnings code.

Changing Count Formulas

The take elements delivered with Global Payroll for Germany use predefined formulas to calculate the day count and to calculate the number of units the system uses to generate positive input for earnings. You can select a different formula for the day count or for the calculation of positive input.

The suffix for each absence count formula is unique and can provide information about the count formula; for example, it can tell you how the formula interprets absences that are less than one day, as explained in this table:

This table lists the delivered count formulas. An X in the Day Count column indicates that the formula is an appropriate selection for the Day Count field on the Day Formula page of a take element. An X in the Earnings Units column indicates that the formula is appropriate for the Element Name - Unit field in the Units tab of the Day Formula page. Use the Formula View page to view a formula.

Two conditions can cause a formula to count an absence as a half day: Select the Half Day check box when you enter the absence on the Absence Entry page or enter a number of hours that is less than the payee's scheduled hours.

Example of Count Formula DE_AB_COUNT_H1B (Scheduled Hours Paid)

Following is an example of the count formula DE_AB_COUNT_H1B (Scheduled Hours Paid):

IF SCHED HRS  >  0
THEN
IF PARTIAL HOURS  >  0
THEN
PARTIAL HOURS * (DAY COUNT PD / DAY COUNT) to formula
ELSE
SCHED HRS * (DAY COUNT PD / DAY COUNT) to formula 
ENDIF
ENDIF

Viewing Delivered Elements

The PeopleSoft system delivers a query that you can run to view the names of all delivered elements designed for Germany. Instructions for running the query are provided in the PeopleSoft Global Payroll PeopleBook.

See Also

Understanding How to View Delivered Elements

Calculating Entitlement for Paid Vacation

PeopleSoft delivers the formula DE_AB_VAC_ENTCALC1, which you can use to calculate entitlement for paid vacation. The formula calculates entitlement monthly and prorates entitlement when a payee works less than a full month. It automatically increases entitlement for new hires and grants entitlement annually for existing employees.

The formula does the following:

1. Calculates entitlement for the current month, taking calendar segmentation into account. It prorates entitlement based on calendar days and stores the result in the month-to-date accumulator DE_AB_VAC_ENTMONTH.

2. Calculates entitlement for the remaining months of the calendar year and stores the result in the variable element DE_AB_TEMP2.

3. For the last slice or segment in the calendar, the formula does the following:

   • Calculates the new annual entitlement by taking the entitlement for the current month (DE_AB_VAC_ENTMONTH) and adding to it the entitlement for the previous month (stored in the year-to-date accumulator DE_AB_MONSUM) and entitlement for the remaining months of the year, until year-end or the payee's termination date (DE_AB_TEMP2).

   • Determines whether the calculated annual entitlement represents a new entitlement (January or a new hire) or an adjustment to the previous month's calculation.

Defining Absence Entitlement Plans

Use the Absence Entitlement Plans DEU (GPDE_AB_ENTITLEMNT) component to define absence entitlement plans.

This section provides an overview of entitlement plans and discusses how to:

• Enter entitlement plan names and effective dates.

• Specify the number of vacation days.

Understanding Entitlement Plans

An entitlement plan specifies the number of paid absence units to which payees are entitled for a variety of absence reasons, such as vacation time, sickness, and accidents. For each entitlement reason, you can enter the number of entitlement units that should be granted based on the number of workdays per week, the payee's age, years of service, and/or job function. Absence entitlement plans provide a convenient method of grouping a set of entitlement rules into a single plan.

Assigning Entitlement Plans to Payees

Assign an entitlement plan on the pay entity, pay group, or payee level using the Supporting Overrides page.

If you do not associate an entitlement plan with a payee (through use of the Supporting Element Overrides page), vacation entitlement for the payee is automatically set to 25 (as calculated by the formula DE_AB_VAC_ENTFORM). Entitlement for sickness, work, and travel accident is automatically set to 44.44 (as calculated by the per absence entitlement formula DE_AB_ENTFORM_PA).

This diagram illustrates how supporting element overrides can be to define a payee's entitlement plan and days per week.

Defining a payee's entitlement plan and days per week

Note. When you assign an entitlement plan to a payee, you must still associate the individual entitlement elements that are within the plan to payees. The entitlement plan simply specifies the number of entitlement units to which the payee is entitled. It does not specify that the payee is eligible to receive the entitlement.

To override a payee's default entitlement plan:

1. Access the Payee Supporting Element Overrides page for the payee.

2. On the Elements/Dates tab, complete the Element Type and Element Name fields.

   In the Element Type field, select Variable. In the Element Name field, select DE_AB_EE_ENTL_PLAN.

3. On the Values tab, enter the name of the entitlement plan that you want to assign to the payee.

Adjusting an Employee's Number of Workdays per Week

The system refers to the payee's number of workdays per week to retrieve the correct row from the entitlement plan table.

The number of workdays per week comes from the Tariff Factor Table. You can use the variable element DE_AB_EE_DAYS_WEEK to override this number for individual employees. Use the Supporting Element Overrides page to enter the override amount for the variable.

Pages Used to Define Absence Entitlement Plans

Entering Entitlement Plan Names and Effective Dates

Access the Absence Entitlement Plans DEU - General Data page (Set Up HRMS, Product Related, Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Elements, Absence Elements, Absence Entitlement Plans DEU, General Data).

Entitlement

The entitlement plan name that you entered to access this page.

Specifying the Number of Vacation Days

Access the Absence Entitlement Plans DEU - Detail Data page (Set Up HRMS, Product Related, Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Elements, Absence Elements, Absence Entitlement Plans DEU, Detail Data).

Element

Absence Entitlement Details

See Also

Calculating Entitlement for Paid Vacation

Entering German Nation DEUEV Codes

Issuing Advance Payment for Vacations

Access the Absence Event - Absence Event Input Detail page (Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Payee Data, Maintain Absences, Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Payee Data, Maintain Absences, Absence Event, Absence Event Input Detail).

Enter the absence begin and end dates. Enter the date for which you want to generate positive input in the Date field in the first row. Enter the payment amount in the Monetary field and select the currency code.

Note. If the vacation falls within more than one pay period, for example, July 31 to August 5, then the date you enter determines the pay period in which the advance payment is processed. For example, a date of July 31 causes the positive input to be generated for July; a date of August 5 causes the positive input to be generated during the August payroll.

See Entering Absences.

Entering Maternity or Educational Leave Data

This section discusses how to enter maternity or educational leave data and the batch processing.

Page Used to Enter Maternity and Educational Leave Data

Entering Maternity or Educational Leave Data

Access the Maternity Leave page (Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Payee Data, Maintain Absences, Maternity Leave DEU, Maternity Leave).

Women are entitled to maternity leave six weeks before and three weeks after the birth of a child (the protection period). A woman or man can take an extended leave of absence (educational leave) of up to three years following the maternity leave. The employer must send a letter to the employee to ask how long the educational leave will be.

Absence Take Maternity

Absence Take Educational Leave

Letter Details

Batch Processing

At the beginning of the Absence process, the system retrieves the following information:

• Tariff, tariff area, and employee category for the payee.

• Entitlement plan and workdays associated with Tariff tables.

• Entitlement plan and workdays for payee, if different from Tariff table.

• Disability data.

• Entitlement from entitlement plan.

Absence Process List and Sections

Use the absence process list (DE AB ABSENCE ) delivered with Global Payroll for Germany, modify this process list, or build your own.

The sections within DE AB ABSENCE are:

• DE_ABS_INIT: Initializes section. Executes multiple counts in preparation for absence calculations. For example, counts scheduled days, scheduled hours, and public holidays (days and hours).

• DE_ABS_ENTITLEMENT: Calculates entitlement.

• DE_ABS_TAKE: Calculates take.

• DE_ABS_TERM_SECT: Calculates vacation pay-off for terminated payees.

• DE_ABS_GEN_PI: Generates positive input for earnings and deductions.

Note. This PeopleSoft application delivers a separate process list, DE MT PRCLST, for maternity leave.

Managing Supplementary Sick Payments

After continuous sick payments by an employer has ended, an employee can claim additional payments if Tariff contracts or Employer/Works council agreements exist.

This section provides an overview of supplementary sick payment processing and discusses how to:

• Set up the supplementary sick payment bracket.

• Set up the Pay Entity override elements.

• Set up Payee override elements.

• View delivered supplementary sick pay elements.

Understanding Supplementary Sick Payment Processing

You process supplementary sick payments as follows:

1. Add the necessary section to the Payroll Process. The section should be processed immediately following the initialization of SI-Data to ensure that all necessary base data is loaded.

2. Change Absence elements.

3. Enter the Supplementary Sick Pay entitlement. The system calculates the supplementary sick payment based on the company seniority date. The entitlement is stored in the bracket DE_AB_SUPP_SICK_PY.

4. Create an override for the pay entity to determine the calculation method for the net payment.

5. Create an override for the pay entity to determine the proration method for the net payment.

6. Create an override for the pay entity to determine the up-grossing of the supplementary sick payment.

7. Create an override for the payee to enter the Daily Sick Payment By Health Insurance Provider amount.

8. Create an override for the payee to enter the Net for Social Benefit amount.

Pages Used to Set Up Supplementary Sick Payments

Setting Up the Supplementary Sick Payment Bracket

Access the Lookup Rules page (Set Up HRMS, Product Related, Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Elements, Supporting Elements, Brackets, Lookup Rules).

Use this page to determine if the entitlement applies to employees with seniority less then or greater than the number of years entered in the bracket.

In the sample setup, the system uses the last entered row if an employee's years of seniority are more than his or her stored years, and it always uses the next lower value.

Setting Up the Pay Entity Override Elements

Access the Supporting Element Overrides page (Set Up HRMS, Product Related, Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Framework, Organizational, Pay Entities, Supporting Element Overrides).

Supporting Element Override List

Setting Up Payee Override Elements

Access the Supporting Elements page (Global Payroll & Absence Mgmt, Payee Data, Create Overrides, Supporting Elements, Supporting Elements).

Payee Supporting Element Override List

Viewing Delivered Supplementary Sick Pay Elements

To calculate the supplementary sick payment, new elements need to be added to the payroll process globally and at the pay entity and payee levels.

This section lists:

• Delivered sections.

• Delivered earnings.

• Delivered formulas.

• Delivered variables.

• Delivered accumulators.

These tables discuss each of the elements delivered to calculate supplementary sick payments:

Delivered Sections

Delivered Bracket

Delivered Earnings

Delivered Formulas

Delivered Variables

Delivered Accumulators

See Also

PeopleTools: PeopleSoft Query PeopleBook