Frequency Rules for Recurring Elements

Use frequency rules to process a recurring element at a frequency other than the one you defined for the payroll.

Here are some examples of how you can use frequency rules to process a recurring element at a frequency other than the one you defined for the payroll.

For employees that are paid on a weekly basis, define frequency rules to process the monthly deduction in the third payroll period of the month.
For employees that are paid on a semimonthly payroll, define frequency rules to process the monthly deduction in the second period of the month only.

Column headers dynamically display on the Element Summary page based on the frequency period. For example, if the payroll period is weekly, the column headers are Week 1, Week 2, and so on. To control how often to process the element, select the periods you want.

Control the Processing of Recurring Elements

The Date field on the Element Summary page provides three values. This table explains the three options you can use to control the processing of recurring elements.

Date Options for Recurring Elements

Field Value	Description	How Pay Periods are Derived
Date Earned	Date on which the application processes element entries for the payroll run.	Uses the pay period end date of the period that contains the date earned to determine the number of pay periods in the month.
Effective Date	In this context the effective date is the date on which the payments are processed. In most cases this is the date between the first day and last day of the payroll period.	Uses the pay period end date of the period that contains the effective date to determine the number of pay periods in the month. For offset payrolls, where the effective date isn't within the start and end dates of the current period, the end date of the period that contains the effective date is used. For example, you have an offset payroll where the period start date is 01-February, the end date is 14-February, and the effective date for the process is 16-February. In this case the actual period end date is 28-February because the effective date (16-February) is between 15-February and 28-February.
Payroll Run Date	Date used by the payroll calculation process to retrieve effective values such as employee details.	Uses the payroll run date to determine the number of pay periods in the month. While the payroll run date is essentially the same as the effective date, the frequency rules process uses a different method to determine the number of the period in the month.

Field Value

Description

How Pay Periods are Derived

Date Earned

Date on which the application processes element entries for the payroll run.

Uses the pay period end date of the period that contains the date earned to determine the number of pay periods in the month.

Effective Date

In this context the effective date is the date on which the payments are processed.

In most cases this is the date between the first day and last day of the payroll period.

Uses the pay period end date of the period that contains the effective date to determine the number of pay periods in the month.

For offset payrolls, where the effective date isn't within the start and end dates of the current period, the end date of the period that contains the effective date is used.

For example, you have an offset payroll where the period start date is 01-February, the end date is 14-February, and the effective date for the process is 16-February. In this case the actual period end date is 28-February because the effective date (16-February) is between 15-February and 28-February.

Payroll Run Date

Date used by the payroll calculation process to retrieve effective values such as employee details.

Uses the payroll run date to determine the number of pay periods in the month.

While the payroll run date is essentially the same as the effective date, the frequency rules process uses a different method to determine the number of the period in the month.

Example of Using the Payroll Run Date Option

Let's say you deduct pre-tax medical insurance payments twice a month for all employees on your biweekly payroll. In this scenario, you should select the Payroll Run Date option. Selecting this option ensures your payroll application doesn't process more than two deductions for the month.

The pay period dates listed in this table are for a biweekly payroll.

Example of Using the Payroll Run Date Option

Pay Period	Pay Period Start Date	Pay Period End Date	Payroll Run Date
1	19-December-2015	1-January-2016	6-January-2016
2	2-January-2016	15-January-2016	20-January-2016
3	16-January-2016	29-January-2016	3-February-2016

This table describes how the process determines the number of deductions taken for each of the date values when you process your January payroll.

Number of Deductions for Each Date Value

Date Value	Date Used to Derive the Number of Pay Periods	Number of Deductions Taken for January
Date Earned	Pay period end date	3
Effective Date	Pay period end date	3
Payroll Run Date	Payroll run date	2 Deductions are taken out for the first two pay periods only since the payroll run date for the third pay period is in February.

Element Frequency Rules for Terminated Employees

When you terminate an employee, the following happens:

The application normally ends the payment of recurring elements such as salary, therefore frequency rules can't be applied.
The application processes frequency rules in the payroll period in which the employee terminates but these rules aren't processed in subsequent payroll periods.
Use element entry start and end dates to control the frequency of recurring elements for terminated employees.