Article #1
Regulatory Updates to FMLA
As we all know, strict compliance of the FMLA is important in order to ensure a happy and healthy workplace for your employees. Updates have recently been made to the FMLA in order to accommodate the world today. Staying up-to-date with these changes to the FMLA is critical for payroll and human resources professionals; here is a list of updates and what you need to know:
November, 2008
The Department of Labor's Wage and Hour Division published a Final Rule under the Family and Medical Leave Act. The final rule became effective on January 16, 2009, and updates the FMLA regulations to implement new military family leave entitlements enacted under the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2008.
The Final Regulations implement two important new military family leave entitlements for eligible specified family members:
(1) Up to 12 weeks of leave for certain qualifying exigencies arising out of a covered military member's active duty status, or notification of an impending call or order to active duty status, in support of a contingency operation, and
(2) Up to 26 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period to care for a covered servicemember recovering from a serious injury or illness incurred in the line of duty on active duty. Eligible employees are entitled to a combined total of up to 26 weeks of all types of FMLA leave during the single 12-month period.
October, 2009
The President signed into law the
National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010. These amendments expand on the military family leave rights added to the FMLA in 2008. The military family leave provisions provide qualifying exigency and military caregiver leave for families of covered military members.
• Eligible employee may take FMLA leave for any qualifying exigency arising out of the fact that the employee’s spouse, son, daughter, or parent is on (or has been notified of an impending call to) “covered active duty” in the Armed Forces.
• Military caregiver leave entitles an eligible employee who is the spouse, son, daughter, parent, or next of kin of a “covered servicemember” to take up to 26 workweeks of FMLA leave in a single 12-month period to care for a “covered servicemember” with a “serious injury or illness”.
• 2010 NDAA also amends the FMLA’s definition of a “serious injury or illness”. For a current member of the Armed Forces the definition is amended to include not only a serious injury or illness that was incurred by the member in line of duty on active duty but also a serious injury or illness that “existed before the beginning of the member’s active duty and was aggravated by service in line of duty on active duty in the Armed Forces” that may render the member medically unfit to perform the duties of the member’s office, grade, rank, or rating.
December, 2009
The President signed into law the “Airline Flight Crew Technical Corrections Act” and established a special minimum eligibility requirement for airline flight attendants and flight crew members.
• The amendment provides that an airline flight attendant or flight crew member meets the hours of service requirement if, during the previous 12-month period, he or she (1) has worked or been paid for not less than 60 percent of the applicable total monthly guarantee (or its equivalent), and (2) has worked or been paid for not less than 504 hours, not including personal commute time, or time spent on vacation, medical, or sick leave.
Many businesses need unlimited flexibility to track and manage leave time benefits. Integrity Data’s Comprehensive Leave Manager allows you to define your own codes and set policies for leave accruals, lump-sum allocations, and comp time helping you stay up-to-date with inevitable FMLA regulatory changes. Save time with mass updating, balance sharing, and transfer, as well as full HRM Self Service Suite integration and FMLA Calendar.
Article #2
Big Picture Insight with Unified Communications
Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010 gives insight into daily tasks, giving employees more accountability for their actions. Managers will have more time to deal with the bigger picture at hand. More time and productive employees set the stage for a successful company. Check out these awesome enhancements within Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010:
Payroll
• Sequencing Garnishments
You can now deduct the garnishments in a particular sequence until reaching the limit specified in the Garnishment Maximum window, giving you more control over deductions.
• Reprint Pay Stubs and Earnings Statements
You can now reprint a report that contains paystub and direct deposit earnings statement information from a previously posted pay run which closely resembles the original check or direct deposit. This enhancement makes it quick and easy to view history of payables and receivables, giving you better insight into company financials.
• Track Fiscal Year Values
You can now track fiscal year as well as calendar year amounts for compensation, deductions, and benefits, and set both fiscal and calendar year limits in Payroll and Human Resources.
• Payroll Integrations with Analytical Accounting (Module within Microsoft Dynamics GP 2010)
You can now track employee expenses by transaction dimensions created in Analytical Accounting. You can also assign default dimensions codes to payroll posting accounts based on a combination of posting type, employee, department, position and code.
Advanced Payroll
• Payroll Hours to General Ledger
You can now assign a Unit Account so you can post payroll hours as well as dollar amounts, giving you more flexibility and scalability into your reporting.
• Advanced Labor Reporting
You can now extend department level reporting for both payroll and financial data. Having a better view into each department helps you to notice failures and successes quickly.
• Transaction Auto Split
This allows additional flexibility and functionality when applying payroll transactions for employees that work for and in multiple departments and positions.
• Payroll Integration to Payables
During the posting process of the payroll processing, the system will create Payables Voucher Transactions automatically. You can then cut checks or do EDTs using standard Payables Management features. You no longer have to manually add expense vouchers, saving you and the company time and resources and ensuring more accurate data.
• Use Multiple OT Rate Calculation Methods per Pay Code
You can now assign more than one ORM calculation method to a pay code. The result is that you can use a blended rate for more than one part of the transaction and hours are no longer overstated.
• Specify Payroll Edit Report Preferences
You now can use the standard Posting Reports setup options for pre-posting reports that are printed after calculating check and the reports that are printed during the posting process.
Human Resources
• Assign employee secondary status codes
You can now create secondary status codes to provide more detail about an employee’s status, such as why an employee is inactive or isn’t being paid. For example, you could set up codes for inactive employees who are taking military or family leave, or active employees who are on probation, awaiting a grant assignment, or between school terms.
You can set up separate status codes for active and inactive employees, and print a report listing all available status codes. You can assign the new codes using the Employee Maintenance window, and view assigned codes using the Employee Inquiry window.
