Payroll

Kronos FAQ for Managers and Payroll Reporters

As we continue our roll-out of the Kronos Time and Attendance system, additional questions have cropped up. In order to assist you in understanding the system and communicating it to employees, we have prepared the following Q&A for your use. Please use this as a guide for discussing issues with employees rather than as a distribution piece. However, you may wish to give a copy to your payroll reporter.

1. Many of my employees report to work early and punch in when they arrive so they don’t forget. How can I adjust the punch times so that they don’t get paid for that extra time not worked?

The time clocks are set up with a grace period of 14 minutes for employees to punch in and out. Thus an employee who is scheduled to begin work at 7:00 a.m. may punch in from 6:53 a.m. to 7:07 a.m. and still be paid from 7:00 a.m. Should this employee punch in before 6:53 a.m., s/he will be paid additional time.

You need to communicate to your staff the grace period and instruct them to punch in only within this time frame (unless of course they begin work earlier than scheduled). Otherwise, we are responsible for paying for the hours reported on the time clock. Managers are not authorized to change the punch times of their employees to reduce or eliminate overtime.

2. What if an employee forgets to punch in or out?

The supervisor must approve the start or end time for the employee and report it to the Payroll reporter.

3. The salaries for my staff are split across two (or more) cost centers. How can I be sure the wages are hitting the correct budget lines?

There are two ways to split the accounting. These two methods are not compatible so for each employee you will need to decide which way to assign the salary distribution.

• Method I – PAN distribution: If an employee’s salary should be allocated consistently from pay period to pay period regardless of actual effort expended, then the allocation should be done via the PAN document. This method works best for exempt employees and for all non-exempt employees who work a defined schedule and have their time exactly distributed from one pay period to the next.

For example, this method should be used for an employee whose salary is split 50% to unit A and 50% to unit B and should always be allocated accordingly, even if one pay period the employee spends more time working in unit A than in unit B, or vice versa.

• Method II – Kronos distribution: If an employee’s salary should be charged to two (2) or more cost centers based on where the employee worked during a given pay period, the transfer of time should be reported via Kronos. In this example, the employee’s PAN document should assign the employee’s salary to a single default account (even if this differs from your budget projections). Kronos will then override the PAN information if the employee is required to transfer from the default account to another account.

  This method should be used for non-exempt staff when an exact accounting of time and effort is desired.

4. How do I set up an employee for either Method I or Method II above?

• Method I - PAN Distribution: Complete the PAN document so that it properly assigns the employee to the appropriate cost centers and inform Payroll that the employee should be set up to have their assignment allocated according to their PAN document.

• Method II - Kronos Distribution: Ensure that the employee's PAN document only has one allocation or distribution.

5. Some of my employees don’t take lunch, or take more than 30 minutes for lunch. May I have them programmed in Kronos without the automatic meal deduction?

For the initial implementation of Kronos, Administration has determined that all non-exempt employees will be subject to the automatic meal deduction of 30 minutes. This can be overridden in two ways: For the employee who takes no meal break, the payroll reporter can override the deduction. For the employee who takes longer than 30 minutes, the employee should punch in and out for the meal period, to override the 30 minute deduction.

6. I have an employee who is split between the School of Medicine and the Hospital. How will this person be paid?

Each employee will receive a single paycheck with pay for all time worked regardless of where the employee works in the University system. Additionally, each employee is assigned a "home" department for the purposes of Kronos and PeopleSoft. If the Home department resides with the School of Medicine, the employee will be subject to the pay rules established for the campus. If instead the Home department resides with the Hospital, the employee will follow the Hospital’s pay rules.

7. How can I find out what Home department assignments my employees have?

When an employee is hired or has a change to his or her department information it is updated via a PeopleSoft to Kronos interface. Since the Kronos system can only hold one set of default labor levels (Home Department), the system looks to the base employment record and FTE distribution to make this decision.

The default labor levels (Home Department) for the employees in your department are accessible via an Employee List Report on the Kronos Timekeeper software that is installed on the Payroll Reporter's computer. Except supervisor reporting relationship, this information may only be changed by submitting a new PAN document or contacting the Payroll office.

1. How do I get a Kronos punch card for my new employee?

Every payroll reporter will be given extra cards that may be assigned to new employees. It is the responsibility of the payroll reporter to assign card numbers in the Kronos system for new employees, as well as to remove the number for terminated employees. The Kronos system will accept information on newly hired employees as soon as their PAN document has been entered onto the PeopleSoft HR System by the Human Resources staff, usually within 24 hours of receipt.

1. What do I need to do to be sure my leadworkers are paid correctly?

Beginning on May 1^st, all leadworkers at the hospital will be paid their lead pay according to their actual hours worked. They can be set up as either a regular leadworker as their default pay rule or they can transfer to the leadworker rule as assigned.

In order to faciltitate this transition, all current regular leadworkers will have their salaries reviewed by Human Resources to have the 7% salary adjustment removed if applicable. This will require submitting a PAN document to correct the salary.

1. What happens if the system goes down?

There are a variety of system and mechanical problems which may prevent your employees from using the Kronos timekeeping system. Measures are being evaluated and established to limit the extent to which these problems may affect the efficiency and accuracy of the Kronos system. The creation of a standardized form is one of the measures being taken to ensure that we can continue to accurately track employee time during such a situation.

1. Whom do I call if I have problems?

In order to facilitate problem resolution, employees should be directing their questions and concerns regarding their time and attendance to their Payroll Reporter or Supervisor. As the Hospital has significantly different pay practices than the University, all Employee, Payroll Reporter and Supervisor questions should be directed to the Hospital Payroll Office.

For payroll/systems problems, call: Payroll Office

For hardware/computer problems, call Suzette Reid ext. 1-7637

1. Which of the legal holidays will be designated premium pay days for fiscal year 2000?

Non-exempt employees who work on the following days will receive time and one-half pay for all hours worked: Independence Day (July 4^th), Labor Day, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year’s Day. The premium pay will begin at 11:00 p.m. the evening before the actual holiday and be paid through 11:00 p.m. the evening of the holiday, with the exception of New Year’s Day -- this year, premium pay will begin at 7:00 p.m. on 12/31/99 and run through 7:00 p.m. on 1/1/2000.

Eligible employees who work on a designated legal holiday are entitled to another day off, which should be taken within 90 days of the holiday. Otherwise, accrued and unused holidays will be paid out automatically at the close of each fiscal year.

1. My staff are on call for more than one shift at a time. How many minimum callback guarantees are they entitled to?

An employee who is scheduled "on call" will receive a minimum callback guarantee of three (3) hours paid at time-and-one-half (premium pay) for the first callback in each scheduled eight (8) hour period. Subsequent callbacks within each discrete eight (8) hour period result in premium pay for all time worked plus one hour travel time at premium pay.

1. May I schedule per diem staff to take call?

No. Per Diem employees should not be scheduled on call and are not eligible for pay at time-and-one-half if called in to work.

1. How can I adjust the punch times of my staff so that they don’t get paid for that extra time not worked if they punch in outside of the grace period?

Managers and supervisors are NOT authorized to change the punch times of their employees to reduce or eliminate overtime.

The time clocks are set up with a grace period of 14 minutes for employees to punch in and out. Thus an employee who is scheduled to begin work at 7:00 a.m. may punch in from 6:53 a.m. to 7:07 a.m. and still be paid from 7:00 a.m. Should this employee punch in before 6:53 a.m., s/he will be paid additional time.

You need to communicate to your staff the grace period and instruct them to punch in only within this time frame (unless of course they begin work earlier than scheduled). Otherwise, we are responsible for paying for the hours reported on the time clock.

1. How is Weekly Overtime calculated? When is it paid out?

The Hospital's pay week will continue to run from Saturday through Friday. The best way to demonstrate how OT will work is to focus on one pay period (7/1 – 7/15) by way of example:

July 1999 Scenario

Pay Period 1:   Wednesday June 16^th through Wednesday June 30^th

Pay Period 2:   Thursday July 1^st through Thursday July 15^th

Week 1:   Saturday June 26^th through Friday July 2^nd

Week 2:   Saturday July 3^rd through Friday July 9^th

Week 3:   Saturday July 10^th through Friday July 16^th

Pay Period 3:   Friday July 16^th through Saturday July 30^th

Example:

Pay Period 2 covers parts of three (3) work weeks. Hours worked are paid in the pay period in which they occur. However, work weeks may be split. Overtime cannot be calculated until the work week is complete, which in some cases will be in the next pay period. Therefore, overtime will be paid in the pay period during which the work week ended.

Week	SAT	SUN	MON	TUES	WED	THUR	FRI	REG HOURS	OT HOURS
1 (6/26-7/2)	0	8	8	8	8	8	8	40	8
2 (7/3-7/9)	8	10	0	8	8	8	8	40	10
3 (7/10-7/16)	0	0	8	8	8	8	12	40	4

In this scenario, the highlighted hours are those which are worked in the Pay Period.

Pay Week 1:

32 regular hours would have been paid in Pay Period 1
8 regular hours and 8 overtime hours will be paid in Pay Period 2

Pay Week 2:

40 regular hours and 10 overtime hours will be paid in Pay Period 2

Pay Week 3:

32 regular hours will be paid in Pay Period 2
8 regular hours and 4 overtime hours will need to be paid in Pay Period 3

In Summary, the employee will receive a total of 80 regular hours and 18 overtime hours for Pay Period 2

The 32 regular hours worked from 6/26 – 6/30 would have been paid in Pay Period 1 and 8 regular hours and 4 overtime hours occuring after 7/15 will be paid in Pay Period 3.