Setting Up Benefit Deductions

This chapter provides overviews of the benefit deductions process and benefit triggers and discusses how to review benefit deduction information.

Understanding the Delivered Benefit Deduction Processing Flow

This section discusses the process for calculating benefit deductions:

The general framework.
The initialization process.
Health plans.
Saving plans.
Life insurances.
Delivered benefit elements.
Generation control.

General Framework

Global Payroll for United States is designed to integrate with the Manage Base Benefits business process of Human Resources and Benefits Administration to calculate benefit deductions. We have provided a number of benefit deductions—medical, dental, basic life, supplemental life, spouse life, and 401k—that meet common processing requirements.

Benefit deductions are processed according to the section definition called STD DED PRC NPV. Within the STD DED PRC NPV definition, benefit deductions are grouped according to plan type. In addition, the placement of the plan types is based on whether the deduction is taken before or after federal and state taxes. Medical, dental, and savings plan deductions are defined as before-tax deductions. Basic life, supplemental life, and spouse life are defined as after-tax deductions.

Note. Federal employee taxes, state employee taxes, loans, savings bonds, general deductions, and garnishments are not part of benefit deductions and are not discussed in this chapter.

Benefit Deduction Initialization

The benefit deduction initialization process, BEN DED INIT, is designed to process the arrays BEN AR PRIMARY JOB and BEN AR BEN PROG.

The BEN AR PRIMARY JOB loads the Primary Job and the Include Deductions fields from the Primary Jobs Flags page located in Human Resources into variables.

BEN AR BEN PROG loads the Benefit Program field from the Ben.Prog.Partic page in Human Resources into a variable.

Health Plan Processing

When processing health plans, the system is designed to process:

An eligibility check.
Medical deductions.
Dental deductions.

Eligibility Check

To perform the eligibility check, the system:

Processes BEN FM BASIC ELIG.

BEN FM BASIC ELIG looks at the Primary Job and the Include Deductions check boxes. If the check boxes are not selected, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM BASIC ELIG and to the variable BEN VR BASIC ELIG.
If BEN FM BASIC ELIG equals one, the system processes the section HEALTH INIT.

HEALTH INIT calls the array BEN AR HLTH PLANS. BEN AR HLTH PLANS uses the formula BEN FM HLTH PLANS to retrieve the employee’s health benefit enrollment information for plan types 10 and 11 from the Health Benefit Election page in Human Resources.

Medical Deductions

To calculate medical deductions, the system:

Performs another eligibility check using the formula BEN FM MED ELIG.

If retroactive adjustments exist, and if the employee's plan type 10 election coverage is not blank, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM MED ELIG.

If the value of BEN VR BASIC ELIG equals zero, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM MED ELIG.

If the employee’s plan type 10 election coverage equals blank, T, or W, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM MED ELIG.

If the Primary Job check box for this employee is selected, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM MED ELIG.
If BEN FM MED ELIG equals one, the system processes the section MEDICAL DED. MEDICAL DED uses:
1. The formula BEN FM PLN TYP 10 to set plan type 10 specific search criteria.
2. The array BEN AR BEN PRG DEF to retrieve benefit option and cost information from the Benefit Program page in Human Resources.
3. The array BEN AR FLAT RATE to retrieve the rate information from the Flat Rate Table page in Human Resources.
4. The array BEN AR CALC RULE to retrieve the calculation rules from the Calculation Rules page in Human Resources.
5. The deduction MEDICAL EE to calculate the employee’s portion of the deduction. MEDICAL EE uses the formula BEN FM MED EE COST.
6. The deduction MEDICAL ER to calculate the employer’s portion of the deduction. MEDICAL ER uses the formula BEN FM MED ER COST.

Dental Deductions

To calculate dental deductions, the system:

Performs another eligibility check using the formula BEN FM DEN ELIG.

If retroactive adjustments exist, and if the employee's plan type 11 election coverage is not blank, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM DEN ELIG.

If the value of BEN VR BASIC ELIG equals zero, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM DEN ELIG.

If the employee’s plan type 11 election coverage equals blank, T, or W, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM DEN ELIG.

If the Primary Job field for this employee is selected, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM DEN ELIG.
If BEN FM DEN ELIG equals one, the system processes the section DENTAL DED. DENTAL DED uses:
1. The formula BEN FM PLN TYP 11 to set plan type 11 specific search criteria.
2. The array BEN AR BEN PRG DEF to retrieve benefit option and cost information from the Benefit Program page in Human Resources.
3. The array BEN AR FLAT RATE to retrieve the rate information from the Flat Rate Table page in Human Resources.
4. The array BEN AR CALC RULE to retrieve the calculation rules from the Calculation Rules page in Human Resources.
5. The deduction DENTAL EE to calculate the employee’s portion of the deduction. DENTAL EE uses the formula BEN FM DED EE COST.
6. The deduction DENTAL ER to calculate the employer’s portion of the deduction. DENTAL ER uses the formula BEN FM DEN ER COST.

Savings Plan Processing

When processing savings plans, the system is designed to process:

An eligibility check.
401k deductions.

Eligibility Check

To perform the eligibility check, the system:

Processes BEN FM BASIC ELIG.

This is the same eligibility check performed by the health plan process.
If BEN FM BASIC ELIG equals one, the system will process the section SAVINGS INIT.

SAVINGS INIT calls the array BEN AR SAV PLANS. BEN AR SAV PLANS uses the formula BEN FM SAV PLANS to retrieve the employee’s savings plan enrollment information for plan type 40 from the Savings Plan Election page in Human Resources. SAVINGS INIT also calls the date element GP SEG END DT EXTR to extract the year, month and day based on the segment end date.

401k Deductions

To calculate savings plan deductions, the system:

Performs another eligibility check using the formula BEN FM SAV ELIG.

If retroactive adjustments exist, and if the employee's plan type 40 election coverage is not blank, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SAV ELIG.

If the employee’s plan type 40 election coverage equals blank, T, or W, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM SAV ELIG.

If the Primary Job and Include Deduction check boxes are selected, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SAV ELIG.

If the Primary Job check box is selected, but the Include Deduction check box is not selected, and the Flat Amount in the Before Tax Investment group box on the Saving Plan Elections page has a value greater than zero, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SAV ELIG.

If the Primary Job check box is not selected, but the Include Deductions check box is selected, and the Percent of Earnings field in the Before Tax Investment group box on the Saving Plan Elections page has a value greater than zero, one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SAV ELIG.

If BEN FM SAV ELIG equals one, the system processes the section 401K DED. 401K DED uses:

The formula BEN FM PLN TYP 40 to set plan type 40 specific search criteria.
The array BEN AR BEN PRG DEF to retrieve benefit option and cost information from the Benefit Program page in Human Resources.
The array BEN AR SAV MGMT retrieves the 402G Ext Amt field from the Savings Mgt page in Human Resources.
The array BEN AR SAV PLN PRM to retrieve the Before-Tax field in the Up-To-Limit group box on the Savings Plan Table – Employee Limit on Investments page in Human Resources.
The array BEN AR LIMIT to retrieve limit information from the Limit Table page in Human Resources.

The deduction 401K EE to calculate the employee’s savings deduction.

401K EE uses the formula BEN FM 401K EE. The 401K EE deductions uses the following accumulators:

Accumulator	Description
401K GROSS N	Segment accumulator that accumulates earnings that need to be considered in the 401k deduction calculation. This is a Not Maintained accumulator and is defined as As Contributing.
401K GROSS YTD N	YTD accumulator that accumulates YTD earnings that need to be considered in the 401k deduction calculation. The 401K GROSS N accumulator is a member of this accumulator. This is a Not Maintained accumulator and is defined as As Contributing.
401K PRE CTB N	Segment accumulator that accumulates the employee’s 401k pre-tax contributions. The 401K EE deduction is a member of this accumulator. This is a Not Maintained accumulator and is defined as As Contributing.
401K PRE CTB YTD N	YTD accumulator that accumulates the employee’s YTD 401k pre-tax contributions. The 401K PRE CTB N accumulator is a member of this accumulator. This is a Not Maintained accumulator and is defined as As Contributing.
415C AMT	Segment accumulator that accumulates the employee’s 401k contributions that are subject to the 415c limits. The 401K PRE CTB N accumulator is a member of this accumulator. This accumulator is defined as As Contributing.
415C AMT YTD	YTD accumulator that accumulates the employee’s 401k YTD contributions that are subject to the 415c limits. The 415C AMT accumulator is a member of this accumulator. This accumulator is defined as As Contributing.

Life Insurance Processing

When processing life insurance plans, the system is designed to process:

An eligibility check.
Basic life deductions.
Supplemental life deductions.
Spousal life deductions.

Eligibility Check

To perform the eligibility check, the system:

Processes BEN FM BASIC ELIG.

This is the same eligibility check performed by the health plan process.
If BEN FM BASIC ELIG equals one, the system will process the section LIFE INIT.

LIFE INIT calls the array BEN AR LIFE PLANS. BEN AR LIFE PLANS uses the formula BEN FM LIFE PLANS to retrieve the employee’s life insurance enrollment information for plan types 20, 21, and 25 from the Life/ADD Elections page in Human Resources.

Basic Life Deductions

To calculate life insurance deductions, the system:

Performs another eligibility check using the formula BEN FM BAS LIF ELG.

If retroactive adjustments exist, and if the employee's plan type 20 election coverage is not blank, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM BAS LIF ELG.

If the value of BEN VR BASIC ELIG equals zero, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM BAS LIF ELG.

If the employee’s plan type 20 election coverage equals blank, T, or W, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM LIF ELIG.

If the Primary Job field for this employee is selected, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM BAS LIF ELG.
If the formula BEN FM BAS LIF ELGequals one, the system will process the section BAS LIF DED. BAS LIF DED uses:
1. The formula BEN FM PLN TYP 20 to set plan type 20 specific search criteria.
2. The array BEN AR BEN PRG DEF to retrieve benefit option and cost information from the Benefit Program page in Human Resources.
3. The array BEN AR FLAT RATE to retrieve the rate information from the Flat Rate Table page in Human Resources.
4. The array BEN AR CALC RULE to retrieve the calculation rules from the Calculation Rules page in Human Resources.
5. The array BEN AR LIFE PARM to retrieve the group coverage code from the Life/Accidental page in Human Resources.
6. The array BEN AR COV GRP to retrieve the maximum coverage for the group coverage code from the Coverage Group Tbl page in Human Resources.
7. The formula BEN FM CVGRPCD DAT to check that the employee does not exceed the maximum amount allowed for all life insurance plans.
8. The formula BEN FM BAS COV AMT to calculate the basic life coverage amount taking into consideration the limits that may apply.
9. The deduction BASIC LIF EE to calculate the actual basic life insurance deduction.
  
  BASIC LIF EE uses the formula BEN FM BAS EE COST.

Supplemental Life Deductions

To calculate supplement life deductions, the system:

Performs another eligibility check using the formula BEN FM SUP LIF ELG.

If retroactive adjustments exist, and if the employee's plan type 21 election coverage is not blank, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SUP LIF ELG.

If the value of BEN VR BASIC ELIG equals zero, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM SUP LIF ELG.

If the employee’s plan type 21 election coverage equals blank, T, or W, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM BAS LIF ELG.

If the Primary Job field for this employee is selected, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SUP LIF ELG.
If the formula BEN FM BAS LIF ELG equals one, the system will process the section SUP LIFE DED. SUP LIFE DED uses:
1. The formula BEN FM PLN TYP 21 to set plan type 21 specific search criteria.
2. The array BEN AR BEN PRG DEF to retrieve benefit option and cost information from the Benefit Program page in Human Resources.
3. The array BEN AR FLAT RATE to retrieve the rate information from the Flat Rate Table page in Human Resources.
4. The array BEN AR CALC RULE to retrieve the calculation rules from the Calculation Rules page in Human Resources.
5. The array BEN AR LIFE PARM to retrieve the group coverage code from the Life/Accidental page in Human Resources.
6. The array BEN AR COV GRP to retrieve the maximum coverage for the group coverage code from the Coverage Group Tbl page in Human Resources.
7. The formula BEN FM CVGRPCD DAT to check that the employee does not exceed the maximum amount allowed for all life insurance plans.
8. The formula BEN FM SUP COV AMT to calculate the supplemental life insurance coverage amount taking into consideration the limits that may apply.
9. The deduction SUPL LIF EE to calculate the actual basic life insurance deduction.
  
  SUPL LIF EE uses the formula BEN FM SUP EE COST.

Spousal Life

To calculate spousal life insurance plan deductions, the system:

Performs another eligibility check using the formula BEN FM SPS LIF ELG.

If retroactive adjustments exist, and if the employee's plan type 25 election coverage is not blank, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SPS LIF ELG.

If the value of BEN VR BASIC ELIG equals zero, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM SPS LIF ELG.

If the employee’s plan type 25 election coverage equals blank, T, or W, then zero is assigned to the formula BEN FM SPS LIF ELG.

If the Primary Job field for this employee is selected, then one is assigned to the formula BEN FM SPS LIF ELG.
If the formula BEN FM SPS LIF ELG equals one, the system will process the section SPOUSE LIFE DED. SPOUSE LIFE DED uses:
1. The formula BEN FM PLN TYP 25 to set plan type 25 specific search criteria.
2. The array BEN AR BEN PRG DEF to retrieve benefit option and cost information from the Benefit Program page in Human Resources.
3. The array BEN AR CALC RULE to retrieve the calculation rules from the Calculation Rules page in Human Resources.
4. The array BEN AR SPS DEP to retrieve the spouse’s life insurance information from the Life/ADD Elections page in Human Resources.
5. The array BEN AR DEP BIRTH to retrieve the spouse’s birth date from the Update Dependent/Beneficiary - Name and Personal Profile pages in Human Resources.
6. The array BEN AR DEP SEX SMK to retrieve the spouse’s gender and smoker status from the Update Dependent/Beneficiary - Name and Personal Profile pages in Human Resources.
7. The array BEN FM DEP SMOKER that validates the spouses's smoker status by looking at the smoker's status effective date.
8. The date GP PRD END DT EXTR to extract the current year based on the period-end-date.
9. The formula BEN FM SPOUSE AGE to calculate the spouse’s age.
10. The array BEN AR AGE RATE to retrieve the rate unit information from the Age Graded Rate page in Human Resources.
11. The array BEN AR AGE COV to retrieve the rate amounts from the Age Graded Rate page in Human Resources.
12. The array BEN AR LIFE PARM to retrieve the group coverage code from the Life/Accidental page in Human Resources.
13. The array BEN AR COV GRP to retrieve the maximum coverage for the group coverage code from the Coverage Group Tbl page in Human Resources.
14. The formula BEN FM CVGRPCD DAT to check that the employee does not exceed the maximum amount allowed for all life insurance plans.
15. The formula BEN FM SPS COV AMT to calculate the supplemental life insurance coverage amount taking into consider the limits that may apply.
16. The deduction SPSE LIF EE to calculate the actual spousal life insurance deduction.
  
  SPSE LIF EE uses the formula BEN FM SPS EE COST.

Delivered Benefit Deduction Elements

The following is a list of the delivered benefit deduction elements:

Element Name	Description	Amount	Accumulator
MEDICAL EE	Employee portion of medical deduction.	BEN FM MED EE COST	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts.
MEDICAL ER	Employer portion of medical deduction.	BEN FM MED ER COST	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts.
DENTAL EE	Employee portion of dental deduction.	BEN FM DEN EE COST	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts.
DENTAL ER	Employer portion of dental deduction.	BEN FM DEN ER COST	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts.
BASIC LIF EE	Employee cost of basic life insurance.	BEN FM BAS EE COST	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts.
SUPL LIF EE	Employee cost of supplemental life insurance	BEN FM SUP EE COST	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts.
SPSE LIF EE	Employee cost for spouse life insurance.	BEN FM SPS EE COST	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts.
401K EE	Employee deduction amount for 401k plans.	BEN FM 401K EE	Auto-generated MTD and YTD amounts. 401K GROSS N 401K GROSS YTD N 401K PRE CTB N 401K PRE CTB YTD N 415C AMT 415C AMT YTD

See Also

Deductions

Accumulators

Delivered Benefit Arrays

This following is a list of the delivered benefit arrays:

Array Name	Description
BEN AR AGE COV	Retrieves the age graded rate data from the benefit’s AGE_COVG_TBL table.
BEN AR AGE RATE	Retrieves the age graded rate schedule data from the benefit’s AGE_RATE_TBL table.
BEN AR BEN PRG DEF	Retrieves plan data from the benefit's BEN DEFN_OPTN and BEN_DEFN_COST tables.
BEN AR BEN PROG	Retrieves the benefit program in which the employee is enrolled from the benefit’s BEN_PROG_PARTIC table.
BEN AR CALC RULE	Retrieves the calculation rule data from the benefit’s CALC_RULES_TBL table.
BEN AR COV GRP	Retrieves the coverage group’s maximum amount from the benefit’s COVG_GROUP_TBL table.
BEN AR DEP BIRTH	Retrieves the employee’s dependent birth date information from the benefit’s DEP_BEN table.
BEN AR DEP SEX SMK	Retrieves the employee’s dependent gender and smoker status information from the benefit’s DEP_BEN_EFF table.
BEN AR FLAT RATE	Retrieves flat rate data from the benefit’s FLAT_RATE_TBL table.
BEN AR HLTH PLANS	Retrieves the employee’s medical plan data from the benefit’s HEALTH_BENEFIT table.
BEN AR LIFE PARM	Retrieves life insurance parameters from the benefit's LIFE_ADD_TBL table.
BEN AR LIFE PLANS	Retrieves the employee’s life insurance data from the benefit’s LIF_ADD_BENEF table.
BEN AR LIMIT	Retrieves limit data from the benefit’s LIMIT_TBL table.
BEN AR PRIMARY JOB	Retrieves the employee’s primary job data from the benefit’s PRIMARY_JOB table.
BEN AR SAV MGMT	Retrieves the employee’s 402G extension amount from the benefit’s SAVINGS_MGT_EE table.
BEN AR SAV PLANS	Retrieves the employee’s savings plan enrollments from the benefit’s SAVINGS_PLAN table.
BEN AR SAV PLN PRM	Retrieves the 401k pretax percentage limit from the benefit’s SAVINGS_PLN TBL table.
BEN AR SPS LIF DEP	Retrieves spouse’s ID from the benefit’s LIF_ADD_BENEF table.

See Also

Understanding Array Elements

Scheduling Deductions Using Generation Control

Generation control elements enable you to define when a deduction element is processed according to defined criteria.

The following table shows the generation control elements associated with the benefit deductions:

Element Name	Generation Control
MEDICAL EE	GEN GC WEEK 1AND2
MEDICAL ER	GEN GC WEEK 1AND2
DENTAL EE	GEN GC WEEK 1AND2
DENTAL ER	GEN GC WEEK 1AND2
BASIC LIF EE	GEN GC WEEK 3AND4
SUPL LIF EE	GEN GC WEEK 3AND4
SPSE LIF EE	GEN GC WEEK 3AND4
401K EE	BEN GC 401K DED

You can override or assign a different generation control frequency to an individual payee using the Element Assignment by Payee component.

Note. PeopleSoft delivers a query that you can run to view the names of all delivered elements designed for the U.S. Instructions for running the query are provided in thePeopleSoft Enterprise Global Payroll 8.9 PeopleBook.

See Also

Viewing the Delivered Elements

Defining Generation Control Elements

Creating New Benefit Deductions

This section discusses tips when creating a new benefit deduction for a:

Delivered plan type.
New plan type.

Delivered Plan Types

If you are adding another benefit deduction within the delivered plan types of health, life, and savings, you may need to either add to or modify the following:

Modify the formula that retrieves the employee’s benefit enrollment information so that it includes the new plan type.
- For health plan, you will need to modify the formula BEN FM HLTH PLANS.
- For life plans, you will need to modify the formula BEN FM LIFE PLANS.
- For savings plans, you will need to modify the formula BEN FM SAV PLANS.
Create a new section to process the deduction and add the new section within the particular plan type defined on the STD DED PRC NPV section.
- For health plan, you will need to add it after DENTAL DED.
- For life plans, you will need to add it after SPOUSE LIFE DED.
- For savings plans, you will need to add it after 401K DED.
Create a new eligibility check for the specific plan type.
Create a new deduction element for the specific plan type. Considerations are:
- Does this deduction have both an employee and employer portion? If there is an employer portion, you will need to create a separate deduction element for it.
- Is this a before or after-tax deduction?
- Are limits involved?
- Does this deduction contribute to any accumulators?

New Plan Type

If you are adding any other type of benefit deduction, you will need to consider the guidelines discussed in the Delivered Plan Types. In addition to those, you need to:

Create a new section in the STD DED PROCESS list.
Decide if this new deduction section goes before the federal tax section or after state taxes.

Understanding Triggers

This section discusses:

Supported benefit triggers.
Delivered mass triggers.

Supported Benefit Triggers

Triggers are used to detect online changes that should result in some type of action. Global Payroll for United States delivers both iterative and retro triggers for benefit related data. When a trigger is generated by a change to a record, it writes the required data necessary to process the trigger to a table.

Iterative triggers are written to GP_ITER_TRGR.
Retro triggers are written to GP_RTO_TRGR.

Note. Retro triggers are processed using the forwarding method.

Three applications create triggers:

Manage Base Benefits business process in Human Resources.
Administer Workforce business process in Human Resources.
Benefits Administration.

Manage Base Benefits Business Process

An iterative and retro trigger is written when administration makes changes to the following pages:

Benefit Program Participation.
Health Benefit Elections.
Life/ADD Elections.

Administer Workforce Business Process

An iterative and retro trigger is written when administration makes changes to the Benefit Program field on the Benefit Participation page.

Benefits Administration

In Benefits Administration, a trigger is written to the BAS_ACTIVITY table whenever an employee has a qualified life event. The Benefits Administration process, BAS_RUNCTL, will evaluate that event and determine whether a new benefit enrollment record should be written for that employee.

If a new benefit enrollment record is written that affects the employee’s benefit program, health plan enrollment, or life enrollment, a retroactive and iterative trigger is written to the GP_RTO_TRGR and GP_ITER_TRGR tables.

See Also

Setting Up Triggers

Delivered Mass Triggers

Mass triggers enable you to generate employee payroll triggers based on changes to setup tables. Mass triggers are specified for a certain record on a certain component. A SQL object defines the population affected by the change to the setup table. When the affected employees are determined, you can review the trigger details before accepting the changes.

PeopleSoft delivers one mass trigger event definition, BEN MT, for the following components:

BEN_PROG_DEFN
AGE_RATE_TABLE
LIFE_ADD_TABLE
CALC_RULES_TABLE
COVERAGE_GROUP_TBL
BAS_FLAT_RATE_TBL

See Also

Setting Up Mass Triggers

Reviewing Benefit Deductions

This section discusses how to review benefit enrollments and deduction amounts.

See Also

Global Payroll Reports: A to Z

Pages Used to Review Benefit Deductions

Page Name	Object Name	Navigation	Usage
Benefits Summary	GPUS_BEN_SMRY	Benefits, Review Employee Benefits, Benefits Summary, Benefits Summary	Summarizes the employee’s benefit enrollments and deduction amounts.
Benefit Contribution Register	GPUS_RUN_BEN003	Benefits, Reports, Contributions and Deductions, Benefit Contribution Register, Benefit Contribution Register	Run control page that generates the Benefit Contribution Register report. You specify the date as of which you want to generate the monthly report.
Savings Investment Distribution	GPUS_RUN_BEN004	Benefits, Reports, Participation, Savings Invest Distribution, Savings Investment Distribution	Run control page that generates the Savings Investment Distribution report. You specify the date as of which you want to generate the monthly report.

Reviewing Benefit Enrollments and Deduction Amounts

Access the Benefits Summary page.

Enter the From Date and To Date field, then click Create Benefit Summary button. The results will display.