Setting Up Employee Paid Leave in Patriot Software Due to COVID-19

If you are looking for other COVID-19 resources relating to the CARES Act for payroll tax relief, tax deferrals, the stimulus package, etc. , see our COVID-19 Resources page. These hours are optional for employers to give to employees beginning 4/1/21 and ending 9/30/2021.

If you need to look up your payroll information to apply for the Small Business Association (SBA) Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), see the help article I Need Payroll Data for the SBA PPP.

This help article covers how to administer paid leave in Patriot’s payroll software and how to claim the employer tax credit for the employee paid leave.

Background: FFCRA Requirements The new FFCRA These leave benefits are not retroactive for time taken before April 1st 2020. For more information, see our blog article FFCRA and Coronavirus Paid Sick Leave: Q&A For Employers.

Also see the one-page Department of Labor Poster for a summary of employee rights. If used, sick leave hours can be given again at the option of the employer, beginning 4/1/21 and ending 9/30/2021.

• If the employee has to quarantine or isolate due to the coronavirus.  This is paid at their regular rate.
• If they are caring for someone who must quarantine or isolate.   This is paid at 2/3 their regular rate
• Up to an additional 12 weeks (updated from 10 weeks due to the American Rescue Plan that was signed March 11, 2021) of emergency paid family medical leave if they must care for a child under 18, whose school or daycare is closed as a result of the coronavirus.  This is also paid at of ⅔ their regular rate. Employers with fewer than 50 employees are eligible for an exemption from this requirement.

Setting Up Paid Sick Leave under FFCRA in Patriot Software

We have added three new hour types to use when you pay employees who are unable to work or need to take care of their family due to COVID-19.  You must use these hour types when running a payroll for leave starting April 1, 2020 in order to take the employer payroll tax credit.  Do not use any existing hour types you may have already created, or create more new ones. These hour types are ready to be used in payroll, and will use the correct rate calculation for both hourly and salaried employees.

• COVID 100 Sick:  To be used when paying employees at their full regular rate due to their own personal need to quarantine or isolate.  
• COVID ⅔ Sick:  To be used when paying employees at ⅔ their regular rate if they are caring for someone who must quarantine or isolate.  
• COVID Family Leave: To be used when caring for children as a result of school/daycare being closed.  

Here’s what you need to know about these hour types:

• Employers will receive a tax credit for the employer portion of Social Security taxes.  Employees will still have their normal income taxes withheld.
• Employer tax credits will automatically be calculated.  
  • If you are a Full Service Payroll customer, there is nothing you will need to do to claim the tax credit.  The money that is paid to employees under these hour types will automatically be applied to the taxes owed on your quarterly Form 941.
  • For more details, see our help article How to Claim Payroll Tax Credit for COVID-19 Paid Leave.
• Tracking Hour Balances:  By default, these hour types are not set to track the balance of hours and time taken for each employee. If you wish, you set these hours to track time off by going to Settings > Hours and Money Types > and click the hour type. Check the “Track Time Off” box and save.

You can add the paid leave balance to each employee by going to Payroll > Payroll Tasks > Manage Time Off > and select one of the three new hour types:  COVID Sick 100, COVID Sick ⅔, or COVID Paid Fam. 

You can add hour balances to each employee for each hour type to track as these paid leave hours are taken. For more details, see Editing an Employee’s Time-Off Balance. These are the hour balances you can use:

• COVID 100 Sick : There is a cap of 80 (2 weeks) hours per full time employee.
• COVID ⅔ Sick: There is a cap of 80 hours (2 weeks) per full time employee. NOTE: You may only pay employees a maximum of 80 hours between COVID 100 Sick and COVID 2/3 Sick.
• COVID Family Leave:  There is a cap of 480 hours (12 weeks) per full time employee.
• You can prorate these hours for part time employees.

You can then see a list of your employees and their balances for that hour type.  For more general help with the Manage Time Off feature, see Managing Time Off. Note that employees will see these paid leave balances on their pay stub. If you do not want to manage time off balances and remove them from appearing on pay stubs, see How Do I Remove COVID Paid Leave Hour Balances from Employee Pay Stubs?

• Time Cards: If you use Patriot’s Time & Attendance software, these hour types are set up to appear on time cards.

When you are ready to actually pay the hours in payroll, see Paying COVID-19 Paid Leave Hours in Payroll.