Pay codes rules define the attributes associated with processing of a payment. Pay code rules are defined within an agreement to determine sets of conditions, actions and action limits that apply to pay codes.
Conditions define a set of circumstances to which a specific rule applies. It is possible for a rule to have no conditions, in which case the rule always applies so long as the agreement is valid.
Actions define what happens if the condition(s) of a rule apply. There can be multiple actions for each rule.
Action limits define limits for actions of a condition. An action limit can define a minimum or maximum limit for a condition. It is not mandatory for an action to have any limits.
To understand how conditions, actions and action limits work, consider the example pay code rule in the table below.
Condition |
Action |
Limit |
Outcome |
Day Type = Week Day |
Between 6:00-19:00 = ORD |
Maximum of 8 hours @ ORD per day |
6:00-14:00 = 8 Hrs @ ORD |
|
Remaining Hours = TAH |
Maximum 2 hours per day |
14:00-16:00 = 2 Hrs @ TAH |
|
Remaining Hours = DT |
|
16:00-19:00 = 3 Hrs @ DT |
In this example, there is one condition which stipulates that the rule applies if the day type of a shift is one of Week Day. That is, in order for the condition to be met, a shift must fall on a week day (Monday - Friday).
The first action of the condition stipulates that if the condition applies, time worked between the hours of 6:00 and 19:00 will be paid at a rate corresponding to the pay code ORD (ordinary time). However, there is a limit on the action stipulating that a maximum of eight hours per day can be paid at the ORD rate only. This means that if the shift began at 6:00 and finished at 19:00, there is an additional five hours remaining to which the ORD rate does not apply.
The second action of the condition stipulates that any unallocated time remaining after applying the first action, the remainder of the time will be paid at the pay rate corresponding to the pay code TAH (time-and-a-half). However, there is also a limit on this action stipulating that a maximum of two hours per day can be paid at the TAH rate only. This leaves a remainder of three hours of the shift to which the ORD and TAH rates do not apply.
The third action of the condition stipulates that any hours remaining after the second action has been applied should be paid at the pay rate corresponding to the pay code DT (double time). This action has no limits and therefore the entire three hours remaining after applying the TAH rate can be paid at the DT rate.
The rates of pay to which pay codes ORD, TAH and DT correspond are determined by pay rate rules.
In the example above, the first two actions of the pay code rule are limited based on the pay code that applies to each of the respective actions. However, it is possible to limit an action based on a pay code group instead, in which case any pay code belonging to the pay code group contributes to the limit imposed by the action.
For example, the second action in the example above could be limited based on a pay code group that includes all overtime pay codes, in which case a maximum of 2 hours per day would be paid against any overtime pay code, not just the TAH pay code.
The following types of pay code rules can be defined: time
schedule
client schedule manual general counter.
The pay code rules are processed in the order shown above. Rates and Rules checks for a valid time rule and steps through each condition within that rule. If all of the conditions of the rule apply, the application applies the actions and any action limits defined within the rule before proceeding to check the next valid time rule. If one or more conditions of the time rule do not apply, the application proceeds to check the next valid time rule without applying the actions defined within that rule.
This process continues until the application has checked all valid time rules. It then proceeds to check the next type of pay code rules in the same manner. This process repeats until all of the rule types have been checked and, where applicable, the relevant actions and action limits have been applied.
A pay code rule is determined to be valid if the timesheet period of the timesheet being processed falls within the validity period of the pay code rule. Where the timesheet period crosses the validity dates of multiple pay code rules of the same type, the latest rule is considered the applicable rule. For example, if the timesheet period is 07/02/2011 – 13/02/2011 and there is one time rule valid for the period 01/01/2011 –
10/02/2011 and another time rule valid for the period 11/02/2011 – 25/05/2011, the rule that is valid for the period 11/02/2011 – 25/05/2011 will be applicable. The exceptions to this are general and counter rules, whereby the rule that is valid at the start of the timesheet period is considered valid for the entire timesheet period regardless of when the validity period of the rule ends.
Each of the pay code rule types are described below.