Customer Support during COVID-19

Paychex continues to review implementation guidance related to the FFCRA from federal agencies.  We are updating our systems to support you during the COVID-19 (coronavirus) pandemic.

Here’s what we know as of Monday, March 30, 2020:

• The effective date for the FFCRA is Wednesday, April 1, 2020.
• The leave provisions of the FFCRA generally apply to all private employers with fewer than 500 employees.
• Eligible employees with a qualifying need related to the COVID-19 public health pandemic as specified in the FFCRA will be entitled to paid leave as of April 1, 2020.
• Each covered employer must post a notice of the FFCRA requirements in a conspicuous place on its premises.   
• Covered employers will be entitled to tax credits in the specified amount under the law for the benefits paid to eligible employees for qualified leave taken under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act and the Emergency Family and Medical Leave Expansion Act between April 1, 2020, and December 31, 2020.

Return to these FAQs for the most up-to-date details about requirements of the Act, employer tax credits, and reporting sick time.

The Families First Coronavirus Response Act was signed into law March 18, 2020. The Act dedicates tens of billions of dollars for paid sick and family leave, unemployment insurance, free COVID-19 testing, and other measures to help Americans impacted by the crisis.

The final bill will take effect for covered employers no later than 15 days after enactment and sunsets Dec. 31, 2020.

Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act

• Under the Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act, employers would be required to provide sick time, available for immediate use, to each employee who requires such time for qualifying reasons associated with COVID-19.
• Employers also must provide up to 80 hours of paid sick leave (PSL) to eligible full-time employees and pro-rate part-time employee paid sick time based on the average number of hours regularly scheduled in a two-week period. The calculation and caps for compensation vary dependent on the reason for leave up to the maximum $511 per day if the employee is directly impacted and up to $200 per day if it is for care provided to someone else. Aggregate caps exist as well.

Requirements

• Employees who have worked at least 30 calendar days for a covered employer would be eligible for qualifying leave.
• Small businesses with fewer than 50 employees may be exempt if the leave would jeopardize the viability of their business. Employers with fewer than 25 employees may be exempt from certain provisions related to job protection.
• Qualifying need is defined as “the employee is unable to work (or telework) due to a need for leave to care for a son or daughter younger than 18 years of age of such employee if the school (meaning a primary or secondary school only) or place of care has been closed, or the childcare provider of such a son or daughter is unavailable due to a public health emergency.”
• Eligible employees who qualify for leave under these reasons would be paid by their employer after the first 10 days of leave at a rate of not less than two-thirds of their current rate of pay for the number of hours the employee would otherwise be scheduled to work, up to a maximum of $200 per day or an aggregate of $10,000, for up to 12 weeks in the benefit year.
• Employees taking leave under the Emergency FML Expansion Act must be permitted to elect to use any available paid time off including vacation, personal time, medical leave, and/or sick leave during the first 10 days of their FMLA leave.
• Standards for employees covered under a multiple-employer bargaining agreement are addressed separately in the legislation.
• Exemptions apply for employers of healthcare workers and emergency responders.

For more information, refer to the Paychex WORX article, Funding, tax credits, and paid leave laws expanded to respond to COVID-19 pandemic.

The law provides for a 100% tax credit on Paid Sick Leave and Paid Family Leave paid by employers under the provisions of this Act.

Paychex working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA. More details will be shared as we have them.

Employers cannot require their employees to take paid time off before using paid sick leave under this Act. These benefits are in addition to any existing sick time policies at your company.

Yes, new earnings are being added into our payroll system to track the wages according to the benefits in the Act. We’re working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA When further IRS guidance to understand when employers can begin using these new earnings. are available, we will let you know and provide more detailed instructions.

We are working to implement these new earnings and will let you know as soon as they’re available. We’re working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA. In the meantime, please process your payroll as normal, but keep track of any wages that are paid for COVID-19-related absences. As we receive guidance from the IRS, we will help you ensure you can take advantage of the benefits.

We’re working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA. If you choose to pay sick time to your employees now, before we have guidance from the IRS, please keep track of those hours.

If you are considered a covered employer, your employees are eligible for wages up to the maximum cap. For you to take advantage of the benefits of the Act, those wages need to be included in your payroll reporting/processing.

Our tax team is managing these cases, please contact your normal payroll contact and they’ll connect you to this team.

Nothing in the Families First Coronavirus Response Act requires you to cover employees due to the inability to work because of the location of business shutdowns. Employees may have the choice to use paid leave or forego pay during that period. However, employers must review any applicable state or local law or ordinance that requires employers to provide paid leave and ensure compliance with the same.

The Act does not include any provision for paying employees who are unable to work from home and are not able to go to work because of a shelter-in-place order.

Paychex is working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA. We’re waiting on additional guidance on the specifics of who qualifies and who does not as far as government workers.

We’re working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA. Please makes sure you are tracking any other credits that you would typically apply to the Form 941 return.

We’re working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRAAs soon as we have IRS guidance, we will update you. We appreciate your patience as we await final IRS guidance and then update our payroll systems accordingly.

Please check the following resources daily as we’ll post updates as soon as the IRS has issued final guidance:

• Customer Support FAQs on paychex.com
• Tax Filing Resource site.

For more information from the IRS, access their FAQs.

The IRS said that there will be clear guidance for employers with these numbers of employees, but it has not been made available yet.

We’re working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA. As soon as we have IRS guidance, we will update you.

We’re working in concert with our industry coalition, the National Payroll Reporting Consortium (NPRC), to urge tax agency adoption of rules that can be easily and quickly administered or implemented for the FFCRA. We will send updates once we have final guidance.

Yes. Paychex is open for business even though some of our locations are closed.

For your health and safety as well as our employees, and to stay aligned with changing government regulations during the COVID-19 (also referred to as “coronavirus”) pandemic, some of our locations have temporarily closed.

We have instituted our Business Continuity Plan (BCP) so we can continue to help you with one of your top priorities – keeping your business running and paying your employees.

According to our sources in Washington, DC, first quarter 2020 federal payroll tax filing and payments will not be delayed; therefore, we’re moving forward with our normal federal tax filing plans. If we learn otherwise, we’ll let you know as soon as possible.

We are actively monitoring changes at the state level as well. As these changes are solidified, we will communicate them to you as soon as possible.

Please note that because of COVID-19, you cannot pick up your Quarter-End package at a Paychex branch location as our offices are temporarily closed. Be sure to contact your Paychex representative to verify or change your delivery method and mailing address if necessary. We can also convert you to paperless reports, which is a fast and easy way to receive your reports each quarter. (To receive paperless reports for the first quarter, you must contact us by April 2.)

With a national presence of more than 100 U.S. locations, our experienced emergency response team has detailed workflows in place to flexibly shift business functions to unimpacted locations should the need arise.

We have temporarily suspended pick up in our offices.  We have alternatives – access all your payroll information online, get overnight delivery from a courier service, set up direct deposit or other payment methods, or receive your package through the U.S Mail. Contact your Paychex service representative for more information about these services.

Now more than ever, you and your employees need the security of knowing that payroll wages will be deposited on time as expected. This is the perfect time for you to set up employees without direct deposit for this service.

Additionally, we have flexible payroll payment options, such as Pay On Demand that allows employees easy access to earned wages, in advance of payday, at no cost to you.  

Contact your Paychex service representative for more information about these services.

We are actively mobilizing our teams to ensure that we are well-positioned to continue to provide best in class support during this crisis while protecting the health and safety of our employees.

We’ll make every effort to connect you with your assigned representative if you have one. We have a highly-qualified team in place to assist you with your payroll and HR questions, 24 hours a day.

Your payroll reporting is “business as usual.” If you normally receive a call from Paychex to report your payroll, expect to receive a call on your regular day. If you normally call us at a regularly scheduled time, then continue to do so. Our call volume may be higher than normal, but we’ll attempt to call you at your usual time.

We are committed to being there for you and will make necessary accommodations so that we can provide service to you and your employees while still following government regulations.

We’re in the process of developing and testing software to support the leave that can be taken by eligible employees for qualifying reasons under FFCRA.

• Emergency Sick Leave – Employee Self-Care
• Emergency Sick Leave – Family Care
• Expanded Family Medical Leave

If circumstances require you to pay wages before software changes are implemented, we’ll work with you to pay the wages now and manually update our systems.

We’ll send another message closer to the release of the software changes to give you additional detail about how these earnings will be reported in our systems.

Yes. However, because of COVID-19, you cannot pick up your Quarter-End package at a Paychex branch location as our offices are closed to the public until further notice. Be sure to contact your Paychex representative to verify or change your delivery method and mailing address if necessary. We can also convert you to paperless reports, which is a fast and easy way to receive your reports each quarter. (To receive paperless reports for the first quarter, you must contact us by April 2.)

You can easily run payroll from anywhere through Paychex Flex® and our mobile app while saving time on payroll-related tasks. This gives you time to focus on other things, such as checking on your employees’ well-being.

You’ll be able to:

• Enter and submit payroll using self-service functionality in as few as two clicks
• View critical data at a glance, such as check dates and cash required for your next payroll
• Set up direct deposit, so your business can pay employees on time
• Track hours for employees working remotely
• Run reports, such as your payroll journal, cash requirements, and tax deposit notices

You can also give your employees the freedom to:

• View paystubs online
• Set up or change direct deposit
• Update their banking information
• Update their personal contact information (phone, email, address) to help with contingency planning
• Check time-off balances

Contact your Paychex service representative, they’ll work with you to set up our online payroll application, Paychex Flex.

If you use our Paychex Flex online payroll service, you can add/change employee direct deposit information using these instructions. Employees can add/modify their direct deposit accounts through their self-service Paychex Flex account.

If you don’t use Paychex Flex, contact your payroll service representative.

Paychex Flex Time includes functionality that can automate time-and-attendance tracking for remote employees.

You’ll get help with:

• Staying compliant with overtime laws and regulations
• Quickly assessing operational needs through manager dashboard updates in real-time
• Allowing employees to easily record time, check schedules, approve and review time cards through employee self-service
• Offering punch in options that meet your employee’s needs, such as mobile, web, and talent
• Determining how resources and time are spent with greater precision

For any wages for March 31, 2020, and before, employees should be paid for worked time as usual. If they were unable to work for any reason, including reasons attributed to COVID-19 (personal health, to care for a child impacted by school and daycare closures, or under quarantine), employees are to be paid using available sick and paid time off (PTO) time. 

For example: Weekly pay period that starts on Sunday, March 29, 2020, and ends on Saturday, April 4, 2020, with a check dated Wednesday, April 8:

• The pay for Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday (March 31) should be paid as sick, PTO, or earned work hours.
• Pay for Wednesday (April 1) through Saturday (April 4) should be paid under the new earnings.

This is applicable only to eligible employees unable to work or telework due to a qualifying reason stated in the FFCRA.

Paychex gives customers access to many financial wellness tools to help employees receive the financial assistance they need when they need it.

For employees

• Pay-on-Demand gives employees on-demand, real-time access to earned income with no fees to employees for transactions as of the article publication date
• Through our financial wellness program available to all clients at no cost, FinFit offers short-term employee loans for emergencies along with financial consulting and other services
• Access to retirement savings in a crisis through either a loan or hardship withdrawal

For customers:  

• Federal Disaster Loans for Businesses through the U.S. Small Business Administration. Several states have now declared COVID-19 as a disaster to provide eligibility for these loans.
• Small Business Loan Center offers access to working capital loans for your business with funds in as fast as 72 hours.

The federal government has passed the Families First Coronavirus Response Act into law in response to the public health emergency created by COVID-19. This legislation covers family and medical leave, paid sick leave, and payroll taxes. For specific details, read the Families First Coronavirus Response Act FAQs and read the Paychex WORX article, Funding, tax credits, and paid leave laws expanded to respond to COVID-19 pandemic.

Many health insurers are responding to the threat of COVID-19 by offering members no-cost screening and diagnostic testing. Please contact your insurance provider or visit their website for detailed information. 

Several of our carrier partners have specific COVID-19 information and policies. A few of them are listed here. Be sure to check your carrier’s website for more detail:

• Aetna  
• Anthem 
• Cigna
• Humana 
• Kaiser Permanente
• United Health Care

Certain states have recently announced an individual market special enrollment period for qualified individuals currently without health insurance. Other states may soon follow. Paychex has a team that specializes in helping employees find coverage that fits their individual insurance needs.

• California
• Connecticut
• District of Columbia
• Massachusetts
• Maryland
• Nevada
• New York
• Rhode Island
• Washington

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) issued FAQs that intend to clarify how COVID-19 coverage applies to Essential Health Benefits. Note that EHBs may vary by state, and cost-sharing requirements may vary by plan.

HSA participants can use their accounts to pay for qualified medical costs, such as COVID-19  treatment. Regarding carriers and what’s allowed to maintain an HSA-qualified plan, the IRS has announced that high-deductible health plans (HDHPs) can pay for COVID-19-related treatment before the deductible applies without jeopardizing their plan status. This means that an individual with an HDHP that covers these costs may continue to contribute to a health savings account (HSA).

Learn more about HDHPs and HSAs

Please contact your insurance carrier directly for specific coverage information. Some of our partner links are listed here:

• The Hartford
• Travelers
• Guard
• Liberty Mutual
• Amtrust

Please contact your insurance carrier directly for specific coverage information. 

Please contact your insurance carrier directly for specific coverage information. 

For customers using our HR Services offerings, please contact your Paychex HR professional.

Consider leaving furloughed employees as active in payroll – we do not currently have a Leave of Absence (LOA) status that would apply to this scenario, so it is not recommended to place employees on leave.

If you offer PEO benefits, these will continue to be offered for active employees. See "I am furloughing my employees and keeping their PEO account active. What happens to their benefits?" for more information on the monthly Benefit True-Up process.

If you can process at least one payroll in April, the PEO account will remain open – then again into May, and so on. We will be as accommodating as possible. We understand this payroll may include significantly fewer employees than your typical payroll.

We believe you will need us now more than ever, so our goals continue to be, showing value and retaining your business. Call us and give us an opportunity to talk to you.

As the end of a co-employment relationship is not a COBRA-eligible event, active employees at the time the PEO account is ended will not be eligible for COBRA.

PEO benefits for employees who are let go will run through the last day of the month in which they are let go. COBRA notices will automatically be sent within 14 days of the discontinued employment being entered in payroll. Example: if an employee is let go on 3/20, benefits will terminate on 3/31. If you self-retain benefits, you should contact your broker/administrator for direction.

If you leave the employees active and continue running payroll, benefits will remain active and you would be responsible for the missed premiums through the monthly Benefit True-Up process.

The March Benefit True-Up will run on 4/7 and deduct on 4/17. The April Benefit True-Up will run on 5/5 and deduct on 5/15 (and so on). You can determine if you will require employees to pay back missed premiums or if you will cover those costs. This would provide a “float” of the premiums while keeping benefits in place. This is the most common way to continue benefits for furloughed employees.

If the employee is reinstated within 30 days of the date employment is discontinued, benefits are automatically reinstated without a waiting period, effective the first of the month following the date employment is discontinued to avoid a lapse in coverage. If there is a break in service of more than 30 days, the employee would serve a new waiting period.

Example: an employee is let go on 3/20 and rehired on 4/5; benefits would be reinstated 4/1, missed premiums would be deducted on the monthly Benefit True-Up statement, if applicable.

We will continue to monitor the progression of regulations through development and enactment. We do not anticipate the co-employment relationship to have an impact on your requirement and/or ability to comply. You should determine if you are required to comply with any current or future COVID-19 regulations. Please work with your HR Coach on these matters.

No, Short-Term Disability (STD)/Long-Term Disability (LTD) plans do not coordinate with any other benefits.

Termination and a reduction in hours are considered COBRA qualifying events. If employees are no longer be eligible for the group health plan because of termination or reduction in hours, they would likely be eligible for COBRA or state continuation of health insurance coverage. Note that in the case of a layoff that is intended to be temporary, employers should review their plan documents or speak with their account manager or insurance agent to determine if and how long employees may stay on their group health plan before coverage is terminated.

• If you process payroll through Paychex and you subscribe to our COBRA administration service, entering a termination in our payroll system will trigger sending your affected employees a notification from us of their right to enroll in COBRA or state continuation of coverage.
• If you don’t subscribe to our COBRA administration service, please consult your COBRA administrator for information on how to notify your affected employees.
• If you are a Paychex Insurance Agency client, please contact your account manager with any questions. If you are a PaychexOne, Oasis, or HROi client, please contact your HR representative with any questions. If you are a BeneTrac client, please contact your account manager or account executive with any questions.

For customers using Paychex Retirement Services offerings, please log in to www.paychexflex.com and access the Help Center & Chat options by selecting the question mark icon on any page. You can also email a representative at 401kcustomerservice@paychex.com.

President Trump signed the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act into law on March 27, 2020. While most of the law provides economic help for businesses, it also offers relief options for participants of 401(k) retirement plans and Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), including:

• Enhanced loan availability and relief for outstanding loan repayments
• COVID-related distributions and waived early withdrawal penalty
• Waived Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) for the 2020 calendar year
   

Paychex has written a CARES Act WORX article outlining some of the high-level provisions.

To qualify for CARES Act 401(k) loan and distribution relief, the request must be related to Coronavirus (COVID-19), self-certified by the participant, and confirmed by the plan administrator. A participant actively employed or on a leave of absence will be a qualifying individual if any of the following conditions are met:

• He or she, a spouse, or dependent was diagnosed with COVID-19.
• He or she experienced adverse financial consequences because of quarantine, furlough, lay off, reduced work hours, or lack of child care due to COVID-19.
• The business was closed or had reduced operating hours because of COVID-19.

The Plan Administrator must sign a self-certification statement form that will be included in all Paychex COVID-19 related distribution or loan paperwork. Your plan participant will come to you with this document for signature and return it to Paychex.

Paychex is working diligently to support you and your participants, as well as update our internal processes as quickly as possible. If your plan does not currently allow for loans or hardship withdrawals, you can amend the plan to add these features. When we receive participant requests, we will be taking note to email the necessary paperwork to individuals once our processes are ready.

If your retirement plan offers loans and the participant qualifies for CARES Act relief, the following changes apply:

• The maximum loan amount for loans issued between March 27 and September 23, 2020, was increased to the lesser of 100% of a participant’s vested account balance or $100,000 (minus any outstanding loan balances). 
• Participants who have new loan balances between March 27 and December 31, 2020, can defer repayments for up to one year.

Participants who qualify for CARES Act relief and held a retirement plan loan balance between March 27 and December 31, 2020, can defer existing loan repayments for up to one year. The delayed timeframe will be disregarded from the loan amortization schedule.

Qualifying participants can take a distribution of up to $100,000, between January 1 and December 31, 2020, from a qualified retirement plan.

The CARES Act waives the 10% early withdrawal penalty for anyone under age 59 ½.  Also, participants can request reduced or 0% tax withholding from the distribution and spread the tax liability over a three-year period. Without specific election, the standard withholding is 10% federal tax. All relevant information will be included on their Paychex paperwork.

If your retirement plan offers hardship withdrawals, and the state in which the qualifying plan participant resides (or is employed) is declared a federal disaster area by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the participant may be eligible for a 401(k) hardship withdrawal for expenses and losses incurred because of the disaster. FEMA is updating the state list regularly at fema.gov/disasters.

RMDs are suspended for 2020 for all qualifying RMD retirement plan and IRA participants required to withdraw funds from such retirement accounts between January 1 and December 31, 2020 (including required beginning date distributions for April 1, 2020).