COVID-19 Information & Resources for SAP/EC Payroll

This blog is for pulling together information and resources on how COVID-19 regulations and changes are impacting SAP & EC Payroll. As I find more, I'll update this blog - and please do share what you have via the comments below.

Global Information

• Many countries are responding to the workforce implications of COVID-19 virus by issuing new/updated regulations on leaves, unemployment insurance and so on. SAP has started a blog to pull all those things into one place and I highly recommend customers stay up to date with it: COVID-19 Legal Changes Monitoring.
• When you setup news absence codes and types of pay for employees it's often easiest to copy from an existing one. Be sure to check all the settings though - do the hours deduct from a quota, or not? Do the hours count towards pension or retirement? Hopefully you don't have interfaces with hard-coded wagetypes, but if so then you might need to add these new codes to those interfaces.
• So far I've seen three types of absences & pay for this:
  • Employee has the virus or is forced to self-quarantine
  • Employee has to care for someone who has the virus
  • Employee needs reduced work-time to take care of children whose school has been canceled
• The Global Payroll Association has setup a collection of resources for a number of countries - be sure to check it out.
• Some good info for general HR topics on COVID-19
• Each country has some very specific legislation - my advice is to make sure each country HR and Payroll manager work together to ensure the changes are implemented correctly. Also be sure to include the country Controller or Finance chief to ensure tax, cash and accounting processes are taken care of.

Brazil

• Here's the provisional measure for Brazil. SAP's blog has links tot he legal change and applicable notes.

Canada

• Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) announced some 'Temporary wage subsidies' for employers. There are some important restrictions on which employers are eligible.

United Kingdom

• Here is some information on the job retention program.

United States

• For employers in the US, the American Payroll Association has created a page to pull together regulations and resources: COVID-19 Hot Topics.
• More information on the Families First Coronavirus Response Act is available form the Department of Labor.
• Official information from the IRS here: https://www.irs.gov/coronavirus
• Be sure to coordinate with your Short Term Disability, FMLA, and any similar bargained plans (SUB, Indemnity, etc) and processes. COVID-19 absences and leaves will likely impact them. If you have outsourced plan administration then coordinating this with those providers is critical.
• If you have employees in San Francisco, check out some revised ordinances there: https://sfgov.org/olse/
• Employers get to defer the employer portions of Social Security and Medicare taxes to 2021 and 2022