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With the 8/15/22 Workday go-live, ALL requests must be routed through the OMES Service Desk to insure timely response. The OMES IS CORE staff (Carol Barton’s team) will be working alongside the Workday consultants and other OMES divisions to provide prompt and timely support from a centralized location. During this time, both the central support phone number 405-521-1750 as well as the HRMS PeopleSoft Support email will be routed to the service desk.
PAYROLL
PeopleSoft payrolls finished processing on Friday, Aug. 5. The BrightPath team wants to give a huge shoutout to all the agencies and team members involved in this effort for meeting the payroll processing deadline. This has helped ensure the project stayed on schedule with our transition to Workday@OK.
Thank you for all you do!
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Please thoroughly review any medical support orders received on employees and respond accordingly. Child Support Services is required to send a National Medical Support Notice (NMSN) and an Income Withholding Order within two business days after the date CSS is notified of an employee who is an obligor in a child support case. Additionally, you may receive an NMSN for an employee who is the custodian of a child if the child support order requires that person to provide health insurance for that child.
Employers and insurers must comply with the NMSN, which consists of four documents. The total amount withheld for child support, health insurance premiums and cash medical support cannot exceed the Consumer Credit Protection Act withholding limits. The Oklahoma Department of Human Services Child Support Services Employer Resources handbook provides guidance for employers when an NMSN is received. Once an agency receives the NMSN, please follow the instructions and process the notice promptly. Any delays in processing the notice could result in a follow-up from CSS and potentially put the agency at risk of sanctions for failing to comply with the notice.
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As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, many state employees are working remotely. If employees are working remotely outside of Oklahoma, this requires the state, as the employer, to withhold income taxes for that state, as applicable. Several states have issued guidance or passed temporary laws relaxing this requirement, but not all have taken this approach. If an agency has employees working outside of Oklahoma, email [email protected] so we can determine the required withholding and reporting for those employees.
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State agencies are encouraged to review and handle employee overpayments as soon as possible so the adjustment can be recorded in the quarter in which the overpayment occurred. Overpayments not reported to the retirement systems in a timely manner may result in less than a full recovery of funds for the agency and may cause employee retirement calculations to be incorrect. Overpayments may be due to incorrect hours paid, wage amounts or benefit allowance payments.
When submitting the Form 94P, please do not provide copies of personal checks. The form allows the agency to enter the amount recovered. Additional backup data is not required. Please submit the form using the employee ID and do not use the employee's SSN.
If an agency has questions, needs assistance or would like the form reviewed prior to requesting the overpayment from the employee, please email [email protected]. The final form is to be submitted to us only after the agency has recovered the overpaid amount.
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When entering a new employee’s name and Social Security number or updating a current employee’s name, please verify the name and SSN entered is exactly as it appears on the employee’s Social Security card. This is critical in reporting not only the W-2 wages at year-end, but also the Affordable Care Act required health offer/coverage information.
If the name and SSN do not match the Social Security Administration (SSA) records, the employee’s wages may not be credited to their Social Security account. Additionally, if the name and SSN do not match, the employee may not be reported correctly for ACA purposes which could result in an IRS letter to the employee for possible lack of health coverage or an IRS letter to the agency for not offering coverage.
Beginning Sept. 8, 2007, the Social Security Administration updated the Social Security card. The number holder’s name will always be printed on two lines, with the last name printed directly below the first and middle names. If you receive a prior version from an employee and are unsure, please ask the employee to verify the first, middle and last names.
Additionally, compound names do not need to be hyphenated. If an employee provides a name with an apparent compound or multiple last names, ask the employee which name is the beginning of the last name and which (if any) is the middle name.
An employee’s name can be updated in Workday from the employee’s profile page > Personal > Names > Edit. The legal name must match the name on the Social Security card. A preferred name may be entered if the employee goes by something other than the legal name.
SSN changes can be initiated in Workday by either the employee or HR. The change will be routed to OMES CAR for review and approval. If the legal name and SSN do not match the SSA record, the change will be denied.
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All compensation to employees and former employees, no matter what form, constitutes wages unless specifically excluded by the Internal Revenue Code. This includes stipends, allowances, employee lawsuits and settlements, gifts, prizes, awards and fringe benefits, to name a few. Before compensation is given to employees or former employees, agencies must determine the correct method of payment (payroll vs. accounts payable) and reporting required (W-2, 1099 or none). In an audit, the IRS will focus on the reason for the payment.
NOTE: Attorney’s fees paid on a settlement are reportable to the plaintiff if the settlement is a reportable settlement. For attorney fees paid through accounts payable, the amount must be reported to [email protected]. The attorney will automatically receive a 1099-MISC reporting the amount in Box 10 if the correct account code is used on the voucher payment. The plaintiff reporting requires a manual entry and must be reported to OMES.
If the payment settles a lawsuit, the auditor will focus on the basis of the lawsuit. The IRS has a recorded webinar that provides valuable information regarding the taxability of lawsuits and settlements. Agency payroll, finance, human resources and legal departments should obtain the knowledge needed to accurately process compensation to employees or former employees. Agencies are responsible for complying with IRS requirements for withholding and reporting.
If an agency has a settlement agreement that requires the payment be processed through accounts payable instead of the payroll system to expedite processing and the payment is reportable as compensation, then applicable federal, state and FICA taxes must be remitted to OMES on the same day the settlement to the individual is processed. If taxes are not withheld on the payment, the agency must gross up the amount and pay both the employee and employer share of taxes. The employee’s record will be updated for year-end reporting. If additional guidance is needed, please email [email protected].
NOTE: The IRS has determined that Oklahoma public school teachers receiving payments from a state agency are to be treated as employees of the state. As such, any payments to teachers need to be evaluated to determine if the payments should be considered wages. If so, the amounts must be paid through the payroll system, not accounts payable, to be reported on Form W-2 by the paying agency.
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HIGHER EDUCATION
Transparency files are due no later than the fifth business day of the following month.
Files must be sent timely to comply with monthly FTE reporting as well as statutory requirements for posting the data to the website. The following are specific field data reminders:
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Jobcode – Must be a valid OMES job code. Contact OMES HCM Classification and Compensation at 405-521-2177 for assistance with job codes.
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Hours – Must be an employee’s accurate hours. The hours reported here will also be used for FTE reporting, along with the pay frequency entered in the file.
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Warrant Number – Must contain the required leading 2. This is the actual warrant number processed through the state’s financial system and paid through the treasurer’s office.
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Pay Date – Actual pay date of the payroll and should not be changed to any other date.
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ACCOUNTING
The FY 2023 interest rate applicable to late payments to vendors has been set at 0.97% per annum, or $0.0027 per $100 per day, which will be in effect July 1, 2022, through June 30, 2023. This interest rate is provided by the State Treasurer based on the average interest rate for 30-day time deposits of state funds during the last calendar quarter of the last preceding fiscal year. (O.S. 62 § 34.71& 34.72 and O.S. 74 § 500.16A. and OMES Prompt Payment Rules/Regulations).
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