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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2026-03-13
Purge Dependents and Beneficiaries for Active, Terminated, and Contingent Workers

Purge Dependents and Beneficiaries for Active, Terminated, and Contingent Workers

  • Create a custom purge report that returns active or terminated workers whose dependents and beneficiaries you want to purge. Add the
    Purge
     tag to the custom report.
  • Security: These domains in the System functional area:
    • Custom Report Creation
    • Purge Person Data
You can purge:
  • Dependents for a selected set of active, terminated, and contingent workers by using the
    Workers Dependents
     purgeable data type.
  • Beneficiaries for a selected set of active and terminated workers by using the
    Workers Beneficiaries (Person and Trust)
     purgeable data type.
When you purge this data, Workday removes any references to the person from the tenant.
Purging this data is irreversible and can cause issues if done incorrectly. Always test the custom report and purge in your Sandbox environment before you purge any data in your Production environment.
The
Workers Dependents
 PDT has required validations that prevent you from purging dependents:
  • Enrolled in future dated or active plans.
  • With future dated or active court orders.
  • Added to dependent events or benefit events that aren't finalized.
The
Workers Dependents
 PDT also has an optional validation that you can use to prevent purging dependents eligible for COBRA.
The
Workers Beneficiaries (Person and Trust)
 PDT has required validations that prevent you from purging beneficiaries or beneficiary trusts:
  • Enrolled in future dated or active plans.
  • With future dated or active court orders.
  • Added to beneficiary events, beneficiary trusts events, or benefit events that aren't finalized.
To avoid affecting payroll, integrations, and reporting, we recommend that you don't purge dependents or beneficiaries that are active in current elections.
Dependent and beneficiary notification events aren’t purged when using the
Workers Beneficiaries (Person and Trust)
 and
Workers Dependents
 purgeable data types. To purge dependent and beneficiary notification events, access the
Purge Notifications for User
 task. See Concept: Notifications.
If you use Workday Benefits Connector, purging dependents can affect data sent to and from benefits vendors. Before purging, assess if you need to notify Benefits vendors of dependents purged. Certain configurations and use cases may require you to capture data outside of Workday, as purging removes all data related to the dependent from the system and is not reversible. Example: If you purge a dependent whose coverage has ended and do not notify the vendor of the coverage end date, the vendor may not drop the dependent.
  1. (Optional) Create a purge plan.
    Select
    Worker
     as the object to purge. We also recommend selecting
    All Active and Terminated Workers
     as the report data source.
    If you don’t create a purge plan, Workday will automatically select required purgeable data types to purge.
  2. Access the
    Purge Privacy Data
     task.
    Select the custom purge report that you created. See Create a Privacy Purge Custom Report.
  3. From the
    Population to Purge (Report Definition)
     prompt, select the custom purge report for dependents and beneficiaries.
    Only reports with the
    Purge
     tag display.
  4. Click
    View report on selected population
     to confirm the data to purge.
  5. Select the check boxes for the
    Workers Beneficiaries (Person and Trust)
     and
    Workers Dependents
     PDTs and click
    OK
    .
  6. Select the
    Confirm
     check box and click
    OK
    .
Workday:
  • Purges the dependents and beneficiaries data that matches your purge criteria. Run the report again to confirm the purge action.
  • Removes all the dependents and beneficiaries data that match your criteria in the custom purge report.
    When using the
    Workers Dependents and Beneficiaries
     purgeable data type, Workday will not purge data shared with an emergency contact.