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Administrator Guide
Last Updated: 2025-03-14
Concept: Effective Dating for Earnings and Deductions

Concept: Effective Dating for Earnings and Deductions

You can create effective dated definitions of a pay component when you have a change in policy, such as a change in worker eligibility for an earning.

Create a New Effective-Dated Pay Component Definition

You must provide an effective date when you first create an earning or deduction.
For Payroll for Canada, the UK, and the U.S., Workday sets all earnings and deductions created before the effective dating feature release (mid-Workday 23, 2014-12-06) with the effective date of 2000-01-01.
To create a new effective dated definition of an existing earning or deduction:
  1. Access the
    Edit Earning
     or
    Edit Deduction
     task.
  2. Select
    Add New Effective Date
    .
  3. Enter the new effective date.
When you click
OK
, you can see a subtab on the
Effective Dated
 tab for each pay component definition.

Example: Tool Allowance (AUS)

Global Modern Services has a tool allowance earning that is effective as of the default date 2000-01-01. The calculation is for
Hours Worked x Rate
 at a rate of
0.87
. As of 2024-01-01, the rate goes up to
0.93
.
The Payroll Administrator accesses the
Edit Earning
 task for the
Tool Allowance
 earning and selects the
Add New Effective Date
 option to create a new definition with the effective date 2024-01-01. They enter the new rate of
0.93
 in the
Override Calculation
 field for the
Rate
Related Calculation
.

Example: Union Dues Deduction (CAN, USA)

Global Modern Services has a union dues deduction that is effective as of the default date 2000-01-01. The calculation is for
Hours Worked x Rate
, at a rate of
0.05
. As of 2014-01-01, the rate goes up to
0.07
.
The Payroll Administrator accesses the
Edit Deduction
 task for the
Union Dues
 deduction and selects the
Add New Effective Date
 option to create a new definition of the deduction with the effective date 2014-01-01. She enters the new rate of
0.07
 in the
Override Calculation
 field for the
Rate
Related Calculation
.

Example: Union Subscriptions Deduction (UK)

Global Modern Services has a union subscriptions deduction that is effective as of the default date 2000-01-01. The calculation is for
Hours Worked x Rate
, at a rate of
0.05
. As of 2014-01-01, the rate goes up to
0.07
.
The Payroll Administrator accesses the
Edit Deduction
 task for the
Union Subscriptions
 deduction and selects the
Add New Effective Date
 option to create a new definition of the deduction with the effective date 2014-01-01. She enters the new rate of
0.07
 in the
Override Calculation
 field for the
Rate
Related Calculation
.

Copy Earnings and Deductions

An earning or deduction is always effective-dated, even if only once when it's created, so you're actually copying a snapshot of the earning or deduction in time.
To copy a pay component snapshot as of an effective date: From the related actions menu of the
View Earning
 or
View Deduction
 report, select
Calculation
Copy
 and select the date of the snapshot you want to copy. Workday requires that you change at least the
Code
 field to make a copy.
Once the copy opens, you can delete a pay component related calculation (PCRC) by selecting the minus sign for that row.

How Workday Applies the Effective Date

Workday uses the effective dated definition that is the same or earlier than:
  • The pay period end date for your company's pay components.
  • The resolve effective date setting for Workday-delivered pay components. You can view the
    Resolve Effective Date
     on the
    Non-Effective Dated
     tab of the
    View Earning
     or
    View Deduction
     report.
If you add or edit an earning or deduction in the middle of a pay period, it applies to the whole pay period. Workday doesn't prorate effective dating.
For Payroll for France, non-effective dated features always apply.

Retroactive Payroll Processing

If you add or edit an earning or deduction definition with a retroactive effective date, it resolves for workers with supported retroactive events. However, it doesn't cause a retroactive event.
Pay component related calculations (PCRCs) aren't effective dated. You can change some fields for the PCRC after it's calculated, but if you modify the effective date of 1 PCRC, the change applies to all effective dates. Workday recommends you review your current effective dates before making changes.
Example (CAN, USA): You retroactively change a union dues rate. When you initiate a supported retroactive event, those workers with that event receive the union dues update retroactively.
Example (UK): You retroactively change a union subscriptions rate. When you initiate a supported retroactive event, those workers with that event receive the union subscriptions update retroactively.