Setup Considerations: Pay for Terminated Workers
You can use this topic to make configuration decisions for pay for terminated workers. It explains:
- Why to set it up.
- How this feature fits into the rest of Workday.
- Downstream impacts and cross-product interactions.
- Security requirements and business process configurations.
- Questions and limitations to consider before implementation.
Refer to detailed task instructions for full configuration details.
What It Is
Workday enables you to process payments for terminated workers, including benefits, bonuses, and corresponding taxes.
Business Benefits
Workday Payroll helps you comply with regulations by calculating taxes, and reduces manual processing by enabling you to process payments for:
- All terminated workers.
- Different sets of terminated workers based on characteristics that you define.
You can also configure payroll tasks for nonpayroll administrators to reduce manual effort in paying terminated workers, such as ending ongoing payroll inputs.
Use Cases
You can configure payments to workers with:
- A single terminated job (AUS, CAN, USA).
- Multiple terminated jobs in the same company (AUS).
- Multiple jobs, some or all of which you terminated (CAN, USA).
You can process payments for:
- Noncash taxable benefits (USA).
- One-time or bonus payments from Workday Compensation.
- Payout for time off plans.
- Reportable Fringe Benefit Amounts (AUS).
- Retirement contributions (CAN, USA).
- Salary continuance.
- Severance pay (CAN, USA).
- Severance pay and other termination payments (AUS).
- Superannuation contributions (AUS).
- Termination allowances (FRA).
Questions to Consider
Questions | Considerations |
|---|---|
Do you need to continue payments to the worker after termination? | For Payroll for Canada, France, and the U.S., you can select pay through dates after the pay period end date to pay workers after the termination. When the pay through date is in the same pay period as the termination date, you can process payments to workers by:
In Workday HCM, you can Create Severance Worksheets for Workers where you also select the pay through dates. Workday Payroll uses that date instead of the one on the Termination business process. For Payroll for Australia and the UK, you can process payments to workers by running an on-demand, on-cycle, or off-cycle payment for the subperiod of the termination or the next pay period. For all countries, you can configure printing parameters such as whether to print payslips for terminated workers. |
Do you need to pay workers on their termination date? | For Payroll for France, when the termination date and the pay through date are in the next processing period, you can run an on-demand replacement payment to pay the worker immediately. For Payroll for the UK, when the termination date is in the next processing period, you can run an on-demand replacement payment to pay the worker immediately. For Payroll for the U.S, when the termination date and the pay through date are in the next processing period, you can run an on-demand replacement payment to pay the worker immediately. You can also enable nonpayroll administrators to print a check on demand. |
What types of jobs are you terminating? | For Payroll for Canada, France, and the U.S., for terminated workers on salary continuance, you can configure Workday to prorate pay from the termination date to the pay through date.
For workers with terminated additional jobs, Workday processes pay for ended jobs until the pay through date or termination date based on the:
For Payroll for Australia and the UK, for terminated workers with 1 or more jobs, Workday processes pay for ended jobs until the termination date based on the:
|
Who do you want to manage payments for terminated workers? | For Payroll for Australia, Canada, France, and the UK, you can configure the Termination business process to enable you or nonpayroll administrators such as HR partners to end ongoing payroll inputs for terminated workers. The business process initiator can also use the same task to view the workers' future-dated payroll inputs.For Payroll for the U.S, you can add business processes to the Termination business process to enable you or nonpayroll administrators such as HR partners to:
|
What kinds of data do you need to provide to terminated workers? (AUS, UK) | For Payroll for Australia, you can report payments made to a terminated worker and the taxes withheld as part of the STP report to the ATO. The STP report includes the cessation type and date. For Payroll for the UK, you can create P45s for 1 or multiple terminated workers to provide them with their tax codes and taxable earnings. Make sure that you complete payroll for those workers before generating P45s. |
Do you need to meet reporting requirements when you terminate workers? (CAN) | Workday populates Record of Employment (ROE) data for workers:
You can create an ROE for those workers by accessing the Create ROE Data for Events task. |
What kinds of termination allowances do you need to process upon termination? (FRA) | Depending on their contract type, workers might receive additional amounts upon termination. Example: Fixed-term contracts can include a termination allowance to pay when you terminate them.
You can create earnings for termination allowances using eligibility criteria based on the worker status and contract type. Examples: Mutual agreements or legal severance allowances. When you run payroll, Workday calculates income tax and social contributions for those allowances. |
Do you need to meet reporting requirements when you terminate workers? (FRA) | Workday Payroll France provides payroll calculations and DSN reporting configurations that enable you to comply with French regulations.
You can configure and generate termination DSNs for terminated workers, based on their termination reason. Workday also provides calculations for severance indemnities that you can use to pay worker legal severance allowances. |
What kinds of termination payment do you need to process? (AUS) | You can pay unused leave payments and other termination payments, including:
|
Recommendations
To optimize performance, use the most specific payroll processing status on the run category to identify terminated workers to process. Example: Use the
Terminated with One-time Payroll Input
status instead of the Terminated
status with the Payroll Input (Onetime) Exists for Pay Component
selection criteria.For Payroll for Australia and the UK, load historical data for all terminated workers who have payroll results in the current tax year to avoid inaccurate calculations and reporting.
For Payroll for Australia, set up separate pay components for voluntary and involuntary terminations to avoid inaccurate calculations. Set up pay components for each cessation type, according to the reporting requirements of the ATO. Example: For unused annual leave accrued after August 1993, set up 2 pay components::
- Redundancy.
- Nonredundancy.
For Payroll for Australia, set up separate time offs to track time off accrual. Example: A time off payment to pay out unused annual leave accrued before 1993, and another for annual leave accrued after 1993.
For Payroll for France, avoid inaccurate calculations and reporting by:
- Loading historical data for termination allowances. Examples: Basis for fixed term allowances or nonmonthly bonuses for legal severance allowance calculations.
- Verifying your staffing and organizational data at each termination when preparing DSN reporting.
Requirements
For Payroll for Australia and the UK, configure run categories to include terminated workers when processing payroll. Define the specific worker statuses, such as
Terminated
, and select which pay components to calculate for those workers. Also select specific statuses before paying terminated workers who have retroactive events.For Payroll for Canada and the U.S., configure run categories to include terminated workers when processing payroll. Define the specific worker statuses, such as
Terminated with Pay Through Date
, and select which pay components to calculate for those workers. Also select specific statuses before paying terminated workers who have:
- Multiple jobs, such as when you end their additional jobs and their primary job remains active.
- Retroactive events.
For Payroll for France, configure run categories to include terminated workers when processing payroll. Define the specific worker statuses, such as
Terminated with Pay Through Date
, and select which pay components to calculate for those workers. Also select specific statuses before paying terminated workers who have retroactive events.Complete any on-demand replacement payments for terminated workers before removing them from a company or pay group.
Limitations
- Midperiod Terminations
- For Payroll for Australia and the UK, when you terminate workers midperiod, Workday creates a subperiod that ends on the termination date. Workday doesn't process any bonus or one-time payments from Workday Compensation when the payments occur after the termination date.
- For Payroll for Canada, France, and the U.S., when you terminate workers midperiod, Workday creates a subperiod that ends on the termination date. When the pay through date is on or after the pay period end date, Workday creates a subperiod after the termination date. Workday doesn't process any bonus or one-time payments from Workday Compensation when both the:
- Pay through date is in the same pay period as the termination date.
- Payments occur after the termination date.
- Next Period On-Demand Payments
- You need to complete a worker's current pay result before you create a next period on-demand payment. When you use a related action to complete the results, you can't cancel the completion.You can create a next period on-demand payment for a worker who doesn't have a pay result in the current period. But you can't then create a current or prior period result for the worker.
- Terminated Worker Data
- After you terminate workers, Workday disassociates some pieces of worker information such as the work location. To access this information, you can create calculations that retrieve worker data before and on the termination date. Example: You want to pay earnings post-termination and use the worker's previous work location as eligibility criteria.For Payroll for the U.S., Workday disassociates the work state from terminated workers. To pay workers who change states after their termination, select the new state on the on-demand payment.
- Termination Reasons
- For Payroll for Australia, Workday doesn't support death as a termination reason, and Workday doesn't support payments and reporting of payments to death beneficiaries.
Tenant Setup
You can use the
Edit Tenant Setup - Payroll
task to:
- Disable processing pay components with retroactive differences for terminated workers.
- Select which end date to suggest on the task for ending workers' ongoing payroll inputs as part of a termination. That date is editable on the task.
For Payroll for Australia, use the
Maintain AUS Termination Configuration
task to map your organization's termination reasons to their corresponding ATO cessation types. Security
Domains | Considerations |
|---|---|
Business Process Administration or Manage: Business Process Definitions in the System functional area. | Enables users to view and edit business process definitions such as the On Demand Event and Termination business processes. |
Self-Service: Payroll (My Payslips) in the Core Payroll functional area. | Enables users to view their current and past payslips by configuring the security policy to include the Terminee Self-Service and Terminee As Self security groups. |
Set Up: Payroll in the Core Payroll functional area. | Enables users to configure off-cycle payments options for final pay to terminated workers. |
Set Up: Payroll (Reporting) in the Core Payroll functional area.
Set Up: Settlement in the Banking and Settlement functional area. | Enables users to configure payslip printing options. |
Set Up: Payroll - Pay Group Specific in the Core Payroll functional area. | Enables users to configure run categories. |
Business Processes
Business Processes | Considerations |
|---|---|
End Payroll Inputs
| You can add this business process to the Termination business process so that other Workday users can end workers' ongoing payroll inputs as part of a termination. |
On Demand Event (USA) | You can add this business process to the Termination business process so that other Workday users can issue final pay. Example: You can configure payment types and dates that HR partners can select when they terminate workers and review payment information. |
Termination
| You can configure additional steps on this business process such as:
|
Reporting
Reports | Considerations |
|---|---|
Pay Calculation Results - Outstanding Arrears Balance Composite
| View outstanding arrears balances summarized by pay period for terminated workers.
This report is secured to the same Reports: Pay Calculation Results (Reports: Indexed Data Source Filters) domain as other indexed report data source filters. |
Tenant Analyzer
| Verify your run category configuration against Workday recommendations for optimizing performance. |
You can use these report data sources when creating custom reports on terminated workers:
- All Active and Terminated Workers
- All Contingent Workers
- All Terminated Employees
- All Workers
- Terminations
Integrations
For Payroll for Australia and the UK, you can load payroll inputs through the Enterprise Interface Builder (EIB) with an effective date after the termination date.
For Payroll for Canada, France, and the U.S, you can load payroll inputs through the (EIB) with an effective date after the pay through date. Example: You can mass load stock option exercises. Workday processes those inputs except when the pay through date takes place between the termination date and the end of the full pay period.
You can use the
Terminate Employee
web service to end workers' ongoing payroll inputs as part of a termination.Connections and Touchpoints
Features | Considerations |
|---|---|
Compensation | You can process one-time or bonus payments for terminated workers from Workday Compensation.
For Payroll for Canada, France, and the U.S., you can pay severance packages using one-time payment compensation plans integrated with Workday Payroll. You can pay those packages as a lump sum or continual payments upon termination until the pay through date. For Payroll for Australia, the effective date of the payment must be before the termination date to process one-time payments. For Payroll for Australia, you can pay severance packages using one-time payment compensation plans integrated with Workday Payroll. You can pay those packages as a lump sum until the termination date. |
Pay components | Workday applies pay component eligibility criteria when processing payments for terminated workers. |
Payroll history | You can load payroll history for terminated workers before or after the termination date. Make sure that the pay group assignment date is on or before the termination date. |
Proration | For Payroll for Australia, you can process one-time payroll inputs between the termination date and the pay period end date using specific eligibility criteria. Workday applies the amount in the active subperiod of the termination. For Payroll for Australia, when you terminate a worker mid-period, Workday creates a sub-period, and stops calculations for regular earnings as of the termination date. For Payroll for Canada, France, and the U.S., for midperiod terminations, when the pay through date is in the pay period after the period where termination occurs, you can pay workers until that date using:
When the pay through date is between the termination date and the pay period end date, you can process:
For Payroll for the U.S., when you terminate and rehire workers multiple times in a pay period, Workday creates multiple subperiods within the pay period. In that case, you can run on-demand payments to pay workers for each subperiod in that pay period. For Payroll for the UK, you can process one-time payroll inputs between the termination date and the pay period end date using specific eligibility criteria. Workday applies the amount in the active subperiod of the termination. For Payroll for the UK, when you terminate and rehire workers multiple times in a pay period, Workday creates multiple subperiods within the pay period. In that case, you can run on-demand payments to pay workers for each subperiod in that pay period. |
Retro pay calculations | You can process payroll differences due to retroactive terminations, including rescinding or correcting terminations retroactively. Workday supports retroactive terminations even in prior periods where workers have no existing payroll results. |
Staffing (CAN, FRA, UK, USA) | You can configure the Termination business process to include payroll tasks such as ending ongoing payroll inputs. |
Workday offers a Touchpoints Kit with resources to help you understand configuration relationships in your tenant. Learn more about the Workday Touchpoints Kit on Workday Community.
Other Impacts
For Payroll for Australia, Canada, and the U.S., when workers have 1 job, they have a
Terminated
status after you terminate that job. When they have multiple jobs, they have this status after you terminate all jobs.