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What's New?

September 2001 - Welcome to the latest edition of The Payroll News. As always, please feel free to forward this newsletter to your friends and associates who are interested in keeping up with the latest changes in the Payroll industry. Or better yet, subscribe them for free using the Tell Someone About Us link.

Upcoming Events:

Listed here are recent changes in legislation on Federal and Provincial levels that may impact your payroll calculations. Please view the following list for changes that affect your region.

FEDERAL:

August 14, 2001 - Amendments to Employment Insurance on Undeclared Earnings - HRDC announced an Employment Insurance Regulation amendment that changes the way undeclared earnings are calculated. The approved amendment will allow the allocation of earnings only to the week in which they were actually earned. This will make it easier for employer calculations and fairer for EI claimants. (more)

August 9, 2001 - Department of Finance Canada Web Site "Simplified" - Finance Minister Paul Martin today announced the launch of "the Simplifier" which will provide easier access and understanding for all Canadians, whether specialists or not, to the government's website. The Simplifier automatically creates links between specialized vocabulary and acronyms that may be used almost anywhere on the site, and the Finance Canada glossary explanation of the meaning of the term. (more)

August, 2001 - Requesting Payroll Information From Employers - Some employers have raised questions as to whether or not it is legal for them to complete HRDC's "Request for Payroll Information" forms since the implementation of the Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents (PIPED) Act (Bill C-6). Primary concerns involve complaints and/or legal action from their employees. (more)

Alberta:

August 17, 2001 - Working Safely in Hot Weather - The Government of Alberta has issued a press release outlining the need for increased awareness for workers who must endure hot temperatures at outdoor worksites. Employers, supervisors and co-workers should be aware of factors that may contribute to heat stress and review certain methods than can reduce or prevent the stress. (more)

Manitoba:

August 3, 2001 - Province Targets 15 Percent Reduction in Workplace Injuries - Labour and Immigration Minister Becky Barrett today announced a new strategy intended to significantly reduce the numbers of workplace injuries in Manitoba. "Manitobans have been reminded of our unacceptably high level of workplace accidents leading to unnecessary injuries or even deaths, as well as lost wages and productivity and pressures on workers compensation rates for employers". With Manitoba’s accident rate higher as compared to other provinces, the WCB has warned of increasing pressures on these rates. (more)

Newfoundland and Labrador:

August 10, 2001 - Labour Market Heats Up - According to Statistics Canada, Newfoundland and Labrador continued to lead Canada in employment growth for the month of July. The province realized gains in employment for the seventh consecutive month. This latest growth was accompanied by a decrease in the unemployment rate as compared to the same time period last year. (more)

Nova Scotia:

August 1, 2001 - N.S. Incentives Similar to Competing Jurisdictions - This province's Minister of Economic Development said today that the financial incentives offered to companies under Nova Scotia's payroll rebate program are in line with national benchmarks. A media report that Nova Scotia has set 'national records' in this area is, quite simply, wrong." Government designed the payroll rebate program as a strategic investment tool that allows the province to stimulate economic growth, particularly in rural areas facing high unemployment. Of five such agreements reached in the past two years, the province has committed to rebates of about $15.8 million if the minimum employment requirements of 1,800 jobs are met. That works out to about $8,800 per job. (more)

Ontario:

August 20, 2001 - Labour Day a Paid Public Holiday - Labour Day is a public holiday under Ontario's Employment Standards Act. As such, many workers will get a day off with regular pay on Labour Day on Monday, Sept. 3, 2001. However, on Dec. 21, 2000, the Ontario Legislature enacted the Employment Standards Act, 2000 (Bill 147). This bill, which will be proclaimed into force on Sept. 4, 2001, will change some of the rules for paid public holidays. (more)

Prince Edward Island:

July 4, 2001 - Provincial Income Tax Measures Take Effect July 1 - PEI's Provincial Treasurer announced today that Islanders will see a significant reduction in payroll deductions, effective July 1, as a result of the personal income tax rate reduction announced in the 2000 Provincial Budget. The provincial rate reduction from 58.5 per cent to 57.5 per cent applies back to January 1, 2000, and accordingly payroll withholdings fall to 56.5 per cent on July 1 to put employees on track for a full year of lower taxes. (more)

Saskatchewan:

August 10, 2001 - July Job Statistics Positive - Figures released today by Statistics Canada show that Saskatchewan's job numbers are up over the previous month. There were 473,000 people employed in Saskatchewan on a seasonally adjusted basis in July 2001, up 2,700 from June 2001. This is the largest percentage job increase of any province. Saskatchewan has the third lowest unemployment rate in Canada at 6.2 per cent in July, compared to the national rate of 7.2 per cent. Regina has the second lowest rate among major Canadian cities at 4.9 per cent. (more)

The latest release of GrandMaster Suite incorporates a number of changes that make it even easier to use the program and perform your payroll tasks. Some recent changes to the program include:

• Two new reports have been added -- the Statistics Canada Report on earnings and the New Hires Report. These reports may be found under the Payroll - Reports submenu. The Statistics Canada Report provides a summary of earnings based on the selected date range and the employee's Statistics Canada Code (and Zone).
• Adjusted how the Employee Pay Statement report handled Gross Pay total amounts when they were defined to float (with no row specified). Previously, Gross Pay total amounts appeared above the earnings, instead of beneath. Note: If you were directed to specify a row from the Gross Pay amounts as a temporary work around, you should now remove that row definition and return the Gross Pay totals to floating status (once you install version v3.30.05).
• The Earnings Pay Rate report now displays employee level information. Previously, this report only provided Payroll level information.
• The Distribution Report now allows you to print the report based on a single distribution. Previously, you could only print all of the distribution tables (which could result in many unwanted pages).
• The Time Keeping module has been adjusted to better handle shifts that span midnight. Previously, if an employee punched out after midnight, then punched back in on the same shift, it would be treated as two shifts. The adjustment now treats this occurrence as the same shift.

Stay tuned to CanPay's Product News page to receive the latest information about all GrandMaster products!

If your organization produces paper-based pay cheques, you may be missing out on many of the benefits associated with the direct deposit approach. Simply defined, direct deposits allow a company to distribute each employee's pay amount directly to their bank account (via an Electronic Funds Transfer -- EFT). By eliminating the need to print and distribute the actual pay cheque, you need only to forward a pay stub to each employee.

Here are some reasons that you may consider if you are interested in moving towards the direct deposit approach for your organization:

Cost Savings - Direct deposits reduce the costs associated with traditional cheque printing and distribution:

• Cheque printing costs can be as high as .15 cents each. EFT transactions can cost less than .10 cents. Many banks will even let you perform EFTs based on a minimum charge ($45.00 to $50.00, usually negotiable) -- this method can save you even more if you produce a large number of cheques.
• Many banks apply a further charge per item to cash or clear each cheque. EFTs require no additional charges.
• You realize savings by no longer having to produce custom-made company cheques. That cost is replaced with a simple laser-copy of the employee's pay stub (removing the need for another special form). If you e-mail the pay stub, you can eliminate the paper cost altogether.
• You also remove the costs associated with having a payroll person manually distribute pay cheques to each employee.

Saves Time - Direct deposit is a great time saver, especially in larger companies where cheque distribution can easily take several hours. Once the EFT goes through, you need only distribute the employee's pay stub in their regular inter-office mail. As an employer, you also avoid the lunch-hour rush where your employees leave to deposit their pay (and the occasional late returnees afterward).

Employee Benefit - Direct deposit has become a popular benefit with employees. With on-line banking, ATMs and Interact so readily available, many employees rarely venture into their bank. Direct deposit provides your employees additional time to carry out their busy schedules. In today's competitive job market, it's good business sense to provide as many benefits as you can to your existing employees (also to potential new hires).

Flexible - Direct deposit is flexible and many financial institutions will tailor their services to suit individual company requirements. For example, if an employee has more than one bank account, you can ask your financial institution to deposit different amounts in each of their separate accounts.

Hassle Free - Direct deposit eliminates the problems associated with manual cheque creation. How many times have you been ready to produce your final cheque run, only to find that the printer is not working or unavailable? Or perhaps the network was down temporarily right when you need to send the final print job. These problems can be a thing of the past.

Once you decide to move towards the direct deposit approach, you need to ensure that your payroll processing software supports this feature. If it does not, you may wish to consider changing to a software product that allows you to take advantage of the benefits associated with Direct Deposit.

One such product is GrandMaster Suite from CanPay. Nearly half of all GrandMaster Suite users have chosen to use the EFT module (and this figure is growing). Click Here to learn more about GrandMaster Suite's EFT module.