Cocoon payroll: benefit estimation method

During an employee’s leave, pay may come from a variety of sources. Depending on their location, leave type, and tenure this may include pay from their employer, Private Disability, State Disability, and State Paid Family Leave programs. These sources work together to ensure an employee receives full pay during their leave–meaning only a portion of their leave pay may come from their employer directly.

Cocoon’s software automatically identifies any claims an employee is eligible for and guides them from the submission process. Any applicable claims must be submitted in order for employees to receive full pay during leave. Coordinating across multiple income sources can be confusing, which is why Cocoon’s software automatically calculates how much each employee should be paid on leave.

Cocoon’s software will automatically estimate the amount of benefit payments that an employee will receive from state or disability programs based on their leave plan. These estimates are calculated from published daily rates and weekly benefit maximums from benefit programs. Employers will receive pay files for employees on leave with these estimates already applied, meaning employers will pay their employees less than usual during leave.

Once claims are submitted, it can take a few weeks for them to be approved and for benefits to pay out. Cocoon’s payroll calculations estimate the benefits an employee will receive throughout their entire leave so even when claims are still being processed, employees will see their employer pay take into account the benefit estimations from the beginning of their leave. Employees can view their payments breakdown in their dashboard from their Pay Tracker.

Once employees begin to receive pay they’ll be able to track their benefit payments. Tracking is important to make sure what Cocoon estimated is paid correctly to the employees.

Employees will still be able to view their employer pay during leave. Mind you these are estimates and subject to change.

When you have employees on leave, you’ll receive pay files from Cocoon in your Documents tab. Cocoon’s software calculates employee leave pay, but your company is responsible for running payroll.

Pay files across pay systems differ slightly. Before you process your first pay file from Cocoon, make sure you learn how to read the pay file for your company’s system here.