When employees are on leave, Workspace and Pay admins will receive an email notification every pay period that their pay file is ready for download in the Documents tab of their dashboard. Cocoon’s software calculates what employees are owed during their leave but employers are responsible for running payroll.
When you open Cocoon’s pay file, you’ll see some columns in yellow and some in blue. The columns in yellow give a high level overview of what makes up an employee’s leave pay amount for that pay period, and the other columns in blue provide further information about the employee and specific payroll calculations. The blue columns are for reference, and you’ll just need to focus on the yellow columns to make sure your employees are paid correctly. Here’s what you need to know about the most important columns in the pay file:
‘Rippling Emp No’ or ‘Employee ID’ (Column A)
The Rippling Emp No or Employee ID is your employee’s unique payroll identification number. This ensures that the correct pay amounts are given to the right employee. In order for Cocoon to include a payroll ID in your pay file, you must include the employee ID in the census file you provide to Cocoon.
Full Name (Column B)
Employees full name as entered when planning their Cocoon leave
Salary column (Column C)
The Salary column shows your company's regular pay obligation to the employee for days in the pay period which the employee worked. If there are no regular pay days in the period, the salary column may not populate in that pay period file.
Paid LOA column (Column D)
The Paid LOA column shows your company's total leave pay obligation to the employee. This is leave pay less any deductions received from the state and/or private disability provider.
Now that you know what each column represents, let’s take a look at some example files:
Scenario: an employee goes on leave in the middle of a pay period and is eligible for benefits
Claire is an employee that’s taking a birthing parent parental leave which begins in the middle of a pay period.
The Salary column shows the amount owed for regular wages earned for days in the period the employee was at work.
The Paid LOA column is based on Katie’s hourly rate and the number of hours they were on leave; therefore, they should be paid $2,804.28 in leave pay. This amount is net of any benefits they are eligible for from other benefit sources (state disability and paid family leave programs and/or private disability).
In this example, Claire’s employer uses a semi-monthly pay schedule with dates 5/16/23 - 5/31/2023 and a pro-rated pay method of assigning 8 hours to any regular day of work, and any remaining hours for the pay period are attributed to leave pay. Therefore, Claire’s ‘Paid LOA’ is calculated as follows:
Total hours in semi-monthly period = | 86.67 total pay period hours |
Total hours Claire earned regular pay in this pay period: 8 hours * 4 days = | 32 regular pay hours |
Total hours attributable to leave pay: 86.67 total pay period hours - 32 regular pay hours = | 54.67 leave pay hours |
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Claire’s annual salary = | $122,000 |
Claire’s hourly rate = $122,000/2,080 work hours in a calendar year = | $58.65 hourly rate |
Claire’s pay per period = $122,000/24 = | $5,083.33 |
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Claire’s total ‘Salary’ is = $58.65 hourly rate * 32 leave pay hours = | $1,876.85 employer salary pay |
Claire’s total ‘Paid LOA’ is = $58.65 hourly rate * 54.67 leave pay hours = | $3,206.48 employer leave pay |
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Claire’s gross pay for the period is = Salary + Paid LOA, respectively, $5,083.33 = | $1,876.85 + $3,206.48 |
Total hours in semi-monthly period = 86.67 total pay period hours Total hours Claire earned regular pay in this pay period: 8 hours * 4 days = 32 regular pay hours Total hours attributable to leave pay: 86.67 total pay period hours - 32 regular pay hours = 54.67 leave pay hours
Claire’s annual salary = $122,000 Claire’s hourly rate = $122,000/2,080 work hours in a calendar year = $58.65 hourly rate Claire’s pay per period = $122,000/24 = $5,083.33
Claire’s total ‘Salary’ is = $58.65 hourly rate * 32 leave pay hours = $1,876.85 employer salary pay Claire’s total ‘Paid LOA’ is = $58.65 hourly rate * 54.67 leave pay hours = $3,206.48 employer leave pay
Claire’s gross pay for the period is = Salary + Paid LOA, respectively,
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Since Claire is eligible for benefits from her state disability and paid family leave program, as well as private disability, Cocoon has reduced Claire’s ‘Paid LOA’ by her estimated benefits received and therefore is showing a total ‘Paid LOA’ for this pay period of $2,804.28
Scenario: an employee is on leave on the first date of the pay period and is eligible for benefits
Katie is an employee that’s taking a birthing parent parental leave which begins at the start of the pay period.
The Paid LOA column is based on Katie’s hourly rate and the number of hours they were on leave; therefore, they should be paid $5,995.38 in leave pay. This amount is net of any benefits they are eligible for from other benefit sources (state disability and paid family leave programs and/or private disability).
In this example, Katie’s employer uses a bi-monthly pay schedule. For bi-weekly pay schedules, Cocoon allocates 8 hours for each working day in the pay period, regardless of whether it is a leave day or a regular pay day for which the employee is still at work. Therefore, Katie’s ‘Paid LOA’ is calculated as follows:
Total hours in semi-monthly period = 80.00 total pay period hours Total hours Katie earned regular pay in this pay period: 8 hours * 0 days = 0 regular pay hours Total hours attributable to leave pay: 80.00 total pay period hours - 0 regular pay hours = 80.00 leave pay hours
Katie’s annual salary = $198,000 Katie’s hourly rate = $198,000/2,080 work hours in a calendar year = $95.19 hourly rate Katie’s pay per period = $198,000/26 = $7,615.38
Therefore, Katie’s total leave pay = $95.19 hourly rate * 80.00 leave pay hours = $7,615.38 employer leave pay |
Since Katie is eligible for benefits from her state disability and paid family leave program, as well as private disability, Cocoon has reduced Katie’s employer leave by her estimated benefits received and therefore is showing a total leave pay for this pay period of $5,995.38
We’re excited to help your employees take leave and in order to ensure the best pay experience possible, we need your Payroll team’s help. Make sure you’re familiar with Cocoon’s payroll method and please review our additional pay resources.