The Your payments tab in your Cocoon Dashboard helps you understand how your pay is expected to work while you’re away from work. It shows estimated pay from your employer, state programs, and/or private insurance benefits, depending on what applies to your leave.
Leave pay can come from multiple sources, and those sources may pay at different times. Cocoon is designed to help you see the full picture, understand how your employer pay is calculated, and submit benefit payments if something needs to be reviewed.
Employer Pay
The Employer Pay section shows the gross pay your employer is expected to provide during each pay period of your leave.
You can toggle between:
Past pay periods: pay information that has already been submitted for your employer to process
Upcoming pay periods: estimated pay based on your current leave plan
These amounts are shown at a gross pay level. Your actual take-home pay may be different after taxes, withholdings, benefit premiums, or other deductions handled by your employer’s payroll system.
Cocoon calculates employer pay based on your leave timeline, your employer’s leave policy, your pay schedule, and the number of workdays in each pay period.
Depending on where you are in your leave, your employer pay may include:
Regular pay: pay for days you are working
Leave pay: pay for days you are on leave
Benefit deductions: estimated state and/or private insurance benefits that are accounted for in your employer pay
As you go out on leave, your pay may transition from regular pay to leave pay. When you return to work, it may transition back from leave pay to regular pay.
Why Cocoon shows benefit deductions
If you are expected to receive pay from a state program or private insurance carrier, Cocoon may account for those estimated benefits when calculating your employer pay.
This helps your employer avoid overpayment while still providing pay according to your employer’s leave policy.
A benefit deduction is not the same as a normal payroll deduction, like taxes, health insurance premiums, or 401(k) contributions. In Cocoon, benefit deductions represent estimated pay you may receive from another source, such as a state paid leave program or private disability insurance.
How total employer pay is calculated
Your total employer pay for a pay period is generally calculated as:
Leave pay + Regular pay - Benefit deductions = Total employer pay
For example:
If you are on leave for the full pay period, your Regular pay may be $0.
If you worked part of the pay period and were on leave for part of it, you may see both Regular pay and Leave pay.
If Cocoon estimates that you’ll receive benefits from a state program or insurance carrier, those estimated benefits may reduce the amount your employer pays for that period.
Why benefit payments may not match exact pay periods
State programs and private insurance carriers decide when and how they issue payments. Cocoon cannot guarentee the exact timing or amount of those payments before they are issued.
Because of this, Cocoon may show estimated benefits or deductions across your leave, but those amounts may not line up exactly with the date you receive a payment from a state or insurance provider.
In other words, Cocoon’s pay information is meant to help estimate and coordinate leave pay. It is not a guarantee of when an outside program or insurance carrier will issue payment.
What are adjustments?
Adjustments may appear when Cocoon needs to account for a change that affects a past or current pay period.
Adjustments can happen when:
Your leave dates change
Your leave timeline is updated
Your leave was submitted after a pay period had already been processed
Your employer updates your compensation
Your employer’s leave policy or an exception affects your pay.
Adjustments may move amounts between regular pay, leave pay, or unpaid leave. In some cases, an adjustment may change the amount your employer should pay. In other cases, it may simply reclassify the type of pay without changing the total. were applied with a note of which pay period the change corresponds with.
What if my pay looks different than expected?
There are a few common reasons your actual paycheck or benefit payment may look different from what you see in Cocoon:
Cocoon shows gross pay, while your paycheck or bank deposit may show net pay after taxes and deductions.
State or insurance benefit payments may be issued on a different schedule than Cocoon’s estimates.
Your leave timeline, claim status, salary, or employer policy may have changed.
Your employer may process payroll using additional information outside of Cocoon.
A state program or insurance carrier may approve a different benefit amount than originally estimated.
Cocoon estimates pay using rules and calculations based on applicable state programs, private insurance policies, employer policy information, and your leave details. However, state programs and private insurance carriers make the final determination about your benefit payments.
How to verify your benefit payments
If the amount you receive from a state program or private insurance carrier is different from what Cocoon estimated, you can submit your benefit payment information for review.
Cocoon’s benefit verification process allows our team to review documentation from your actual payment and update future pay calculations when applicable.
You should submit a benefit verification request if:
You received a state or insurance payment that is different from Cocoon’s estimate
Your claim was approved for a different amount than expected
Your claim was denied or delayed
You want Cocoon to review whether your benefit payments are being reflected correctly
After Cocoon reviews your submitted information, future employer pay estimates may update if your benefit rate or payment information changes.
Have questions? Please contact the Support team at: