Zeal uses three values to designate the employment status of a W-2 Employee. These fields are Live, On leave, and Terminated.

Live: Designates that an employee is employed by the employer and consistently working.

On Leave: Designates that an employee is employed by the employer but not currently working. This status is often used by agricultural firms to assist in sorting through their workforce.

Terminated: Designates that an employee is no longer employed by the employer.

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Employee is marked Live or On Leave

Employee name starts to populate in filings: Employees are marked in filings in our infrastructure. Until an employee is marked as terminated, the employee will populate in filings. For example: In FL SUTA reports, the state asks for the Full Name, SSN, and other details about each employee. An employee’s name will populate on this filing.

New Hire Reporting is triggered: New Hire Reporting logic is set by a double-trigger action. First, an employee must be set to Live or On Leave in our system. Second, an employee must be paid their first paycheck. This is a double-trigger action that ensures that new hire reporting is accurately captured for reporting purposes.

Garnishment Responsibility is triggered: Garnishment agencies use a combination of new hire reporting data and unemployment filings data to track Employers that are employing a worker with a garnishment responsibility. 

A Start Date is Captured for Unemployment Claims: New Hire Reporting data is used by Unemployment agencies to capture the date in which an Employer is employing an employee. If an Employee files an Unemployment Claim with the Unemployment Agency, the agency will have the new hire date on file.

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Employee is marked as terminated

Employee name stops populating in filings: Employee names and details will stop appearing in filings for all reporting ranges in the future where an employee is marked as terminated.

Unemployment Claims Close Date is captured: The terminated effective date is used for record-keeping in unemployment claims management. 

Garnishment Offboard is triggered: The terminated effective date is used for record-keeping in garnishment agency correspondence. Typically Employers will contact their garnishment agent with the termination date in our payroll system, to notify the agency as soon as possible that the Employer is no longer responsible for remitting garnishment checks as the employee is no longer employed by the organization.

Terminated employees beyond a fiscal year will not receive an end-of-year report. If an employee was marked as live or on-leave in an earlier part of the fiscal year, and then is marked terminated they will receive an end-of-year W2. If an employee was always marked terminated for the entirety of a fiscal year they will not receive an end-of-year W2.

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Terminated to Live or On Leave

Moving an employee from terminated to live means this employer has re-hired this employee, and comes with the same compliance responsibilities as a new hire. As a point of caution, moving an employee repeatedly from terminated to live can trigger compliance issues with unemployment and garnishment agencies. New Hire Reporting forms will be re-sent each time an employee is marked from terminated to live. Filings will continue to showcase a difference in employees listed which also can flag compliance risks.

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How Zeal Charges

Zeal’s product charges for employees that are defined as still employed by the employer at any point in the calendar month, as they require inclusion in tax filings. These statuses are Live and On Leave. Zeal will not charge the Partner for terminated employees.

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