Leave without pay transaction

A Leave without pay (LWOP) transaction has to be reported for all types of LWOP of two hours or more as they occur. This includes pensionable and non-pensionable leave as well as closed and open periods.

Report closed periods of LWOP if the period is six days or less with an Effective from date and Effective to date.

Report open periods of LWOP for an extended period (more than six days).

On this page

• Leave without pay Modifier code
• Commence Leave without pay for an open period (More than six days)
• Input Leave without pay for Less than six days
• Close existing Leave without pay (Stop)
• Delete existing Leave without pay posted to Penfax
• Change eeave without pay Reason Code with new Effective from date
• Amend Existing On-going Leave without pay Reason with Original Effective from date
• Amend Existing Leave without pay End date
• Maternity/Parental/Adoption/Care of child leave
• Rehabilitation leave

Leave without pay (LWOP) Modifier Code

The LWOP transaction can perform the following changes:

• Commence (modifier C)
• Stop (modifier S)
• Delete (modifier D)
• Amend (modifier A)

Commence Leave without pay for an open period (More than six days)

• Modifier code: C
  • LWOP Reason code: C (Illness and Disability)
  • Effective from date: 2010-10-04 – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • Effective to date: leave blank (to create an open period)

Do not report days or hours, Penfax will automatically calculate this.

Common input error: overlapping LWOP periods will reject in Penfax and often occurs when 2 different leave types are entered for the same day; be mindful of the AM/PM indicator.

Example 1

LWOP code “Absent - without pay” (non pensionable) is entered for 25-03-2014 01 to 25-03-2014 01 as 2 hrs of leave; in this case, the balance of the day needs to be under LWOP code “Other” (double rate) and often entered from 25-03-2014 01 to 25-03-2014 02. The AM/PM indicator is overlapping and therefore one transaction will post and the other will cause an error.

To prevent an error, the LWOP needs to be entered as “Absent - without pay” from 25-03-2014 01 to 25-03-2014 01 and from 25-03-2014 02 to 25-03-2014 02 as “Other” (not covered).

Example 2

LWOP transaction is completed with an Effective from date greater than the Effective to date, in error. For example: LWOP from 21-12-2013 to 10-01-2013 instead of 21-12-2013 to 10-01-2014. This scenario often happens the leave overlaps 2 years.

For a listing of LWOP reason codes, please refer to the Special Advice to Crown Corporations: 2010-003 Appendix A (under (LWOP) import file layout).

Input Leave without pay for less than six days

• Modifier code: C
  • LWOP Reason Code: C (Illness and Disability)
  • Effective from date: 2010-10-04 – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • Effective to date: 2010-10-06 – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • HD Indicator: H (Hours)
  • Number of H/D: 22.50

For a listing of LWOP reason codes, please refer to the Special Advice to Crown Corporations: 2010-003 Appendix A (under (LWOP) import file layout).

Close existing Leave without pay (Stop)

• Modifier code: S
  • LWOP Reason code: original reason code
  • Effective from date (start): original start date of leave
  • Effective to date (end): End date of leave

Do not report days or hours; the pension solution will calculate automatically.

Do not leave the “Effective from date” field blank. This will cause the system to default this date to the date that the entry was entered into the Pension system, which will cause an invalid transaction.

Delete existing Leave without pay posted to Penfax

To delete a LWOP, match the Effective from date of the existing LWOP.

Example

• Modifier code: D
  • LWOP Reason code: original reason code
  • Effective from date: original start date of leave
  • Effective to date: leave blank

Change Leave without pay reason code with new Effective from date

To amend an on-going LWOP Reason code, close the existing LWOP and then enter the next period of LWOP.

Example

Stop maternity leave with the appropriate end date in the Effective to date field. Then commence parental leave with the appropriate LWOP Reason Code and Effective from date subsequent to the previous leave.

Step 1

• Modifier code: S
  • LWOP Reason code: original reason code (K – Maternity leave)
  • Effective from date (start): original start date of leave
  • Effective to date (end): 2010-12-19 – AM/PM indicator (2)

Step 2

• Modifier code: C
  • LWOP Reason code: R (Parental LWOP within 52 weeks of birth or adoption)
  • Effective from date (start): 2010-12-20 – AM/PM indicator (2)
  • Effective to date (end): leave blank

For a listing of LWOP reason codes, please refer to the Special Advice to Crown Corporations: 2010-003 Appendix A (under (LWOP) import file layout).

Amend existing on-going Leave without pay reason with original Effective from date

The Modifier code A is used only to amend the Reason code, not the Effective from date or Effective to date.

Example

Employee was on sick LWOP (reason C code) but should have been on maternity LWOP (reason code K).

• Modifier code: A
  • LWOP Reason code: K (Maternity leave)
  • Effective from date: 2008-10-01 (mandatory, must match original date for the sick LWOP) – AM/PM indicator
  • Effective to date: leave blank

For a listing of LWOP reason codes, please refer to the Special Advice to Crown Corporations: 2010-003 Appendix A (under (LWOP) import file layout).

Amend existing Leave without pay End date

To amend an Effective to date for a LWOP period, first delete original LWOP and then create new one. The same transactions are required to amend an existing Effective from date.

Example

It was reported in the Data capture tool (DCT) that the employee was on sick LWOP (Reason Code C) from 2008-10-01 to 2008-10-15 but actually came back to work on 2008-10-13.

Step 1

• Modifier code: D
  • LWOP Reason code: C (Illness and Disability)
  • Effective from date: 2008-10-01 (mandatory, must match original date for sick LWOP) – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • Effective to date: 2008-10-15 (mandatory, must match original end date for sick LWOP) – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)

Step 2

• Modifier code: C
  • LWOP Reason code: C (Illness and Disability)
  • Effective from date: 2008-10-01 (mandatory) – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • Effective to date: 2008-10-12 – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)

For a listing of LWOP reason codes, please refer to the Special Advice to Crown Corporations: 2010-003 Appendix A (under (LWOP) import file layout).

Maternity/Parental/Adoption/Care of child leave

LWOP Reason code K (Maternity leave), R (Parental LWOP within 52 weeks of birth or adoption), S (Adopt leave (first 52 weeks)) and 5 (Parental < 52 wks (family/birth/adopt)) are respectively used for Maternity, Parental, Adoption Leave, and Care of Immediate Family leave that occurs within the 52 weeks of the birth or adoption of the child. In these cases, pension contributions will be costed at single rate.

LWOP Reason Code 3 is used for Parental leave that occurs beyond the 52 weeks of the birth or adoption of the child. In most cases, pension contributions will be costed at double rate.

The date of birth (DOB) or date of adoption (DOA) of the child is necessary to determine the fifty-two weeks allowed for leave within or beyond fifty-two weeks of the birth or adoption of a child.

For pension purposes, the date of birth or adoption of the child is critical to determine whether single rate or double rate of pension contributions is charged to the plan member for the period of leave. Report the date of birth or adoption of the child using the LWOP or the Status Change Transaction (STS) when the date is only known after the leave has commenced.

Example

Employee is on maternity leave without pay (Reason code K) starting December 12, 2010. The date of birth of the child is January 19, 2011 and is only reported on January 26, 2011.

Step 1 (Leave without pay transaction)

• Modifier code: C
  • LWOP Reason code: K (Maternity leave)
  • Effective from date: 2010-12-12 (mandatory) – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • Effective to date: leave blank

Step 2 (Status Change transaction)

• Effective from date: 2011-01-19 (mandatory) – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
• Effective to date: Leave Blank
• Child DOB/DOA: 2011-01-19

If the DOB of the child is only known at the end of the LWOP period, it can also be reported with the "stop" LWOP transaction:

• Modifier code: S
  • LWOP Reason code: K
  • Effective from date (start): 2010-12-12 – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • Effective to date (end): 2011-12-11 – AM/PM indicator (1 or 2)
  • Child DOB/DOA: 2011-01-19

Rehabilitation leave

Employees returning to work on an approved rehabilitation program (reduced hours) following a period of sick LWOP, continue to have the option not to pay current pension and Supplementary Death Benefit (SDB) contributions until they return to their regular scheduled hours of work.

Opting not to pay current pension and Supplementary death benefit (SDB) contributions during rehabilitation leave:

Pension Type 62 (Rehabilitation, education) and SDB code 4 (Premiums suspended, rehabilitation program) are used when an employee returns to work on a rehabilitation program following a period of sick LWOP and decides to defer his current pension and SDB contributions until he returns to his regular scheduled hours of work. By changing the Pension Type to 62 (Rehabilitation, education) and SDB code 4 (Premiums suspended, rehabilitation program), Penfax will not be looking for contributions to be posted. Days not worked during the rehabilitation program are not to be reported as LWOP and hours and salary need not be changed in the DCT. Once the employee returns to his regular scheduled hours of work, a PWGSC-TPSGC 140 (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) form needs to be sent to the Pension Centre to certify the from and to date of the rehabilitation period. The Pension Centre will then calculate the deficiencies on the full period of rehabilitation leave.

Example

Employee is on sick LWOP (reason code C) effective 2011-01-10:

LWOP transaction:

• Modifier code: C
  • LWOP Reason code: C (Illness and Disability)(mandatory)
  • Effective from date: 2011-01-10 (mandatory) – AM/PM indicator (1)
  • Effective to date: leave blank

Returned to work 2011-06-18 on a rehabilitation program working 3 days per week; made the option to defer paying pension and SDB contributions until he returns to his regular scheduled hours of work

Step 1 (Leave without pay transaction)

• Modifier code: S
  • LWOP Reason code: C
  • Effective from date (start): 2011-01-10
  • Effective to date (end): 2011-06-17 – AM/PM indicator (1)

Step 2 (Status Change transaction) for rehabilitation leave

• STS transaction (change pension type from 01 to 62 and SDB code from 1 to 4):
  • Effective from date: 2011-06-18 – AM/PM indicator (1)
  • Effective to date: leave blank
  • SDB: 4 (premium suspended, rehabilitation program)
  • Pension type: 62 (Rehabilitation, education)

Returns to full time hours effective 2011-08-06

• STS transaction (change pension type from 62 (Rehabilitation, education) to 01 (<35 years (Assigned Work Week (AWW) ≥12 hours)) and SDB code from 4 to 1)
  • Effective from date: 2011-06-18 – AM/PM indicator (1)
  • Effective to date: leave blank
  • SDB code: 1 (Eligible)
    
  • Pension type: 01 (<35 years (AWW ≥12 hours))

Opting to continue paying his current pension and Supplementary Death Benefit contributions during rehabilitation leave

If an employee opts to pay his current pension and SDB contributions during his rehabilitation leave, there are no changes to be done on the employees account. A PWGSC-TPSGC 140 (accessible only on the Government of Canada network) form is not required and days not worked during the rehabilitation program are not to be reported as LWOP. Current pension and SDB contributions for the full period should be collected.

It is recommended that the member opt not to pay current pension and SDB contributions during rehabilitation leave. The Pension Centre will calculate the deficiencies on the full period of rehabilitation leave. This will avoid deficiencies to be collected twice from the member (by the Employer and the Pension Centre).