HRMG Blog – Sage Abra Payroll, HR, & Timekeeping News

The purpose of this communication is to provide important information to customers who are upgrading to v7.80, and whose employer Bank Account number contains more than 12 digits.

Previous to version 7.8, Employer bank account numbers up to 15 characters were displayed at the bottom of the check in the MICR line. New ANSI specifications allow for up to a 15-character number in the account number field. With the upgrade to Abra Suite v 7.8, the last 3 characters of the account number may be truncated for customers using Blank check stock.

A patch is available from Support Plus Online, which will allow the full 15 characters to display. This patch is only for customers using Blank Check Stock whose company bank account number is greater than 12 digits. If customers are using Custom Payment forms and blank stock, they will need to install the patch and recreate their Custom Payment forms.

To obtain the patch, please visit the SupportPlus Online at www.sagespecialized.com/support.

• Log in with your user id and password.
• Select the US Sage Abra HRMS Products button.
• Click on Product and Documentation, Sage Abra Suite 7.x and select the “12164 ANSI MICR for Custom & Blank Checks Truncating v 7.8x” patch to download.
• Unzip the patch and follow the steps outlined in the Readme.txt file.

For any Pay Group using a custom check payment form, a new custom form will need to be created and that custom form must be selected under Payroll > Rules > Pay Group Setup. Select Employer and detail the Pay Group(s). Click on the Forms tab and select the new Custom Payment Form for Check Stock.

NOTE: For customers using Pre-printed Check Stock, the ANSI changes are not included in v7.8 in order to allow customers to use up existing stock and order ANSI-compliant stock before applying the changes. When ready to begin using ANSI-compliant pre-printed stock, a patch file is waiting on Support Plus Online called, “ANSI Preprinted Check Compliance ? 11838.”

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This past weekend, Symantec posted an update to its popular Norton Antivirus software that caused direct issues with Abra software. If you have Norton and Abra, you may have experienced the following error when attempting to log into Abra:

LOGON line 50 API Library is not found.   Error 1726

The update has incorrectly identified an Abra file (AFWREG.FLL) as Trojan Horse and removed it from the Abra program.  This file is NOT infected.  Anti-virus companies now have to go much further to protect against malicious programs, and occasionally this will impact existing safe programs. Symantec has been contacted to correct this condition.

Meanwhile, Customers should create a Central Exception for the Abra Programs directory within their Symantec settings, then restore the files from quarantine.  The file identified is:  AFWREG.FLL.

Specific instructions for central exceptions are found on Symantec website

http://service1.symantec.com/SUPPORT/ent-security.nsf/docid/2008030423280248?OpenDocument&ExpandSection=1

Stay tuned to Support Plus Online knowledgebase for further updates, and contact Sage Customer Support at 800-829-0170 or via email at abratechsupport@sage.com for further assistance as needed.

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As news and questions increase on the H1N1 Flu (aka Swine Flu), many companies are developing/reviewing policies for the potential outbreak. Here are a few important websites that provide pertinent and up-to-date information on H1N1:

CDC Guide for Businesses – Guide for businesses to plan/respond to flu season

Flu.gov Business Guide – Employer/employee guides, critical infrastructure guide, checklists

WHO News Feed – World Health Organization RSS News Feed with updates on H1N1

PA Dept. of Health – Webinars on H1N1, Pennsylvania case counts

H1N1 Vaccine FAQ

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You can now view the recorded Paycard webinar by visiting this page:
Saving on Payroll Costs and Going Green with Paycards – Recorded HR Webcast

See more of our recorded webcasts

Give me a call or email back to info [at] hrmgsolutions.com with any questions.

Phone:  610-941-2176

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Saving on Payroll Costs and Going Green with Paycards
To Listen to the Recording: http://www.hrmgsolutions.com/recorded-webcast-payroll-paycards.asp

Date: Thursday, July 30

Time: 11 am (Eastern Daylight Time)

Duration: 1 hour

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This is a friendly reminder that both Federal minimum wage increases this month, effective July 24, 2009. This increase will affect many state minimum wages, including Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Delaware, to name a few.  The new Federal rate is $7.25 per hour.

The new PA state minimum wage is also $7.25/hour. Their Minimum Wage Law Poster can be found at the PA Department of Labor & Industry site. For a list of other state minimum wages, click the map below.

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Go Fly A Kite!
My wife and I spent our summer vacation in Ocean City, Maryland. We stayed at the Quay Condominiums in the north end of town, nice place.

The weather wasn’t very sunny except for 1 or 2 days.  As an experienced kite flier the cloudy days presented me with some awesome wind.  I really enjoyed the food – All You Can Eat Crabs at Higgins!  If you ever go to OC please stop in at the SeaSide Deli and tell ‘em Erv sent ya! They have the best subs in town.

We did the obligatory boardwalk strut a few hundred times, pigging out on boardwalk fries- yummy, checking out the latest beach fashions, and most important of all, kite flying. I have a few stunt kites, kites with dual lines that do tricks, and got to spend a lot of hours on the beach with them. I even did a few night time flights with glow sticks attached to my stunt kites.

The following pics are of my 9′ delta kite. It has 2- 50′ side streamers and a 5′ rainbow twister tail.

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Following a group of other states, Pennsylvania Gov. Rendell signed into law Act 2 of 2009, also known as Mini-COBRA. This law extends health coverage to employees who work for companies under 20 employees.  Key provisions to this law:

• This law goes into effect July 10, 2009
• Applies to employers with less than twenty employees
• Provides benefit continuation coverage for a period of nine months
• Applies only to insured group major medical, hospital or surgical policies
• Permits an employer to charge up to 105% of the of the group rate of the insurance being continued
• Individuals who elect Pennsylvania Mini-COBRA may be eligible for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) premium assistance. This translates to a 65 percent reduction in COBRA premiums for a qualifying employee under the ARRA.
• This is a permanent law, unlike ARRA which expires December 31, 2009.

For more information on Mini-COBRA, visit the Insurance Department for the Commonweath of Pennsylvania

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The Healthy Families Act (HFA) has been introduced in the both the House (H.R. 2460) and Senate (S. 1152).  Sponsored by Representative Rosa DeLauro (D-CT) and Senator Edward Kennedy (D-MA), the bill would require employers with 15 or more employees to provide employees with up to 56 hours of paid sick leave. Leave would be accrued at one hour for every 30 hours worked.

Under the Act, paid sick time can be used for the employee’s own needs or to care for a child, parent, spouse, or any other blood relative. An employee begins accruing the sick leave at their start date and is able to begin using it after 60 days. The leave would not be able to be counted under an employer’s absence control or no-fault attendance policy.

While many Democrats and President Obama are for this Act, Republicans have voiced their opposition. SHRM has also spoken out against the Act, and you can read their position here.

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From Sage Abra Software and HRMG Solutions: http://www.hrmgsolutions.com/whitepapers/new-rules-for-cobra.pdf

The article contains several useful addresses for webcasts and information from the Department of Labor and the IRS

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