1 User Guide UAE Wage Protection System January 2015
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Contents Disclaimer... i About UAE Wage Protection System... 1 Using the Wage Protection System... 3 Before you begin... 3 Entitling Users... 4 Entitling a User to Payment sets... 6 Using the File Upload service... 8 Submitting a payment file... 8 Using File Enquiry to view the status of the submitted file... 10 Using the Payments Service... 12 Creating a Wage Protection System Payment... 12 Authorising Wage Protection System Payments... 14 Authenticating your payment transaction... 17 Published: January 2015 i
About UAE Wage Protection System The Wages Protection System (WPS) is an electronic salary transfer system that allows institutions to pay workers wages via banks, bureaux de change, and financial institutions approved and authorised to provide the service. The system, developed by the Central Bank of the UAE, allows the Ministry of Labour to create a database that records wage payments in the private sector to guarantee the timely and full payment of agreed-upon wages. WPS targets the following parties from the Ministry partners: Workers: each and every individual who works in the private sector in return for agreed-upon wages and who has a labour card issued by the Ministry; Employers: whoever owns a company or institution registered with the Ministry and hires one or more workers in return for agreed-upon wages; Banks: the financial institution with which the employer has a bank account and is used to transfer the wages amount through WPS to the appointed agent to distribute to the labours. Agent: any bank, bureau de change, or financial institution approved and authorized by the Central Bank of the UAE to offer wages payment services via WPS. The Central Bank of the UAE will issue a regularly updated list showing names of approved and authorized agents. Joining WPS The company needs to be registered with the Ministry; The company should have a bank account with one of the banks operating in the UAE; The company should enter into contract with any bank, bureau de change or financial institution approved and authorized by the Central Bank of the UAE to provide the service. The two parties shall agree on any service fees and charges. Workers wages will be transferred via WPS by the deadlines specified in the Ministerial Resolution No. 788 of 2009. The institution will have to transfer workers' wages via WPS within two weeks of their due date, or on the dates specified in the work contract if wages are paid more frequently than monthly. The employer will be responsible for all expenses incurred upon joining WPS, including bank fees, service provider charges, and all other costs. Employers are not allowed to share any costs with workers' by any means, including deducting from their wages, directly or indirectly. Applying for WPS The company shall open an account with one of the banks operating in the country, in case it doesn t have one upon joining the WPS system; The company shall enter into contract with a WPS agent that is approved and authorized by the Central Bank of the UAE to provide this service, be it a bank, bureau de change, or a financial institution; The employer shall issue instructions to its bank to transfer wages to workers. Instructions shall be accompanied by a detailed wages list and a copy of the list shall be sent to the agent. Published: January 2015 1
The WPS will send workers' details and wages as well as the salary transfer instructions electronically to the Central Bank of the UAE, who will then forward those details to the Ministry of Labour database in order to make sure that the details received correspond with those registered with the Ministry; The WPS will send the approved information to the appointed agent in order to start paying the wages. Consequences of failing to join WPS Institutions failing to transfer workers' wages by the deadlines specified above will be denied the right to have new work permits. This ban will only be lifted in the month following the transfer of workers' wages in full. Institutions that delay wages payment more than one month of the due date will be denied the right to have new work permits, along with all institutions owned by the owner of the violating institution, and to refer all those responsible for the violation to the court, in accordance with Ministerial Resolution No. 788 of 2009. Whilst every care has been taken to describe WPS accurately, you should refer to the guidelines provided by the Labour Regulatory Authority for the latest information (http://www.mol.gov.ae/newmolgateway/english/wpsguidelineeng.aspx). Published: January 2015 2
Using the Wage Protection System As an HSBCnet customer, your organisation can meet the WPS regulatory requirement by paying your employees wages in one of two ways: File Upload service, or ACH Credit payment service Before you begin Before you can access and use these HSBCnet services, your System Administrator must entitle you to the following services: File Upload ACH Credit Debit accounts from which the wages will be paid Payment Set codes Authorisation rights to authorise such payments if your role in the organisation requires it For detailed information on how to entitle a User, please refer to the System Administration: User Entitlement User Guide in the HSBCnet Help Centre. Published: January 2015 3
Entitling Users To entitle a User to create ACH Credit Payments for UAE Wage Protection System, complete the following steps: 1. From your HSBCnet personal page choose the User and Account Management tab to access the User Management service. Modify User Access Level link in User and Account Management service 2. Select the Modify User Access Level link in the User and Account Management service. 3. Authenticate yourself using your Security Device or Smart Card. 4. Next, use the Quick Filter to locate and select the User you wish to entitle from the Search Results. Search User Feature 5. From the Maintain Access Control Details page, entitle the User to create ACH Credit Payments (highlighted in the Figure below) by selecting the link in the action column. Published: January 2015 4
ACH Credit Entitlement Link 6. Select the desired entitlements on the page. If the User is allowed to authorise payments specify the Daily Authorisation Limit on this page. Then choose Confirm. Published: January 2015 5
ACH Credit Entitlement page with link to Payment Set Codes Entitling a User to Payment sets If your company has set up ACH payment sets on an account (through either your HSBC branch or local HSBCnet Representative), an arrow indicates access to payment-set entitlements. To access paymentset entitlements, select the arrow, and choose Change. ACH Credit Payment Sets entitlement Change option Published: January 2015 6
Payment-set entitlements appear in a sub details page. Entitle ACH payment-set entitlements for the User in the same manner as for account-level ACH entitlements by selecting the relevant check boxes. a. First entitle the User to Prepare using restricted templates or Prepare (includes Prepare using restricted templates). b. In the next section, the available options are Enquire, Authorise, or Authorise restricted template payments only. Each of these have further options to entitle the User to Summary level or Detail level access for each payment set. Choose Confirm to proceed. View ACH Credit Code Set entitlements page 7. Select Proceed after required entitlements are completed. 8. On the Access Control Details page that appears, review the entitlement changes. If correct choose Submit. To change any entitlement, select Back to return to the previous page. 9. An acknowledgement confirms your action. If your company follows Dual Authorisation Control, another System Administrator with authorise rights must approve the entitlement changes before the User can access these services. Published: January 2015 7
Using the File Upload service You can submit a payment file using the File upload service. To be able to use this service, ensure that: You have the required entitlements (set up by your System Administrator) The payment file is already created in a Bank approved format You have your Security Device or Smart Card available to authenticate yourself Submitting a payment file To submit a payment file using the File Upload service, complete the following steps: 1. Access the File upload service under the Reports and Files tab. File Upload service under the Reports and Files tab 2. In the File Upload service, In the File Types field, select ACH Credits from the available options in the drop-down list. In the File Formats field, select Salary Information File (SIF) or ifile or MEA BASIC Format depending on the format of your WPS file. Please refer to the Message Implementation Guides for further details on the file format. You can access the SIF Message Implementation Guide or ifile Message Implementation Guide using the search feature of the HSBCnet Help Centre. For MEA BASIC Format Message Implementation Guide, please contact your HSBC Client Integration Manager. In the Auth Levels field, select the level of authorisation at which you want to upload the file. Your options are Pre-Auth, FLA (details), FLA (summary), and ILA. The location option is not applicable as only domestic ACH Credit payment is allowed. Published: January 2015 8
File Upload service with WPS options selected - example 3. Select Browse to locate and select the file on your computer or server. 4. Next, choose Authenticate to proceed.(for Security Device Users only) 5. The File Authentication page appears. To proceed, follow the on-screen instructions to authenticate yourself using your Smart Card or Security Device. 6. Select Submit again to complete the file upload process. Select Submit after file authentication 7. The system displays a File Upload Confirmation. Published: January 2015 9
File upload confirmation Using File Enquiry to view the status of the submitted file 8. Use the Reports and Files Download service or the File Enquiry service to determine the status of the file you have just uploaded. Choose the Payment link in the File Enquiry service. Depending on the file s authorisation level, it may require authorisation by an entitled User before being processed by the Bank. File Enquiry Service 9. The File Summary page appears. Choose Payments under the Pending Authorisation tab to view a list of payments pending authorisation. File Summary Pending Authorisation Files. File Summary Pending Authorisation files list Published: January 2015 10
10. In the Status column, select the Pending authorisation link to view the Activity Log Summary of the transaction. Further details for each activity are available when you select the Activity date/time link. Activity Log Summary Note: For detailed information on File Enquiry and File Authorisation refer to the File Upload User Guide in the HSBCnet Help Centre. Published: January 2015 11
Using the Payments Service Creating a Wage Protection System Payment You can create a Wage Protection System Payment in one of two ways: Create a one-time payment instruction using the Create Payment Instruction service, or Create an instruction using an existing template from the Template Summary service 1. Access the Create Payment Instruction service from the Payments and Transfers tab, or another customised location on your personal page. 2. In Payment type, select ACH Credits. 3. In the Sub-payment type, choose Wages Protection System Payments. 4. In Debit/Credit account, choose the debit account on which the payment will be drawn. 5. Select Create payment instruction. The ACH Credit payment form appears. Create New WPS Payment 6. In the Instruction Details section of the form, enter the Establishment ID. The Debit account you selected in step 4 is displayed in the Debit account number field. (Mandatory fields are marked with an asterisk (*). Published: January 2015 12
Create new ACH Credits Wage Protection System Payments form 7. Next, enter a Payment Set code or select the Search button to choose one from a list. Payment Set Code selection 8. In the Employee details section, complete all mandatory fields and any optional fields. Optionally, choose the Add advice button to add additional information for the beneficiary. 9. If you wish to add payment information for another employee, select Add another employee and repeat the previous steps. If you are finished, choose Submit. 10. An acknowledgement confirms your submission. The new status of the instruction is Pending authorisation requiring additional approvals. Published: January 2015 13
Acknowledgement Authorising Wage Protection System Payments Use the Authorisation Summary service to authorise, return for repair or cancel instructions. Payment authorisation begins from the point when HSBCnet Payments service receives a valid payment instruction and now that instruction is ready to be authorised. The number refers to items pending for authorisation at the customer level. At the User level, items may be fewer depending on accounts you are authorised to pay. 1. From the Authorisation Summary service, select the number link under Instruction column for ACH payment type. Payment Authorisation Summary Published: January 2015 14
2. Re-authenticate yourself using your Security Device or Smart Card. The Authorisation Summary for Payments pending authorisation appears. ACH Pending Authorisation summary 3. You have three options to authorise pending instructions: a. To authorise more than one item on the page, choose Select all or select individual check boxes of desired items. Choose Authorise selected to collectively authorise selections, or b. Choose Authorise selected one by one to individually authorise each item. To authorise instructions one by one, do the following: Select Authorise and view next to authorise the current item and proceed to the next item, or Select Skip and view next to do nothing to the current item and proceed to the next item, and Repeat step to authorise items on subsequent pages. To authorise an individual item, choose Authorise, Send to repair or Reject from the Action arrow. 4. Select the link in the amount link to proceed. The ACH Payment details page appears. Review the payment details and choose Authorise when finished. Published: January 2015 15
ACH Credit Payment Authorisation - Details page 5. An acknowledgement confirms your action. ACH Credit Authorisation Acknowledgement Published: January 2015 16
6. Select the link in the Instruction reference column to view the payment details with the revised status. You can also view the payment activity from this page. ACH Credit Payment Details View payment activity option Authenticating your payment transaction You are required to digitally authenticate your payment transactions using your Security Device when creating or repairing certain types of payments. Follow the on-screen instructions to authenticate yourself. Note: Payment transaction authentication only applies to Users who have been allocated the new Security Device. Published: January 2015 17
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