Payroll: Employer Contributions – Push employer costs for benefits to payroll to simplify year-end W2 reporting

Send employer contributions to payroll automatically

Once your integration is live, Employee Navigator can send the employer's share of a benefit's cost to payroll every pay period, right alongside the employee deduction — using the employer memo code your payroll system already has. One mapping per plan, then it runs on its own.

Supported today, and what isn't

We exchange the employer memo codes payroll uses solely to track the employer's contribution to certain benefit types on a per-pay-period basis.

Supported

Employer memo codes for benefit types such as, but not limited to:

ER cost of Medical

ER cost of Dental

ER cost of Vision

ER cost of Hospital Indemnity when the employee pays pre-tax

Not supported by EN or our partners at this time

Employer HSA contributions

Employer Group Life , Group AD&D or combined Group Life/AD&D plans

Employees with imputed income or domestic partners

Employer contributions for Commuter benefits

You can still map codes for these benefit types for reporting inside Employee Navigator — but no data is sent to payroll for them.

Two rules that protect the next payroll run

Mapping the wrong code here changes what happens on real paychecks. These rules exist because the fix is time-sensitive for both the partner and the HR admin.

Never map a true "Earning" code

An earning code adds wages to an employee's check . Mapping one as an employer contribution creates significant issues that directly impact the payrolls processed afterward. Only memo codes that track the employer's cost belong here. When in doubt, ask HR.

Download: ER codes that should never be mapped (.xlsx)

HR or the client's payroll admin maps these — not the broker

A broker should not map ER codes on a customer's behalf. HR or a client payroll admin should do it, because they're the only ones who truly know what each code represents in payroll.

Questions about managing employer contributions go to the partner's support team — contacts are in All supported partners .

Map one plan's employer code in four steps

Once your questions are settled with the partner (or with Employee Navigator's Payroll team if needed), here's how to add the exchange of your employer Medical contribution. Click through the demo — every highlighted control works.

Payroll Codes

Employer Codes

Code

Pre-Tax

Post-Tax

ER

Employee

MDCL

Click the "Refresh Codes" button to get an up-to-date list from your Payroll platform.

Code

Name

Type

MDCL

MEDICAL INS

Deduction

DNTL

DENTAL INS

Deduction

VISN

VISION INS

Deduction

ERMED

Employer Cost of Healthcare

Employer Contribution

ERDEN

Employer Cost of Dental

Employer Contribution

BONUS

Bonus Pay

Earning

REG

Regular Earnings

Earning

Pre-tax Deduction Code Required

Post-tax Deduction Code Optional

Employer Contribution Code Optional

Plan Level Codes

MDCL - MEDICAL INS

Add if needed

Employee Navigator will automatically send all employer costs for 2026 WellNet EPO Base 5000 Plan to Paylocity using ERMED , for every enrolled employee, starting now.

The same four steps, written out

Go to your Payroll tab . On the Payroll Codes card, click your payroll group (for example Weekly ) to open Payroll Code Settings .

Click Refresh Codes , then Refresh Codes again inside the Available Vendor Payroll Codes panel so the newest codes from payroll are available.

Click the edit pencil on your Medical plan. Under Apply Codes , HR chooses the correct ER memo code in the Employer Contribution Code dropdown.

Save . Employee Navigator shows a prompt confirming we're going to auto-send all employer costs for this plan to payroll → hit Confirm .

Common questions

1 Who should map the employer contribution codes?

HR or the client's payroll admin — they're the only ones who truly know what each code represents in payroll. A broker should not map ER codes on a customer's behalf.

2 What happens if I map a code for an unsupported benefit, like an HSA?

You can map codes for the unsupported benefit types (HSA, Group Life, and so on) for reporting purposes within Employee Navigator; however, no data is sent to payroll for them.

3 How do I tell a memo code from an earning code?

A memo code only tracks the employer's cost — it never changes the employee's pay. An earning code adds wages to the check. If a code's name or type isn't obviously a memo, ask HR or the partner's support team before mapping it, and check the ER codes that should never be mapped list.

4 When does the data start flowing?

As soon as you hit Confirm. Employee Navigator instantly writes and sends all employer contributions for that plan to payroll for any employees who are enrolled.

5 Who do I contact with questions about employer contributions?

Your payroll partner's support team — find them in All supported partners (fees, features & contacts) . Employee Navigator's Payroll team can help with the EN side of the mapping.