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Departments should plan ahead for extended holiday closing period

On December 2, all TEAMS employees and 12-month Academic Personnel will be credited with four personal leave days to be used during the period of December 26 to December 31 when the university is closed for the holidays. All non-essential TEAMS employees and 12-month Academic Personnel who are off during the holiday closing period should use their personal leave days during the holiday closing period.

In the spirit of the season, supervisors are encouraged to approve vacation leave requests, when possible, in addition to the university closing period.

UF vice presidents—working with their deans, directors, and department chairs—will determine which employees should be deemed “essential” personnel and are, therefore, required to work during this period. Essential 12-month Academic Personnel and TEAMS employees unable to use all or a portion of their four personal leave days during the scheduled period may use the personal leave days at another time from December 2, 2009, through June 30, 2010.

Essential personnel may use personal leave days in less than full-day increments. Therefore, if a designated essential 12-month Academic Personnel (excluding Post Doctoral associates) or a TEAMS employee is required to work part of a day from December 26 to 31, the hours remaining in that workday (when the employee is not at work) should be reported using the “DPL-270 December Personal Leave” time-reporting code (TRC). The employee will be able to use the unused portion of his or her personal leave day(s) before the end of the fiscal year, even though it may be in less than a full-day increment.

In keeping with past practice, in order to be eligible for any paid holidays, employees must be in pay status for a reasonable amount of time on their last scheduled workday before the holiday.

How to report the December Personal Leave days
12-month Academic Personnel and TEAMS exempt employees:
Non-essential TEAMS exempt employees and 12-month Academic Personnel will not need to report their personal leave days via the Weekly Elapsed Time screen.  However, by December 5, essential TEAMS or 12-month Academic Personnel (those who will be working during the holiday period) will need to report the number of hours to be worked and any personal leave days to be used between December 26 through 31. This will prevent the four personal leave days from automatically loading for December 26 through December 31. 

Reminder: Personal leave days for exempt employees will not require approval from December 5, 2008, through January 7, 2010. However, personal leave days for non-exempt employees will require approval.

TEAMS non-exempt employees:
All TEAMS non-exempt employees will report the personal leave days by using the “DPL-270 December Personal Leave” time reporting code through the Weekly Elapsed Time screen in the myUFL system.

USPS employees may be advanced vacation leave
USPS employees are not eligible for the four personal leave days, but they may be required to use vacation or accrued compensatory leave during the holiday closing period if a department chooses to close or upon supervisory request. In the event a USPS employee does not have vacation leave to cover the period, he or she may request that vacation leave be advanced to cover that absence, in which case the department is obligated to provide it. USPS employees also may use leave without pay, in keeping with University of Florida policy, during this time.

As in the past, USPS employees who wish to be advanced vacation leave during the holidays should report all vacation leave usage through Weekly Elapsed Time in the myUFL system in a timely manner, allowing their vacation leave balances to become negative. A negative vacation leave balance will be allowed December 26 through 31, 2009. The system will automatically disallow vacation leave usage after January 7, 2010, until the vacation leave balance is positive again.

Reporting 2009 paid holidays
Non- exempt employees must report the December 25 and January 1 holidays via the Weekly Elapsed screen using the “HOL” time reporting code. Exempt employees should only report the holidays if the schedule for the workweek in which the holiday falls has been otherwise altered.

If you have questions, please contact Leave Administration at (352) 392-2477 or central-leave@ufl.edu. Human Resource Services wishes you a joyous and safe holiday season!

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GatorGradCare enrollment for spring and summer is underway

Students may also adjust their current and dependent coverage during this enrollment period.  To make changes to current or dependent coverage, students should call the GA Benefits Office at (352) 392-0003 before January 30, 2010.

Even if a graduate student is unsure about his or her graduate assistantship status, he or she must complete the GatorGradCare enrollment by the January 30, 2010 deadline.  Eligible students are strongly encouraged to elect the spring/summer enrollment option.  With this option, UF is able to base the students’ summer coverage on their spring eligibility.  This means, as long as a student meets the eligibility criteria for GatorGradCare in the spring term, he or she can maintain continuous coverage throughout the summer.  This is only the case with the spring/summer option.

The GatorGradCare eligibility requirements, brochure, and other related information may be found on the GA Benefits section of HRS’s web site.  If you have any questions about GatorGradCare, please contact the GA Benefits office at (352) 392-0003.

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Online resources help demystify process of paying research participants

In essence, no procedures have changed. If the participant does not have an active appointment in HRMS in the myUFL system, the department should complete a UF research participant worksheet and forward it to addvendor. The department will then enter an unencumbered voucher through Accounts Payable to make the payment.

If the participant does have an active appointment in HRMS, a the participant should receive a lump-sum payment through Payroll.

If the participant is a foreign national, the department should complete a UF research participant worksheet, UF foreign national information form, and the IRS W8-BEN form and forward them to either addvendor or Tax Services. Tax Services will need to make a determination of the taxability of this type of payment. That decision will guide whether the participant is paid thru Accounts Payable or Payroll.

If you have questions, please contact UF Purchasing and Disbursement Services at (352) 392-1241.

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New E-Verify process requires employee verification within three days of hire

New hires must now be verified through E-Verify within three days after the hire date. An online system operated jointly by the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration (SSA), E-Verify enables participating employers to check the employment eligibility of new hires online by comparing information from an employee's Form I-9 against SSA and Department of Homeland Security databases.

Failure to comply with E-Verify could result in fines and loss of federal funding. Federal grants are excluded. Although the University of Florida has not received a federal contract covered by E-Verify to date, such a contract could be awarded at any time.  Human Resource Services is working with Contracts & Grants to monitor incoming contracts, and UF Bridges is developing a technical solution for both new hires and current employees.

Meanwhile, employees should continue to complete I-9 and new-hire paperwork within three days after the hire date.  This will help ensure the University stays compliant with E-Verify and I-9 requirements.  If you have questions, please contact Recruitment & Staffing at (352) 392-2477.

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New minimum for graduate students on appointments retroactive to August 16

The new 2009-10 minimum stipend will be adjusted retroactively to August 16, 2009.  The colleges and departments will fund the 2009-10 increases.  The new minimum stipend will be entered for the increase in salary for existing graduate assistants who are not at the new minimum and the retroactive payments will be processed.  Academic Personnel will work with staff in the affected departments to implement these changes over the next few weeks.

The 2009-2010 minimum salaries can be found on the HRS web site. Please contact Academic Personnel at (352) 392-2477 with any questions about the process.

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©2009 University of Florida Office of Human Resource Services
The InfoGator for Department Administrators is a monthly e-publication produced by the University of Florida’s Office of Human Resource Services. It is distributed electronically to UF faculty and staff and is available online. Please direct questions or comments to its editor, Angie Brown; Human Resource Services; P.O. Box 115006; (352) 392-4626; TDD 800-955-8771. The InfoGator is available in an alternative format upon request.