HRMS Message Archives

New Procedures

Completing I-9s and Tax Setup for New Foreign National Employees: Please review the revised procedures for Completing I-9s for New Foreign Nationals on the HRMS Instruction website. We have updated the process to ensure that payroll taxes are set up accurately for new foreign national employees. For questions, please email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647 or 800-756-2363).

Off-Cycle Checks

Direct Deposit of Off-Cycle Payroll Payments to Begin Monday, January 25: Payroll Services will be able to provide direct deposit of off-cycle payments starting Monday, January 25. For employees with direct deposit, off-cycle payments will now also be paid electronically. Employees who still receive paper paychecks will continue to receive off-cycle payments by a printed paper check mailed to them. You will see corresponding updates to the off-cycle request form that will be released on Sunday, January 24. We will provide more details, including a new off-cycle calendar, at tomorrow's HRMS Advisory Group meeting.

Resources

Furlough and Pay Reduction Program Queries Updated: The following Furlough and Pay Reduction Program queries available in the Reporting Center have been updated to reflect data from Period 2:

• UM Furlough Hours for Cvl Svc and LabRep
• Pay Reduction Program Hours for P&A and Faculty
• Pay Reduction Program Hours Scheduled in Excess of Available Balance
• Furlough Hours with Vacation, Personal Holiday or Comp Time Scheduling Prior to Furlough, for Civil Service and Labor Represented

Update

DHS Extends Form I-9 Flexibility: The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced an extension of the flexibility in complying with requirements related to Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, due to COVID-19. This temporary guidance was set to expire December 31. Because of ongoing precautions related to COVID-19, DHS has extended this policy an additional 30 days until January 31.

This provision only applies to employers and workplaces that are operating remotely. See the original news release for more information on how to obtain, remotely inspect, and retain copies of the identity and employment eligibility documents to complete Section 2 of Form I-9.

Remember that you can monitor which I-9s have been partially completed under this provision in I-9 Express by searching under Type of I9 for Covid-19 Virtual Update.

Furloughs/Pay Reductions

Furlough and Pay Reduction Program Period 2 Begins: Ken Horstman's email on December 16 provided thorough information on implementing Period 2 of the Furlough and Pay Reduction Program. A couple of reminders:

• While Furlough and Pay Reduction period hours can be used now, balances will be updated in MyU following the payroll close on Wednesday, December 23.
• Some excellent resources on the OHR website can help you address employee questions:
  • Main program web page
  • FAQ page
  • Furlough Program page
  • Pay Reduction Program page

COVID-19

COVID-Related Emergency Leave Extended: Starting January 1, full- and part-time employees will again have access to up to two weeks of University Emergency Paid Leave. Unused emergency leave from 2020 will not carry forward. Full-time employees will have 80 hours of University Emergency Paid Leave time available January 1, and those working part time will receive paid leave hours proportionate to the time they work.

The process to use the leave will stay the same in 2021. When requesting time off in the My Time tab of MyU (or the time-tracking system for the employee's unit), select the absence type "Excused Paid" and "Emergency Pandemic" as the reason. Hourly employees who do not use MyU or another online time-tracking system should report the University Emergency Paid Leave on their timesheet using "Emergency Pandemic Hourly" for the time reporting code. This web page provides detailed instructions on entering this leave.

If an employee has already used all their previous Emergency Paid Leave time, they can use other available leave (such as vacation days, comp time, or unpaid time off) until the new set of 80 hours is available January 1. Information on how to use this leave and combine it with sick leave, comp time, and short-term disability insurance if needed are available on the OHR website and in the University State of Emergency: Human Resources Implications.

Resources

New Dashboard Automatically Calculates Institutional Base Salary: With the start of Period 2 furloughs and pay reductions, some employees may have questions about how to find their institutional base salary (IBS), which determines their furloughs and pay reductions. OHR Operations has created a handy dashboard that can show each employee their unique IBS just by entering their employee ID number. The dashboard is also available in the Reporting Center. It displays an employee's total IBS and detailed pay information. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Compensation > Employee Institutional Base Salary for Furlough and Pay Reduction Program.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Departmental Transfers Out and University Terminations: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 31st in a continuing series of data dashboards—Departmental Transfers Out and University Terminations. The new dashboard provides a directional map of employee departures by HR department hierarchy now or at any time in history after April 2015. The dashboard can calculate external turnover, internal turnover, or both together.

The dashboard has enhanced security features that allow access only to HR professionals. If you can't view the dashboard and believe you should have access, please email ohr@umn.edu requesting access and explaining why it is required in your role.

The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Retention and Attrition > Departmental Transfers Out and University Terminations.

Correction

Update: Do Not Delete Future-Dated Benefits Row for Open Enrollment: Recently a 12/21/2020 Data Change/Benefits Use Only row was inserted into some employee records for Open Enrollment processing. Please do not delete this row, even if an employee is terminating before December 21. The row should remain for COBRA and rehire reasons.

Procedure Change

Upcoming Changes to Priority Hire Referral Process: Beginning December 21, priority hire candidates will opt in to qualifying job openings by submitting new applications instead of being routed automatically with their generic application. In the new process, priority hire candidates will be notified of qualifying job openings and given five days to apply. This allows these candidates to decide which openings they are interested in and tailor their application materials, like all other candidates, without risk of a turn-down. The job posting will continue to collect applications during these five days. If priority hire candidates apply, they will be screened and routed by seniority, as normal. From there, the process continues as usual, and departments will still be expected to contact and interview these candidates promptly. If no priority hire candidates apply, central recruiters will screen and route the other applicants, and hiring managers may move forward with the hiring process.

Update

State Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $10.08: As a reminder, Minnesota's minimum wage will increase by 0.8% to $10.08 an hour for large employers beginning January 1. The minimum wage is now $10 an hour. All University employees, including student workers, must be paid at or above this rate no later than January 1. The Office of Human Resources will process required pay increases centrally, using an effective date of December 21, 2020. These changes will appear on the January 13 paychecks. Also note: The salary floor for undergraduate student employees in the S3-01 salary admin plan and grade and the floor for workers in the C6-01 salary admin plan and grade will also be updated to the new minimum effective December 21. Finally, you will be emailed a report of all affected employees in your unit at the beginning of January.

Procedure Change

Upcoming Changes to Priority Hire Referral Process: Effective December 21, priority hire candidates will opt in to qualifying job openings by submitting new applications instead of being routed automatically with their generic application. In the new process, priority hire candidates will be notified of qualifying job openings and given five days to apply. This allows these candidates to decide which openings they are interested in and tailor their application materials, like all other candidates, without risk of a turn-down. The job posting will continue to collect applications during these five days. If priority hire candidates apply, they will be screened and routed by seniority, as normal. From there, the process continues as normal, and departments will still be expected to contact and interview these candidates in a timely manner. If no priority hire candidates apply, central recruiters will screen and route the other applicants, and hiring managers may move forward with the hiring process.

Procedure Change

Combo Code Now Required on Taxable Benefits Form: When reporting taxable benefits using the Taxable Benefit/Expense Reimbursement Reporting Form, you will now be required to submit a combo code. Here is the updated form (you may want to download it, as this link will expire in a few weeks). Please contact the Controller's Office at controller@umn.edu for questions about combo codes.

Employee Engagement

Online Access to Employee Engagement Reports Ends January 6: The University's access to the online system that houses Employee Engagement data will end on January 6. You will no longer be able to view and export engagement data after that date, so please export any reports you need before then. Log in to https://ee.ltd.umn.edu/ and use portal ID 4344. You will need your old password to log in. If you need your password reset, please email Susan.Baer@kornferry.com. (Please try logging in to the system before contacting Korn Ferry for a password reset.) Contact Marisa de la Rosa in LTD (delarosa@umn.edu) if you plan to export reports from the online system. The vendor will allocate more exports to you. Please allow three to five business days for additional exports to be added to your account.

OHR's Leadership and Talent Development (LTD) department is now exporting all direct and indirect staff and faculty reports from the system (except for Special Reports or Comments). If your unit's staff or faculty supervisors would like a report after January 6, they can email ee2@umn.edu. LTD will send their direct or indirect reports to them in three to five business days.

Resources

New HRMS Instruction Website Debuts Today: Be sure to check out OHR's all-new HRMS Instruction website, which goes live today with a redesigned look, new features, and improved searchability. The new version keeps the existing URL, so you don't need to update your favorites. The site is organized so visitors can easily find the information most relevant to them, based on their role: employees, supervisors, or HR professionals. Hundreds of instructional PDF job aids have now been turned into web pages, so they can be easily searched, bookmarked, and updated. Find the information you need with a prominent search bar, or click on a list of "A to Z Keywords" to go directly to a general topic.

The new site is the result of months of work by OHR's Training Services team, which has been working with an external vendor, end users, and a small pilot group on the redesign to make sure the site meets the needs of the people using it most. Take a few minutes to explore the new design and bookmark your most-used resources. Email Training Services at trngsvcs@umn.edu with questions or feedback.

Payroll Deductions

Benefit Deduction Date Change: Beginning January 1, 2021, benefit deductions will be taken in the pay period that the event takes place and not by paycheck date. The affected deductions will be medical, dental, all life insurance, voluntary short- and long-term disability, and flexible spending. The change does not affect retirement contributions.

Furloughs

Make Sure Employees Schedule Assigned Furlough Hours by December 7: Period 1 of the University's Furlough and Pay Reduction Program will end on December 20, which means all employees who were assigned furlough hours in June must take those hours by that date. Managers can view employees' furlough time in the same way they monitor other types of leave. In MyU, on the Manager Info page, they can click on the link "View Absence Balances." The page will show the absence balances for their employees, including furlough balances.

Employees must schedule their remaining Period 1 furlough hours by December 7, using the My Time tab in MyU (or the absence request system used by your department), and they must use those hours by December 20. If they have not scheduled all their furlough hours by December 7, the manager will need to schedule the hours for them and ensure they take the corresponding time off during the pay period of December 7–20.

Furloughs

Make Sure Employees Schedule Assigned Furlough Hours by December 7: Period 1 of the University's Furlough and Pay Reduction Program will end on December 20, which means all employees who were assigned furlough hours in June must take those hours by that date. Managers can view employees' furlough time in the same way they monitor other types of leave. In MyU, on the Manager Info page, they can click on the link "View Absence Balances." The page will show the absence balances for their employees, including furlough balances.

Employees must schedule their remaining Period 1 furlough hours by December 7, using the My Time tab in MyU (or the absence request system used by your department), and they must use those hours by December 20. If they have not scheduled all their furlough hours by December 7, the manager will need to schedule the hours for them and ensure they take the corresponding time off during the pay period of December 7–20.

Update

U.S. Extends Relaxed I-9 Requirements Till End of Year: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has extended its flexibility on inspecting I-9 employment eligibility documents to December 31. The guidance, which makes exceptions to the requirements for physically inspecting I-9 documents due to COVID-19, was set to expire November 19. The provision only applies to workplaces operating remotely. For now, you can continue to remotely inspect and retain copies of I-9 documents as you have been for the last several months. E-Verify participants who choose the remote inspection option should continue to follow current guidance and create cases for their new hires within three business days from the date of hire.

Resources

New HRMS Instruction Website Coming November 30: The HRMS Instruction website will have a brand-new look next Monday, November 30, when a new OHR Training Services site debuts with increased searchability, functionality, and usability. The new version will keep the existing URL, so you won't need to update your favorites. The Training Services team has been working with an external vendor, end users, and a small pilot group on the redesign to make sure the site meets the needs of the people using it most. More details will be coming as we get closer to the launch date.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Turnover: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 30th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee Turnover. The new dashboard provides annualized employee turnover rates across a specified time period by empl class, job category, pay group, workforce category, and HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015, to the current date. The dashboard can calculate external turnover, internal turnover, or both together.

The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Retention and Attrition > Employee Turnover. The dashboard has enhanced security that allows only HR professionals access to the information. If you can't view the dashboard but believe you should have access, please email ohr@umn.edu to request access, with an explanation of why it is required in your role.

Procedure Update

New and Updated I-9 Job Aids Released: Training Services has released a number of new and updated job aids on I-9 compliance that can be found on the Recently Updated Materials page of the HRMS Instruction website:

• Completing I-9s for Foreign Nationals
• I-9 Reverification for Foreign Nationals
• Completing I-9s Initiated Under the COVID-19-Related Relaxed Provisions: Physical Inspections of Employee Documents for Form I-9
• Completing I-9s after Expiration of the Relaxed Provisions

Procedure Update

Tentative Non-Confirmation Timeline Change and Ongoing I-9 Compliance: U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) has established a new rule that requires that Tentative Non-Confirmations (TNCs) must be referred within 10 federal government working days after E-Verify issued the TNC result. Be sure you are reviewing and addressing TNCs promptly.

As a reminder, to ensure I-9 compliance:

• Review the documentation of I-9s completed under USCIS relaxed provisions at your earliest opportunity.
• Complete photo-matching. There are many incomplete photo matches in the system. Remember to keep up with these regularly.

Resources

Supervisors Can Use MyU to Monitor Furloughs: Supervisors can monitor the use of furlough time by their employees in the same way they monitor other types of leave. In MyU, on the Manager Info page, managers will find a link to "View Absence Balances." The page will show the absence balances for their employees, including furlough balances.

Resources

New HRMS Instruction Website Coming November 30: The HRMS Instruction website will be getting a makeover on November 30, when a new OHR Training Services site debuts with increased searchability, functionality, and usability. The Training Services team has been working with an external vendor, end users, and a small pilot group on the redesign to make sure the site meets the needs of the people using it most. The new version will keep the existing URL, so you won't need to update your favorites. More details will be coming as we get closer to the launch date.

Furloughs/Pay Reductions

Make Sure Employees Have Scheduled All Furlough Hours by December 7: Period 1 of the University's Furlough and Pay Reduction Program will end on December 20, which means all employees who were assigned furlough hours in July must take those hours by that date. Units should be tracking the use of furlough hours and making sure all employees have scheduled their furloughs by December 7 and taken all their furlough hours by December 20.

To track your employees, use the query Furlough Hours for Cvl Svc and LabRep available in the Reporting Center. If employees have not scheduled all their furlough hours by December 7, units will need to schedule the hours for them by December 14.

Procedure Change

Direct Deposit of Off-Cycle Payments Coming in January: Payroll Services is working toward being able to pay off-cycle payments via direct deposit, which we expect to implement in early January. Currently, all off-cycle payments are issued with a paper check that, since the pandemic, is mailed to the employee. The change will allow us to issue that payment electronically to any employee who is normally paid by direct deposit (about 95% of all University employees). Look for more information on this soon.

COVID-19

Monitoring Use of Families First Coronavirus Relief Act Leave: We'd like to remind our HR colleagues of the limits related to FFCRA leave. In addition to the 80 hours of Employee Pandemic leave, employees are able to use an additional 80 hours of FFCRA leave. Both the University Emergency Leave and the FFCRA Emergency Leave are coded the same in the system. Employees using Provision 2 of the FFCRA to help care for children could potentially use more than 160 hours of this leave. Please use the Emergency Leaves Total Hours Query to monitor your employees' use of emergency leave.

I-9 Processing

Correction to I-9 Message from Last Week: Last week's item on uploading documents to I-9 Express for foreign national employees included the statement, "The University does not upload copies of documents for U.S. citizens." This was not entirely correct. The documents of U.S. citizens and permanent residents who produce a List A document (most often a U.S. passport or permanent resident card) will trigger a photo-matching step in eVerify. Documents that trigger the photo-matching step should be uploaded into I-9 Express.

Resources

HR Analytics Makes Improvements to 3 Dashboards: In response to requests from users, the HR Analytics team has made improvements to three Reporting Center dashboards. The Employee Hires and Transfers In and Employee Terminations and Transfers Out dashboards have both been enhanced with a new Workforce Category selection prompt field, and several new columns of detail have been added to the report:

• Institutional Email Address
• Position Number
• Position Title
• Workforce Category
• Annual Rate

In addition, the Workforce Actions dashboard has been enhanced to include three new columns of detail in the report accessed from the main dashboard.

• Position Number
• Position Title
• Annual Rate

All three dashboards continue to be protected with security features that allow only HR professionals access to the information. If you can't view the dashboards and believe you should have access, email ohr@umn.edu to request it and explain why it is required in your role.

To view the first two dashboards, in MyU navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Retention and Attrition and then choose Employee Hires and Transfers In or Employee Terminations and Transfers Out. To see the third dashboard, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Employee >Workforce Actions.

Records Update

Future-Dated Benefits Row Added to Some Employee Records: Last week a 12/21/2020 Data Change/Benefits Use Only row was inserted into some employee records for Open Enrollment processing. Please do not delete this row unless the employee is terminating before December 21.

Annual Audit

Audit of HRMS Security Roles Begins This Week: In our continuing effort to keep University data in HRMS safe and secure, OHR Operations is conducting an audit of our HRMS security roles across the University. Examples of the roles include hiring manager, position entry, appointment entry, unit time administrator, and so on.

On Wednesday, OHR Operations' Workforce Data Management team will be sending a spreadsheet of all the HRMS security roles to University departments for their review and updates. If there are changes, departments will be instructed to submit a Change of Employment Status (COES) form. For questions about the security audit, contact wfdmdq@umn.edu.

Job Application Update

Changes to Conflict of Interest Question for External Applications: Changes have been made to the conflict of interest question on external job applications. After attaching or completing their work history and education information, external applicants must respond yes or no to the following:

To the best of your knowledge, are either of these statements true?

1. I have a personal, business, or professional relationship with someone involved in hiring for this position (an interviewer, hiring official, or search committee member; do not include recruiters or acquaintances not involved in hiring).
2. In my current job or other professional capacity, I make decisions that affect the University.

Those who answer yes are still required to provide more information. Unit recruiters should continue to review and resolve any identified conflicts of interest for candidates brought in for interview or hired for faculty or staff positions, following the business process found here on the HRMS website.

Update

Job Opening Cleanup a Success: Thank you to units for all your work with the job opening cleanup. Your efforts led to 638 postings closed, encompassing 1,673 openings. Of the postings that remained, we found another 131 that could be closed, for a total of 1,804 openings cleaned up. We will be reviewing the remaining openings and contacting units with any concerns.

Resources

Recording of Meeting on I-9 Process Changes Now Online: If you missed last Thursday's meeting on I-9 process changes for foreign national employees, or if you would like to review the materials, a recording of the meeting and the presentation slides have been posted to the OHR Operations website. Click on the I-9 heading, then Resources, or follow this direct link.

Reminder

Enter Dates for Completed Background Checks: Remember to add the most recently completed background check date when entering a hire or transfer. Recent internal audits show that these entries are often being missed. For more information about these steps, please see the Appointment Entry: Hire Step by Step job aidp>

Procedure Change

Provisional Hires Process No Longer Needed: Background checks are now being processed with normal turnaround times. The process of using a provisional hiring form for positions delayed by background checks (originally outlined in the April 13 OHR Operations Update) is no longer necessary unless you are notified by a central recruiter. If we start to see delays again due to pandemic-related closures, we will reopen this process.

Procedure Change

Timeline for I-9 Process Changes for Foreign Nationals: Earlier this fall we proposed moving the processing of I-9s for foreign national employees to unit I-9 administrators and solicited your feedback. We'd now like this change to take effect with the pay period beginning Monday, October 26. We will release job aids before the change and schedule an online training for late next week. More details and links to the training will be coming soon.

Update

State Minimum Wage Increasing to $10.08: Minnesota's state minimum wage will increase to $10.08 an hour for large employers beginning January 1 from the current rate of $10.00 an hour. All employees, including student workers, must be paid at or above that rate. We will provide more information next month about the process the Office of Human Resources will follow to implement these mandated increases, but we want to make you aware now so you can assess the potential impact to your unit.

Resources

'Employee Outside Salary Grade Range' Dashboard Has Been Improved: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has made enhancements to the Reporting Center dashboard Employee Outside of Salary Grade Range. The dashboard now has options to include graduate assistants, professionals-in-training, and other PLH employees with a normalized hourly base rate and salary minimum/maximum. The changes do not affect results provided by the default parameters in the dashboard. The dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > HR Operational > HR/Benefits > Emp - Outside of Salary Grade Range.

Policy Update

University Decides Not to Implement Payroll Tax Holiday: Based on a variety of complex factors, the University will not be implementing the Social Security payroll tax holiday (IRS Notice 2020-65) at this time. The decision aligns with other Big 10 universities and local private industry. OHR will gather more details on the tax notice that may clarify the open issues and will report back to senior management.

Student Workers

Adjustment to Federal and State Work-Study Reimbursement: Changes to both federal and state work-study are waiving the institutional share/employer match for fall 2020. That means hours worked by students with a placed work-study award will be 100% reimbursed by that award. Units do not need to make any changes for this to occur. Campuses will be monitoring earning levels throughout the year and may adjust this reimbursement percentage midyear if spending becomes too high.

Work-Study Resources

• Review the Work-Study Placement Job Aid for help placing a student's work-study.
  • If the student has more than one position, contact your campus resource below and include the student's ID number and details on how the award should be split.

• Use the work-study reports in the Reporting Center to help monitor current student employees.
  • Employed Students with Unused Work Study Awards
  • Employed Students with Maxed Work Study Awards and Unmet Need

• Contact the following resources on your campus with work-study placement questions:
  • Crookston: umc-fa@umn.edu
  • Duluth: umdhr@d.umn.edu
  • Duluth (DMED): john2141@d.umn.edu or poste034@d.umn.edu
  • Duluth (Pharm): tkrause@d.umn.edu or lericks1@d.umn.edu
  • Morris: morrisfa@morris.umn.edu
  • Rochester: umrsempl@r.umn.edu
  • Twin Cities: stdtempl@umn.edu

Training

I-9 Process Changes: Training Thursday at 1:00 p.m.: Several complicating factors related to the pandemic have affected the I-9 process over the past six months. The federal government's relaxed provisions for verifying I-9 information are expected to expire on September 19. The fact that these relaxed rules have been extended month to month with little notice have made it hard to anticipate when we will be required to return to normal compliance rules and when we will need to complete I-9s initiated under the relaxed provisions. With these factors in mind, we'll be making some changes to the I-9 process, of particular consequence for foreign national employees:

• Beginning Sunday, September 20, the employing unit will be responsible for I-9 completion and compliance for their foreign national employees.
• We will ask units to alert Payroll Services when a foreign national is hired so we can work directly with the employee to collect the information needed to comply with foreign national tax requirements.
• We continue to urge units to complete the I-9s initiated during the USCIS relaxed provision period as soon as you can.

We will hold an online Zoom session this Thursday, September 17, at 1:00 p.m. to address these process changes in more detail and train I-9 administrators on factors unique to completing I-9s for foreign national employees. The session will be recorded and posted on the OHR website. We are also creating job aids on these process changes that will be shared at the session.

To join the online meeting, see the OHR Operations weekly update for September 14, or email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu, 612-624-8647, or 800-756-2363.

Resources

HR Analytics Releases 2 New Dashboards on Employee Hires and Terminations: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 30th and 31st in a continuing series of data dashboards:

• Employee Hires and Transfers In provides information on all employee hires or transfers in across a specified time period by employee class, job category, pay group, and HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015, to today.
• Employee Terminations and Transfers Out provides information on all employee terminations or transfers out in a specified time period by employee class, job category, pay group, and HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015, to the current date.

These dashboards are now available in the MyU Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Retention and Attrition. Then choose either Employee Hires and Transfers In or Employee Terminations and Transfers Out.

Both dashboards have enhanced security features that allow only HR professionals access to the information. If you can't view the dashboards but believe you should have access, email ohr@umn.edu to explain why it is required in your role.

Update

Biweekly Payroll Encumbrances Are Delayed: Due to system processing delays, biweekly payroll encumbrances processed on Wednesday night will not be available on financial reports until tomorrow, August 28. Payroll encumbrances on financial reports are current through Tuesday, August 25.

Data Entry Reminder

Contract Renewals: The 9-month contract renewals for UMTC and UMR will be run later this week. Please have the Return from Short Work Break rows entered into job data.

Data Entry Reminder

Furlough/Pay Reduction Time for 9- and 10-Month Faculty: Compensation will be pulling data for all P09/P10 fall appointments on Tuesday, August 25, to determine Furlough and Pay Reduction Program time amounts. Please ensure these appointments are entered by end of today (Monday, August 24). Pay Reduction Program hours will be loaded according to appointment start dates.

Reporting

Expanded Exception Reporting Coming: The HRMS Advisory Group, in partnership with OHR's Workforce Data Management, Payroll, and HRMS teams, is embarking on an effort to expand reporting for payroll exceptions. This exception reporting will improve data integrity and increase unit efficiency during the biweekly payroll review process. Expect to hear more about this effort in the coming weeks, including opportunities to become involved and support the project.

Resources

Reminder: New Web Page Outlines Fall I-9 Process: A recent OHR web page provides instructions on the I-9 process for foreign national employees this fall. Please review the web page for information on:

• The process for submitting documents
• Required forms
• Required visa documents
• How to get an I-94

Deadline

Enter 9- and 10-Month Appointment Data by August 24: As a reminder, all 9- and 10-month appointment data entry must be completed by the end of day on August 24. This data will be pulled on August 25 so the Furlough and Pay Reduction Program calculations can be completed for this group.

System Update

HRMS Not Quite Right This Morning? You May Have to Clear Your Cache: Because of system work over the weekend, HRMS users may have to clear their caches if processes don't seem to be working properly. Here is a brief tutorial on clearing caches in various browsers.

Resources

Background Check Video and Job Aid Now Online: The University recently transitioned to a new vendor, HireRight, to conduct background checks on new hires. A new job aid and video have been posted on the OHR website that provide instructions on how to initiate a background check, plus information about HireRight.

Procedure

How to Process Wire Transfers for Foreign National Employees Working Overseas: In anticipation of an increase in the need to pay foreign national employees working overseas due to the pandemic, Payroll Services has recently documented this process. The process should only be used for a foreign national employee who is working overseas and doesn't have a U.S.-based bank account. If you have employees in this situation, you should also submit the new form Notification of Employee Working Overseas to payforms@umn.edu.

I-9s

I-9 Compliance During COVID-19: Since March 20, USCIS has relaxed the rules on completing I-9s, allowing employers to review documents while not in the physical presence of the employee. The provision allowing this relaxed approach will expire on August 19. This presents two issues:

1. Completing I-9s Processed During the Relaxed Provision
   Employers who used the relaxed provision must complete the I-9 process by physically reviewing the necessary documents within three days of a return to normal operations. The review must be documented on the I-9, adding "documents physically examined" with the date of inspection to the Section 2 Additional Information field on the Form I-9, or to Section 3 as appropriate. The definition of "return to normal operations " has not been defined by the government. We recommend that units focus now on completing these I-9s before the fall rush begins. To help, we will be providing you with reports of the I-9s completed during this period. Keep in mind that, if the employee is working on site at all, the documentation can be reviewed and completed by a supervisor or colleague on paper and uploaded into I-9 Express. These I-9s could also be completed using the Remote Employee Form I-9 Process by establishing an authorized representative to review the documentation in person.
2. Completing I-9s After the Relaxed Provisions Expire
   Starting August 20, you will again be required to review I-9 documentation in the presence of the employee. Again, keep in mind that if the employee is in the physical presence of any other University employee, they can complete the I-9 on paper, including the review of documentation, and submit this to the unit's HR department to be uploaded into I-9 Express. Units can also use the Remote Employee Form I-9 Process.

Furlough/Pay Reduction Program

Furlough/Pay Reduction Time for 9- and 10-Month Faculty: Compensation will be pulling data for all P09/P10 fall appointments on Tuesday, August 25, to determine Furlough and Pay Reduction Program time amounts. Please ensure these appointments are entered by end of day on Monday, August 24. Pay Reduction Program hours will be loaded according to appointment start dates.

I-9s

Fall 2020 I-9 Verification Process for Foreign National Employees: I-9 verifications for foreign national employees will continue to take place remotely by contacting the OHR Contact Center. The Donhowe office will remain closed through the fall and will not be hosting walk-in sessions or taking in-person appointments in August for foreign national employees.

To process I-9 verifications promptly and remain in compliance with I-9 completion before or on the first day of employment, a new email address has been created where foreign national employees can send I-9 forms and visa documents: I9OHR@umn.edu. We have also created a new OHR web page, which provides more information about the I-9 process for foreign national employees this fall.

To ensure the I-9 verification is done in time, it is important that forms and documents be sent in as soon as possible. The OHR Contact Center is only able to process documents Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m to 3:00 p.m. If documents are sent on a weekend and the start date is the following Monday, the process will most likely not be completed in time. Incomplete forms and missing visa documents will delay processing.

The OHR Contact Center can also help with questions about forms and documents. Call 4-UOHR Option 2 or 612-624-8647.

RIO

Procedure for Employees Accepting Retirement Incentive Option: From August 17 through October 19, employees will have the opportunity to sign up for the University's Retirement Incentive Option (RIO) if they retire by January 15, 2021. For employees taking retirement, departments will enter a Retired with Benefits/Severance row in HRMS. Benefits will centrally update the record for the RIO.

Departments should follow the procedure outlined in the "Ending a Phased Retirement" section in the Phased Retirement Job Aid. The directions apply for all employees participating in the RIO—Faculty, P&A, Civil Service, and Labor Represented.

Furloughs

Review Furlough Requests: Please remember to use the query UM_PY_FURLOUGH_HRS_CS_LR - Furlough Hours Audit for CS&LR to review what furlough hours are in an employee's balance, what have been scheduled, and how many have been used. We have seen a few instances in which employees have requested more furlough hours than are in their balance. For example, an employee is scheduled for eight hours in a day, has seven hours of furlough, but submits a request for eight hours of furlough, taking the whole day off. This employee will go unpaid for eight hours. If they want to be paid for that eighth hour, they should request one hour of another type of absence to complete the day.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard Monitors Temporary/Casual Workers: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 26th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Temporary/Casual Assignment Analysis. This new dashboard reports temporary/casual appointment information and provides initial determinations on which temporary/casual employees are working more than 67 days a year or more than 14 hours a week. The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Employee > Temporary/Casual Assignment Analysis.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Positions UNS University Non-Service: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 25th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Positions UNS University Non-Service. This new dashboard displays all active positions in company UNS (University Non-Service) by HR department hierarchy. The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Position > Positions UNS University Non-Service.

Furlough/Pay Reduction Program

Reporting Center Queries for Furlough and Pay Reduction Program Hours: As mentioned in the July 20 Operations weekly update, these queries are available in the Reporting Center to help you track employee Furlough and Pay Reduction Program hours:

• Furlough Hours for Civil Service and Labor Represented
• Vac_PH_Cmp Hours Scheduled Prior to Furlough
• Pay Reduction Hours for P&A and Faculty
• Pay Reduction Hours Scheduled in Excess of Available Balance

If you have any issues accessing these queries, send an email to wfdmdq@umn.edu for assistance.

Furlough and Pay Reduction Program

Queries Now Available for Furlough and Pay Reduction Program Hours: OHR has created several queries, available in the Reporting Center, to help units monitor the hours employees are using in the Furlough and Pay Reduction Program:

• Furlough Hours for Civil Service and Labor Represented: Includes initial balance, current balance, used hours, hours scheduled, and hours alerts
• Vac_PH_Cmp Hours Scheduled Prior to Furlough: For Civil Service and Labor-Represented employees. Includes initial balance, current balance, used hours, hours scheduled, and hours alerts.
• Pay Reduction Hours for P&A and Faculty: Includes initial balance, current balance, used hours, hours scheduled, and hours alerts
• Pay Reduction Hours Scheduled in Excess of Available Balance: For P&A and Faculty employees. Includes current balance, hours taken, hours scheduled, and hours over balance.

This job aid provides more details about prompts and how to find and run each report. Help documents for each query are also available in the Reporting Center. The HRMS data in the query is private-restricted and requires access to private HR data. If your job requires access to private data not currently granted, submit an Access Request Form.

I-9s

Covid-Related Form I-9 Accommodations Extended Once Again: On July 18, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced an extension of the flexibilities in rules related to Form I-9 compliance that was granted earlier this year. Due to the continued precautions related to COVID-19, the Department of Homeland Security has decided to once again extend this policy for an additional 30 days, to August 19.

Under these accommodations, employers are not required to review the employee's identity and employment authorization documents in the employee's physical presence. If unable to do so in person, employers must inspect the Section 2 documents remotely (video link, fax, email, etc.) and obtain, inspect, and retain copies of the documents needed to complete Section 2. Employers should enter "COVID-19" as the reason for the physical inspection delay in the Section 2 Additional Information field. After normal operations resume, the documents should be physically inspected within three days. Once the documents have been physically inspected, the employer should add "documents physically examined" with the date of inspection to the Section 2 Additional Information field on the Form I-9, or to Section 3 as appropriate.

For more information, see the original guidance from March.

Pay Increases

Technical Unit Lump Sum Payments: All technical employees at the top of their classification's step range will receive a $200 lump sum. The lump sums will be entered centrally into Additional Pay with the following:

Earnings Code: NLM
Effective Date: 07/06/2020
End Date: 07/19/2020
Earnings: $200.00

Departments will be notified of eligible employees receiving the lump sum payment.

RIO

Retirement Incentive Option Begins August 17: The OHR Contact Center has already been getting some inquiries about the University's upcoming retirement incentive option (RIO). If employees in your unit have questions, let them know that more information about RIO will be sent to employees at the end of July. Eligible faculty and staff will be able to elect the program from August 17 through October 19, 2020.

Clarification

PRP Earnings Code in HR Analytics: OHR has received questions about why the PRP earnings code is not appearing in the Non-Institutional Base Salary dashboards in HR Analytics. The reason is that earnings assigned to the PRP code are negative earnings. By design, negative earnings are excluded from the Non-Institutional Base Salary dashboards.

Procedures

OHR Contact Center Remains Closed for In-Person Appointments: As a reminder, the OHR Contact Center in the Donhowe Building remains closed for I-9 appointments and document pickups.

• For an I-9 appointment, new foreign national employees should email ohr@umn.edu.
• Employees are no longer able to pick up checks, W-2 reprints, and 1042-S reprints in person. These are being automatically mailed.
• Benefits consultations are now handled by phone or virtual meeting. Email or call to make an appointment.

The Contact Center is taking phone calls remotely. Phone numbers are the same as before—612-624-8647 or 800-756-2363. Or email ohr@umn.edu.

Background Checks

Reminder: Background Check Vendor Migration and Training Dates: The University will be migrating to the HireRight background check system this month, as part of the HireRight and GIS merger. Current GIS users can attend one of these remaining training webinars for the new HireRight system:

• Wednesday, July 15, 1:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 21, 1:00 p.m.

Users will have received invitations to these events already, so email Nicole Salm at salm0078@umn.edu if you need access to GIS/HireRight or have a new employee who needs access. If you can't attend on one of these dates, the training will be recorded and made available to all users.

The new HireRight system will begin accepting new background check orders from users on July 20, with new log-in information sent directly to current users that week. GIS will still accept new background check orders through July 31. Any requests still pending or being reviewed on that date will continue through the process normally until completed. You will still have access to GIS for reporting purposes. For questions, contact Nicole Salm in OHR Talent Acquisition at salm0078@umn.edu.

Furlough/Pay Reduction Procedures

Payroll Accounting for Furlough and Pay Reduction Program: Information to help people understand and report on payroll accounting data for the Furlough and Pay Reduction Program has been created through the collaboration of the University Budget Office, Sponsored Projects Administration, Accounting Services, and Sponsored Financial Reporting. For questions about reporting on payroll accounting data, contact the Financial Helpline at controller@umn.edu or 612-624-1617.

System Update

PeopleSoft HRMS Update Set for Weekend of August 8–9: OHR Operations is in the process of a planned software update to the PeopleSoft HRMS system, which is scheduled to be installed the weekend of August 8–9. The update will fix several minor bugs in the system and add updates to maintain system stability. The changes will not affect daily processes and routines for users. Throughout July, Operations will be conducting quality assurance testing in advance of the go-live date. Later in July we will provide more information about possible system downtimes that weekend as we move closer to go-live.

New Procedure

Background Check Vendor Migration and Training Dates: The University will be migrating to the HireRight background check system this month, as part of the HireRight and GIS merger. Current GIS users can attend a training webinar for the new HireRight system on these dates:

• Monday, July 13, 2:00 p.m.
• Wednesday, July 15, 1:00 p.m.
• Tuesday, July 21, 1:00 p.m.

We will send more information directly to current users, including links for the online training webinar, later this week. If you are unable to attend, the training will be recorded and made available to all users.

The new HireRight system will begin accepting new background check orders from users on July 20, with new log-in information sent to current users that week. GIS will still accept new background check orders through July 31. Any requests still pending or being reviewed on that date will continue through the process normally until completed. You will still have access to GIS for reporting purposes. For questions, contact Nicole Salm in OHR Talent Acquisition at salm0078@umn.edu.

Reporting

More Position Information Now Available in Ad Hoc Reporting: The data in HR Analytics ad hoc reporting has been expanded to include all the position data in the Positions and Incumbents dashboard. If you have ad hoc access, the data is now available in the PJC-Operational area in the ad hoc environment. We have also scheduled a working lab for Thursday, July 9, from 9:00 a.m. to noon via Zoom.

If you would like access to HR Analytics ad hoc reporting, please complete an Access Request Form (ARF). (Select Additional Applications & Data Warehouse Tables > Additional Applications > UM Analytics. Be sure to choose Create access [Author] and Human Resources–Public.) You will also need to complete two prerequisite courses to gain access: "Working with Employee Data" (OHR060) and one of the "UM Analytics: Creating Basic Analyses and Dashboards" courses (EUS132, EUS133, or EUS134). Register for both of these courses in Training Hub.

Procedure Change

Change in Vacation Balance Transfers to P&A Positions: Beginning July 6, when employees move from Civil Service to a Professional & Academic position, OHR will centrally process a transfer of up to 120 hours of unused vacation time instead of the current maximum of 80 hours. Any remaining hours over 120 will be paid out at the Civil Service pay rate. Balances less than 120 hours will be transferred in full.

New Employees

Personalized Emails Will Welcome New Employees: Because we are unable to host the New Employee Welcome events during the pandemic, we have developed a plan to welcome new employees with an email that includes information and resources to help give them a strong start in their new role at the University. Beginning Tuesday, June 23, new employees and their supervisors will receive personalized emails, based on their employee group. The emails will go out weekly to new employees. Their supervisors will also receive a copy, along with content that directs them to onboarding resources.

Fiscal Year Update

Fiscal Year-End: Payroll Encumbrances: All non-sponsored and cost-share payroll encumbrances have been zeroed out for fiscal year 2020. Payroll encumbrances for sponsored chartstrings will continue to be available on payroll reports until June 30, when they will be zeroed out on the last day of the fiscal year. On July 1, all payroll encumbrances will be calculated for fiscal year 2021 and will be available in reporting on July 2. Reminder: No daily payroll encumbrance adjustments will be processed between June 18 and July 1.

Fiscal Year Update

Pre-Confirm Payroll Report Updated for 27 Pay Dates: To help you identify employees who will have their pay spread over 27 pay dates in fiscal year 2021, the Pre-Confirm Payroll Report has been updated to include the employees' frequency code from the job data compensation tab.

Fiscal Year Update

Fiscal Year-End: Payroll Encumbrances: All non-sponsored and cost-share payroll encumbrances have been zeroed out for fiscal year 2020. Payroll encumbrances for sponsored chartstrings will continue to be available on payroll reports until June 30, when they will be zeroed out on the last day of the fiscal year. On July 1, all payroll encumbrances will be calculated for fiscal year 2021 and will be available in reporting on July 2. Reminder: No daily payroll encumbrance adjustments will be processed between June 18 and July 1.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Positions and Incumbents: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 24th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Positions and Incumbents. This new dashboard displays all active positions and information on the current or previous incumbent in that position for each level of the HR department hierarchy. The new dashboard replaces two legacy UM Reports, the Position Management Position List and the Position Management Vacant Position List, which will both be retired. To see the new dashboard, in MyU navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Position > Positions and Incumbents.

Procedures

Time Reporting Updates for University Closure on Thursday Afternoon, June 4: The University was closed the afternoon of Thursday, June 4, out of respect for the memorial service of George Floyd. Here are instructions for the different employee groups to ensure employees are paid correctly for that time:

• Essential employees who worked during this time may be paid the $2-an-hour essential employee augmentation using the time reporting code "Essential Employee Augment." The augmentation should be added to the time sheet in addition to regular time worked during that period.
• Hourly employees who normally would have worked Thursday afternoon should report their time as REG according to their schedule.
• Salaried and exception hourly employees will be paid for their regular hours and do not need to take any action.

Data Update Reminder

It’s Time to Process Regents Scholarships: The summer term is our first start-of-term under reduced operations and remote work. This is normally when Regents Scholarships are being processed and are being reported to Payroll Services so that we can apply the taxable value of this benefit to employees' earnings. Understandably, we are noticing some delay in this processing. That can result in a shorter period over which the additional taxable earnings can be reported. Please encourage employees and supervisors to submit and route the necessary forms.

Resources

New Web Page Can Help With Remote Hiring: Even during a hiring freeze, recruiting for some exempt positions continues. And with social distancing still in place, hiring can be especially challenging. To help units cope with these new realities, OHR’s Talent Acquisition Department has created the Remote Hiring Toolkit, a web page that offers tools and advice for interviewing and selecting candidates remotely. The web page shows you how to prepare for and conduct virtual interviews using time-saving technology—including video conferencing, one-way recorded video interviews to screen candidates, and automated reference checking—to ensure that you and the applicants have a positive experience.

Records Update

Labor-Represented Increases Have Been Updated: Last week pay increases were updated for Teamsters and for AFSCME Clerical, Health Care, and Technical bargaining units. The program inserted a 6/8/2020 Pay Rate Change/Annual Increase row and updated the hourly rate on that row and any rows after that date. (The program was run twice for the Clerical and Technical increases to ensure all eligible employee records were updated.) You can review reports in the Reporting Center via Reports Run for Me > HRMS.

Clerical

• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME CLERICAL INCREASE.PDF (06/05/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME CLERICAL INCREASE.PDF (06/03/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME CLERICAL INCREASE ERROR.PDF (06/05/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME CLERICAL INCREASE ERROR.PDF (06/03/2020)

Health Care:

• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME HEALTH CARE INCREASE.PDF (06/05/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME HEALTH CARE INCREASE ERROR.PDF (06/05/2020)

Technical

• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME TECHNICAL INCREASE.PDF (06/05/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME TECHNICAL INCREASE.PDF (06/04/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME TECHNICAL INCREASE ERROR.PDF (06/05/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - AFSCME TECHNICAL INCREASE ERROR.PDF (06/04/2020)

Teamsters

• UMHRAE002 - TEAMSTERS INCREASE.PDF (06/05/2020)
• UMHRAE002 - TEAMSTERS INCREASE ERROR.PDF (06/05/2020)

Departments will need to update records for employees listed with the "Expected End Date Less Than Effective Date" error message. Departments do not need to update records for employees listed with the "Future Pay or Step Increase" error message.

Data Records Update

Job Data Records Have Been Updated for 27 Pay Dates: Last week, central OHR updated job data records in preparation for 27 pay dates in fiscal year 2021. These two rows were added:

• A 6/8/2020 - Data Change/FY Comp Freq - CNTRL USE ONLY row was inserted to update the comp frequency from B to B27 for salaried employees paid over 12 months.
• A 6/8/2020 - Data Change/Special Circumstances row was inserted for hourly and exception hourly employees to ensure correct reporting through the Data Warehouse.

Units should not change or delete these rows.

Reporting

Be Aware of How 27 Pay Dates Will Affect Data Tables: The 27 pay dates in FY21 will affect HR analytics and HR data warehouse tables that derive from PS_UM_EMPLOYEES. If you use this data, review the Knowledge Article that has been put together to help data users prepare for the changes this will have on reporting.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard Will Replace 2 Position Reports: HR Analytics is excited to be deploying a new Positions and Incumbents dashboard on Monday, June 15. The new dashboard will improve reporting on position management and will include reporting on position incumbents. With the deployment of this new dashboard, two legacy UM Reports, the Position Management Position List and the Position Management Vacant Position List, will both be retired. If you have any questions or concerns about the retirement of the two UM Reports, email or call the OHR Contact Center at OHR@umn.edu, 612-624-8647 or 800-756-2363).

Resources

Talent Share Program Can Help Meet Staffing Needs: As a reminder, if your department could use extra staffing for important projects—or if you have employees who have time for more work during reduced operations—the University's Talent Share program can help. The program matches work opportunities in one unit with employees from other units who have the time and skills to complete additional tasks.

To take part in Talent Share—either to request help or share available employees—visit the Talent Share website for details and an online form to get started. For questions, contact your unit's HR representative or your OHR Talent Acquisition consultant.

Training

Correction to 27th Pay Date eLearning: In response to recent questions and discussions, OHR Training Services would like to make a correction to one of the examples given in the 27th Pay Date eLearning course on the new B27 frequency code for fiscal year 2021. In Module 3, in the scenario "Return from Work Break and Data Change for B27 Frequency," the example for Lucas uses the action/reason "Data Change/Pay Group Change" to document the B27 frequency after his return to work. The action/reason in that situation should be "Data Change/Special Circumstances." While we can't update the training at this date, please keep this correction in mind as you take the course or review the materials.

To enroll in or review the training, sign in to Training Hub [training.umn.edu], click on Course Catalog, and search for the course name/keyword "B27: New Frequency Code for FY21."

Job Application Process

Conflict of Interest Question Added to External Applications: As of May 31, external applicants are now required to identify any conflicts of interest on submitted job applications to the University. After attaching or completing their work history and education information, they must respond yes or no to the following:

To the best of your knowledge, are either of the following statements true:

• You have a prior relationship, professional, business, or personal, with individuals involved in the hiring process for this position.
• You are currently employed outside the University and, as part of that employment, you work with the University or are in a position to make decisions that impact the University.

Those who answer yes will be required to provide more information. Unit recruiters and central recruiters will have a new role in reviewing and resolving any identified conflicts of interest for candidates brought in for interview or hired. The business process is available under Recently Updated Materials on the HRMS website.

Resources

HR Analytics Releasing 2 New Dashboards: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 23rd in a continuing series of data dashboards- Workforce Actions. This new dashboard displays information on job record workforce actions by HR department hierarchy or employee for any date range from April 6, 2015, to the current date. The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Employee > Workforce Actions.

In addition, HR Analytics is excited to be deploying a new Positions and Incumbents dashboard on June 15. The new dashboard will improve reporting on position management and will include reporting on position incumbents. With the deployment of this new dashboard, two legacy UM Reports, the Position Management Position List and the Position Management Vacant Position List, will both be retired. If you have any questions or concerns about the retirement of the two UM Reports, email or call the OHR Contact Center at OHR@umn.edu, 612.624.8647, or 800-756-2363).

FMLA Process

Process for FFCRA Paid Expanded FMLA Leave: As we discussed in the last HRMS Advisory Group, under the Families First Coronavirus Relief Act's Expanded FMLA provision, employees who cannot work because they must care for children due to COVID-related school, daycare, or summer camp closures, and who are close to exhausting their 160 hours of emergency paid leave, may be able to access more paid time away.

If you have employees who are eligible for the expanded FMLA leave, please contact Blaine Bloomgren in Payroll Services( bloo0250@umn.edu). (Previously you were instructed to contact Employee Relations or Lauren Daughenbaugh in Total Compensation.) A collaborative team in Total Compensation and Payroll will review the person's eligibility, address your questions, and provide instructions on using the employee's absence balances as a part of their 10 weeks of paid FMLA, which you can then communicate to the employee.

Job Code Change

Discontinue Using ECT Earnings Code for Student Continuation of Pay: If you are still making entries in Additional Pay to add or change student worker continuation of pay, be sure you do not add to an ECT earnings code record. You must use ECW. We found more than 300 instances of new ECT earnings during the payroll close for pay period ending 5/10/20 that had to be corrected manually, as many would have resulted in overpayments.

Records Update

Work-Study Continuation of Pay Codes Corrected Centrally: As we announced previously, since the state is now allowing state-funded work-study to be used for both hours worked and student worker continuation of pay, the use of the ECT earnings code was discontinued. At that time, we also let you know that we would correct the previous use of ECT centrally. Those updates took place this week. Units do not need to take any action regarding this change.

HRMS and Payroll took the following steps:

1. For all ECT records in Additional Pay that have an end date greater than 04/26/2020, the end date was updated to 04/26/2020.
2. An ECW record was added with an effective date of 04/27/2020. The number of hours, rate, and end date did not change.
3. For all pay periods before 05/10/2020, where ECT was paid to an employee, Payroll Services will move these funds from ECT to ECW on a pay line adjustment, so the appropriate funds will be applied to Work Study. Please remember, the work-study program in PeopleSoft will determine if the student has work-study funds and will apply them appropriately.

COVID

Temp/Casual Employees and the Families First Coronavirus Response Act: Recent clarification of the FFCRA has alerted us that temp/casual employees are eligible for two weeks of paid leave (prorated) under this law. While University emergency and reduced operations pay provisions do not include temp/casuals, the federal leave entitles them to the number of hours they work, on average, over a two-week period. The time should be entered on the employee's time sheet using the Emergency Reduced Ops or Emergency Pandemic Hourly time reporting codes, depending on the reason for their leave.

To help in this effort, Payroll Services will send HR Leads a list of temp/casual employees paid in the pay period ending 3/1/20 to help you determine who did not continue to work in subsequent pay periods. We also refer you to the UM_TL_PAYABLE_TIME query in the Reporting Center. Beyond those resources, we encourage you to work with your supervisors to determine which temp/casual employees should receive paid leave.

New COVID Procedure

Emergency Leave Reason Reporting Form: On May 7, OHR sent more than 2,100 employees a request asking them to complete the Federal Leave Reason Reporting Form. If you get questions from employees about this form, please assure them that all employees who received the request need to complete the form. The form applies to employees being paid under both continuation of leave and University emergency leave. We also need the forms from employees being paid intermittently under one of these provisions.

Resources

Find Answers to COVID HR Questions on the Operations Google Site: If you have a COVID-related HR question, the answer may already be available on the OHR Operations Google site. COVID questions and their vetted and approved answers are regularly being logged on a Google spreadsheet. In the menu at the top of the Operations home page, click on Resources and look for the document "HRER Follow-Up FAQ," under the COVID-19 heading at the top of the page. If you don't have access to the OHR Operations website, please email ohr@umn.edu.

Job Code Change

Teamster Salary Grade Changes: Effective 3/16/20, two new salary grades-47D and 43B-were created for the following job codes:

• 6073-Senior Maintenance Plumber: Salary plan/grade changed from S1/47 to S1/47D
• 6075-Maintenance Plumber: Salary plan/grade changed from S1/43 to S1/43B

Positions and job data records have been centrally updated.

Funding Change

Students Can Now Be Paid With State Work-Study Funds: State-funded work-study has been approved for paying students who are working during the pandemic, the same as federally funded work-study. As a result, the time-reporting code CCW should no longer be used in the time sheet. These hours should be recorded as REG, which will allow pay funded by work-study to be processed correctly in the system.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Headcount and FTE by RRC: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 22nd in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee Headcount and FTE by RRC. This new dashboard displays the headcount and FTE by RRC (Resource Responsibility Center) for any date from April 6, 2015, to the current date.

The new dashboard is now available in the MyU Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Employee > Employee Headcount and FTE by RRC.

Clarification

How to Enter 'Essential Employee Augmentation': We'd like to clarify some confusing and contradictory instructions we have given about using the new EEA "Essential Employee Augmentation" time reporting code. EEA is used on both hourly and exception hourly time sheets to grant essential workers a $2-an-hour augmentation for the hours they work on site. To apply the augmentation correctly, the earnings code should always be listed with a corresponding REG line of pay. The EEA line should report the number of hours worked on site, while the REG line should report the total hours worked that day.

For more details and examples of correct and incorrect EEA entries, download and save this instruction sheet.

Records Updates

Instructions for Entering Teamsters Pay Increases: It is time to update PeopleSoft records to reflect pay increases to Teamsters-represented employees as a result of recent contract negotiations. Units must enter retro pay into Additional Pay by 4:30 p.m. on 5/13/20 for the 4/27–5/10/20 pay period. Use these instructions and charts:

Instructions for units
Teamsters Rates for 2019–2021
Teamsters Rates—Mechanics
Teamsters Rates—Gardeners
Teamsters Rates—Plumbers

Reminder

Check the OHR Operations Google Site for COVID Updates: OHR Operations is compiling the latest information, updates, and procedures related to COVID-19 on its Google site for HRMS users. Once you are logged in to the home page, click on Resources, then look for the COVID-19 heading at the top of the page. Here you will find an FAQ on many common HR situations, hiring freeze guidelines, and links to updated job aids and the new Talent Share program for loaning employees between units. Information will continue to be added here as needed.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Temp/Casual and Student Worker Headcount Snapshot: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 21st in a continuing series of data dashboards—Temp/Casual and Undergrad Student Workers Headcount Snapshot. This new dashboard displays a headcount of temp/casual and undergraduate student workers by HR department hierarchy in biweekly snapshots from April 2020 to the current date.

The new dashboard is now available in the MyU Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Employee > Temp/Casual and Undergrad Student Workers Headcount Snapshot.

Update

OHR Contact Center Is Accepting Calls Again: Beginning today, the OHR Contact Center is once again taking phone calls, thanks to software installed by OIT that allows staff to field calls from home. The phone numbers are the same as before—612-624-8647 or 800-756-2363. Or email the Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu.

Clarification

$2 Essential Employee Augmentation and Overtime: There has been some confusion about the $2 augmentation for essential employees (Time Reporting Code EEA). The augmentation is eligible to be used on overtime hours. Also, it is included in the FMLA rate when overtime is calculated. The job aid Time Reporting Codes for COVID-19 (available on the Recently Updated Materials page of the HRMS Instruction site) has been corrected to reflect this clarification.

Procedure Change

Employees Now Have Access to Excused Paid Absence Type: As requested by HR Leads, we have opened access to the Excused Paid Absence Type to all absence-eligible employees so that employees can enter their own pandemic-related absence requests. A new job aid is being developed to guide employees on selecting the correct absence reason. When directing employees to enter their own pandemic-related absence requests, please emphasize the importance of selecting the correct absence reason:

• For emergency leave, choose: Emergency Pandemic
• For continuation of pay for employees unable to work remotely under extended reduced operations, choose: Emergency Reduced Operations

Systems Update

PeopleSoft Unavailable From Noon Saturday to Noon Sunday: Due to a planned software update this weekend (April 18 and 19), the HR PeopleSoft system will be unavailable from noon Saturday through noon Sunday. During that time, users will not have access to PeopleSoft HRMS applications. That includes:

• MyU self-service functions, such as the tabs My Time, My Pay (including W-2 tax information), My Benefits, My Info, and Manager Info
• HRMS-related queries in the Reporting Center
• The job search site

This PeopleSoft update will provide technical enhancements but will not affect end users. Mark your calendars for the upgrade weekend so that you can plan around the service outage.

Resources

Guide to Posting Jobs During Hiring Freeze: Even during a hiring freeze, some aspects of the hiring process may need to continue. OHR has created a brief guide to job postings during this time, outlining what steps should be taken for 1) putting current postings on hold, 2) posting exceptions to the freeze, and 3) accepting applications without further hiring action. Find the guide on the Operations Google website under Resources > COVID-19 > Hiring Freeze Guidelines > UMN Postings During Hiring Freeze: Quick Guide.

Procedure Change

Provisional Hires While Waiting for Background Checks: With background checks significantly delayed during the pandemic, units should put a hold on new hires until the checks can be completed. If necessary, however, exceptions can be made for some critical positions by using a new provisional hiring form. (The provisional form cannot be used for candidates whose background checks are required under the administrative policy Safety of Minors.) The criteria and process for a provisional hire are explained in a new guide—Provisional Hiring Due to Background Check Delays—that has been posted on the Operations Google website under Resources > COVID-19 > Hiring Freeze Guidelines.

Update

Teamster increases Completed: The increase program was run and inserted a 9/30/19 Pay Rate Change/Annual Increase row into job data. You can see a report in the Reporting Center under Reports Run for Me > HRMS > UMHRAE002 - TEAMSTERS INCREASE.PDF (04/09/2020) . The new hourly rates will be paid on the 4/22/20 payday (3/30/20–4/12/20 pay period). Detailed pay increase and retro pay instructions will be forthcoming.

Reminder

Enter AFSCME Retro Pay by April 15: All retro pay for AFSCME clerical, technical, and health care employees must be entered by the departments no later than 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 15. The retro pay will be entered for the 3/30/2020–4/12/2020 pay period and paid on the April 22 pay date.

COVID

Answers to COVID HR Questions Now on Operations Google Site: OHR has a new location for answers to COVID-related HR questions that have been vetted and approved. A Google spreadsheet is now available on the OHR Operations Google site. In the menu at the top of the home page, click on Resources and look for the document, “HRER Follow-Up FAQ,” under the COVID-19 heading at the top of the page. If you don’t have access to the OHR Operations website, please email ohr@umn.edu.

Since many of these questions are very HR-specific and not necessarily relevant to a larger audience, we thought the Operations website was a better place for them than a public-facing FAQ on the OHR website. Answers that are relevant to employees will continue to be added to the public FAQ.

New Procedure

Use Hiring Freeze Exception Form for Critical Positions: During the University’s hiring freeze, if collegiate or administrative unit leaders decide that an unfilled position is critical to operations, units should submit a Hiring Freeze Exception Request to the Office of Human Resources. This new form is available on the Recruiting and Hiring page of the OHR website, under Additional Resources. The form will be reviewed by the vice president for human resources and the Executive Leadership Review Team. See page 3 of the form for positions exempt from the freeze or for options in cases in which an offer has already been made.

Resources

Help Document Now Available for Student Average Hours Query: Last week we told you about a new query in the Reporting Center to help you figure the average work hours for student workers who can continue to be paid even if they are not able to work during the University’s extended reduced operations. We have now added a help document in the Reporting Center that provides more details about the query, Spring Semester 2020 Undergrad Student Avg Hours. View it by clicking on the information icon next to the report name.

Resources

New Report Computes Students' Average Hours of Work: Student workers who are not able to work due to the extended reduced operations can continue to be paid, based on the average number of hours they have worked per pay period so far. A report now available in the Reporting Center can determine those average hours for you. The query Spring Semester 2020 Undergrad Student Avg Hours provides a student worker's average hours and hourly rate. In MyU, navigate to the report via Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > HR Operational > Payroll > Spring Semester 2020 Undergrad Student Avg Hours. The job aid Student Worker Pay for Not Actively Working: Additional Pay During COVID-19 can provide more details.

Tip

Cancel or Suspend Multiple Job Postings Using Group Actions: With a hiring freeze in place, unit recruiters will want to cancel job postings or put them on hold in Recruiting Solutions. A new job aid shows how you can use the Group Actions feature to update multiple job openings at once. For questions, email the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or Talent Acquisition at employ@umn.edu

Update

Teamsters Pay Increases: Teamsters annual pay increases are effective 9/30/19. During the week of April 6, central OHR will update the Salary Admin Plan and Grade tables and run the annual increase program to update employee job data records. Departments are responsible for processing and entering the retro pay. New hourly rates will be paid in the 4/13/20–4/26/20 pay period and paid on the 5/6/20 pay date. Retro pay will be processed by the units for the 4/27/20–5/10/20 pay period and paid on the 5/20/20 pay date.

New Procedures

Changes to OHR Contact Center and Donhowe In-Person Services: Effective immediately, and until further notice, we are making these changes to OHR's in-person services in the Donhowe Building:

• Contact Center phone lines are closed. We are processing emails from the following email addresses: ohr@umn.edu, benefits@umn.edu, well@umn.edu, payroll@umn.edu, payforms@umn.edu and employ@umn.edu
• I-9 appointments for new foreign national employees will still be held at Donhowe. Future appointments will be scheduled as needed. Please ask foreign national employees to make an appointment by emailing the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu before coming to Donhowe.

• Employees will not be able to pick up checks, W-2 reprints, and 1042-S reprints in person. These will be automatically mailed.
• For benefits consultations, employees should email the OHR Contact Center to make an appointment. Consultations will be handled by phone or virtual meeting.
• Be aware that the Donhowe Building, as with other campus buildings, requires a UCard to enter even during regular business hours.

Schedule

Payroll Close This Week: The payroll close process is continuing as usual. The timeline remains the same (as noted below). If you have a question during the payroll close process, please send emails as usual to payroll@umn.edu or ohr@umn.edu. The OHR Contact Center will not be able to accept phone calls. Please do not call or email questions to individual OHR employees, as some employees will be working remotely and responsibilities may shift during this time.

Payroll Close Timeline:

Thursday, March 19: Payroll preconfirmation report will be available.
Friday, March 20: 10:00 a.m.: Payroll Update deadline

New Procedures

Off-Cycle Checks and Check Pickup: We will continue to process off-cycle requests and stop pay requests as usual, but employees will not have the option to pick up checks at Donhowe B20 during the COVID-19 outbreak. All checks we are now holding will be mailed today. However, we ask that you be judicious with off-cycle requests and add the pay to the next on-cycle check when possible.

New Procedures

I-9 Processing During the COVID-19 Outbreak: We have received a number of questions about how the University will process I-9 forms during the outbreak. Unfortunately, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) at this time is not providing any flexibility on the requirement to review original documents in person. I-9 guidance specifically prohibits reviewing documents "via webcam."

If a new employee in your department is beginning their job remotely and will not meet with colleagues, please have them complete a paper I-9 form (https://www.uscis.gov/system/files_force/files/form/i-9-paper-version.pdf) at home using an employer's authorized representative. An authorized representative can be any person we designate to complete and sign Form I-9 on our behalf. Under the circumstances raised by COVID-19, DHS will consider "any person" to include even a family member or household member. There is no need to have specific agreements or other documentation for Form I-9 purposes.

If the new employee is coming to a University work location but HR is not available to complete section 2 of an I-9, a colleague should complete section 2 of the I-9 on paper.

Paper I-9 forms should be kept and uploaded to I-9 Express at the earliest convenience.

We will continue to process I-9s for new foreign national employees in Donhowe B20. Please have the employee make an appointment by emailing ohr@umn.edu.

For foreign national I-9 reverifications, during the COVID-19 outbreak we will ask foreign national employees to send us a photo or scan of their renewed document and present the document in person in the future. Please continue directing them to call the OHR Contact Center, which will provide them with instructions for sending us documentation.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: EEO Goal Setting: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 20th in a continuing series of data dashboards—EEO Goal Setting. The new dashboard provides information about the demographics of the University's workforce, the University's estimate of the available workforce in the market (Percent Availability), and the University's equal opportunity goals, for specific snapshot dates from October 2019 to the present. The dashboard is an important tool to use during the search and hiring processes.

It includes security features that ensure only individuals approved to view "HR Private" data can see the report. If you can't view the dashboard and believe you should have access, please submit an access request form (ARF).

The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > EEO Goal Setting.

Resources

HR Analytics Releases New and Enhanced Dashboards: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released a new data dashboard—Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics Snapshot—and has added new features to a previous dashboard, Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics. The new demographics snapshot dashboard—the 19th in a continuing series—displays the headcount and FTE by ethnicity, legal sex, employees with disabilities, and protected veterans, viewable by HR department hierarchy for specific snapshot dates from October 2019 forward.

The enhanced Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics dashboard adds two new tabs, which display the headcount and FTE by employees with disabilities and protected veterans by HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015, to the present.

The new and revised dashboards are now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources. Then choose either Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics Snapshot or Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics.

Resources

'Recruiting and Hiring' Web Pages Get a Makeover: Talent Acquisition has streamlined its Recruiting and Hiring web pages (on the OHR website under Supervising at the U), making it easier to find information on the hiring process. All the previous information has been retained, but some pages and sections have been moved to new categories, so you may have to re-bookmark some of your favorites. We have also added a new page on technology tools to support the hiring process: LinkedIn recruiting, video interviews, and automated reference checks. If you can't find the information you're looking for, email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647; 800-756-2363).

Meeting

HRMS Advisory Committee to Meet Tuesday, March 10: Members of the HRMS Advisory Committee will hold their next meeting Tuesday, March 10, at 9:00 a.m. in Bruininks Hall, Room 131B.

Update

AFSCME Clerical, Health Care, and Technical Increases: Central OHR will complete the manual entry of retro annual and step increases by 4:30 p.m. Wednesday, March 4. We will send spreadsheets on Thursday, and instructions will follow.

Issue Resolved

Fix to Payroll Encumbrance Calculation: The PeopleSoft monthly release yesterday included a fix to resolve a previous issue with payroll encumbrances. The encumbrance calculation will now recognize that additional pay earnings should stop at the end of the fiscal year. Previously, if additional pay had an earnings end date that was the same as the end of the fiscal year and was distributed on sponsored funds, the calculation would improperly extend the additional pay until the end of the grant award period or project end date.

Records Updates

Pay Increases for AFSCME Clerical, Health Care, and Technical Employees: As a result of recent contract negotiations, central OHR will be manually updating PeopleSoft records with step realignments and pay increases to employees represented by AFSCME Clerical, Health Care, and Technical.

The salary plan and grades will be updated this week. The step realignments and pay increases will be updated in employee job data from February 24 to March 4. The new hourly rates will take effect in the 2/17/20–3/1/20 pay period and will be paid on the 3/11/20 pay date.

Effective Dates

Clerical:
Step realignment: Effective 6/10/2019
Annual increase: Effective 12/23/2019
Step increases: Have been programmatically entered monthly (June 2019–March 2020)

 

Health Care:
Step realignment: Effective 6/10/2019
Annual increase: Effective 12/23/2019
Step increases: Will be entered based on employee's progression/anniversary date

Technical:
Step realignment: Effective 6/10/2019
Annual increase: Effective 06/10/2019
Step increases: Effective 10/1/2019

Retro pay will be entered by the departments for the 3/30/2020–4/12/2020 pay period and paid on the 4/22/2020 pay date.

Update

'Year Acquired' Field for Degree Data Is Now Required: Following a PeopleSoft monthly release yesterday, the Year Acquired field for degree data is now a required field for both employees and applicants. To ensure degree data flows successfully through PeopleSoft, any blank Year Acquired field in degree data entered before the update has been populated with "1900." HRMS users can update the Year Acquired field in PeopleSoft by going to the UM HR Homepage, clicking the Workforce Development tile, and choosing Person Profiles. If you have questions, please email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647, 800-756-2363).

Procedure Change

New Time Reporting Code for Work-Study During Campus Closures: In case of emergency closures, departments can now use a new time reporting code to pay work-study students from department funds instead of work-study funds, as required under work-study regulations. Under Time Reporting Code, tell work-study student employees to select the option "53 Campus Closure Work Study." If a student fails to do so, the approver can still make that change before approving the time sheet. The time reporting code will appear as CCW=Campus Closure Work Study. The code should be used only for campus closure days.

Reminder

Add Automated Screening Questions for 1826 and 1885 Job Openings: Unit recruiters should still be adding system screening questions to all 1826 and 1885 job openings. Adding these questions reduces screening time for central recruiters so that hiring managers can review qualified applicants sooner. Refer to the job aid for more information on adding the questions to a job opening. You can also view the job aid by visiting the A-Z Materials/Tools page of the HRMS Instruction site and clicking on Adding Screening Questions to a Job Opening.

Reports

Year-End Payroll Adjustments Being Run Today: As part of the normal year-end process, Payroll Services runs an abbreviated year-end, off-cycle payroll to make year-end adjustments and check adjustments or reversals that affect employees' 2019 year-to-date amounts. That payroll was processed on Monday, February 10. As a result, you may see additional UM Payroll Verification Reports for your department in the Reporting Center with a pay end date of 12/07/19. These payroll entries will post to the general ledger on Wednesday evening with an accounting date of 02/12/20.

Note: You will not see a payroll verification report for your area if no employees had year-end adjustments.

New Employees

Health Benefits Workshop Friday: The next Health Benefits Workshop for new employees will be held Friday, February 14. The workshops are for employees who want to learn more about their benefit options (medical, dental, pre-tax flexible spending accounts, life insurance, and disability) and would like help before completing their enrollment online. This workshop complements the New Employee Welcome by providing detailed benefits information. New employees should plan to attend the earliest session after their start date.

New employees should register in advance. For questions, call 612-624-8647 and select option 1 to reach Employee Benefits. The workshops will be held on these dates from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in the Donhowe Building, Room 210:

• Friday, February 14
• Friday, March 20
• Thursday, April 30

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 18th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics. This new dashboard displays the headcount and FTE by ethnicity (institutional calculation) or legal sex for any date from April 6, 2015, to today. It also allows comparisons across and within the HR department hierarchy. We will be adding more demographic data, such as disability status, protected veteran status, and so on, in the coming months.

This new dashboard is the first one with security features that only allow people approved to view "HR Private" data to see the information. If you can't view the dashboard but believe you should have access, please submit an access request form (ARF).

The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Headcount and FTE Demographics.

Resources

More Data Now Available for HR Analytics Ad Hoc Reports: We have also expanded the data available in HR Analytics ad hoc reporting. It now includes all employee workforce actions taken from April 6, 2015, to today. In addition, several fields used for Office of Institutional Research reporting have been added to the snapshot area.

If you don't yet have ad hoc access, complete an Access Request Form (ARF) for HR Analytics ad hoc reporting. Select Additional Applications & Data Warehouse Tables > Additional Applications > UM Analytics. On the ARF form, under Author Access, select HR Public. You will also need to complete two prerequisite courses: Working with Employee Data (OHR060) and one of the UM Analytics: Creating Basic Analyses and Dashboards courses (EUS132, EUS133, or EUS134). Register in Training Hub . In addition, a working lab is scheduled for Tuesday, February 11, from 9:00 a.m. to noon in Humphrey 50A.

Data Entry

Reminder on Data Entry for Notice of Appointments: We have found a number of Notice of Appointment (NOA) data elements missing or inaccurately entered in PeopleSoft. Please remember to complete the Contract entry for salaried Faculty and Staff on a 12-month, 10-month, or 9-month appointment (including 9- or 10-month appointments paid over 12 months).

This entry is a required step in the new-hire process. It completes the employment agreement document that employees see in MyU when they click on the Notice of Appointment link at the bottom of the My Info tab. We will be escalating missing NOA data to department leadership in February.

If you have questions about how to complete this entry, please review the online resources at https://hrms.umn.edu/appointment-entry/contract-details or email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647; 800-756-2363).

New Hires

I-9 and Contact Center Reminders: Here are a few tips to keep in mind when referring employees to the Contact Center:

1. I-9 forms for permanent residents should be completed in your department.
2. The Contact Center has had quite a few foreign national employees walk in to complete their I-9 or tax treaty forms without an appointment. It is very important that employees make an appointment to ensure we are staffed to help. However, we will accept a walk-in if the employee is starting that day.
3. If an employee has a question about payroll or recruiting, please refer them to the 4-UOHR number (612-624-8647; 800-756-2363) or ohr@umn.edu. We are not staffed to take walk-ins for these types of questions.

System Update

Please Limit PeopleSoft Use for Start of Spring Semester: Twin Cities classes resume today, and PeopleSoft will experience peak usage as thousands of students and faculty start up a new term. Please limit manual processing and large queries today and tomorrow to protect critical systems for student and faculty use.

Student Workers

Student Work-Study Reminders: As spring semester begins, make sure your department is using available work-study funds effectively and correctly with your student workers:

• Use the Employed Student With Unused Work Study Awards query in the Reporting Center to identify any student worker in your unit who may have a work-study award that is not being used. If one of your student workers appears on the report, confirm whether they are using the award on another job and place the award following the Work Study Placement Job Aid.
• Check that the Placement Status on the UM WS Award Placement page has the appropriate effective date, usually the student's hire date.
• Students can decide to split their work-study between a maximum of two positions. To split work-study, email stdtempl@umn.edu with the student ID and how much the student would like to allocate of the remaining award to each job record (for example, 50/50).
• Check the end date for your student worker's appointment. The last day to use work-study funds for spring semester is May 10.

The department will begin receiving the 70% reimbursement of the student's earnings once the placement panel is completed. For questions, please contact Student Employment Programs at stdtempl@umn.edu.

Taxes

W-2s Now Available Online: The 2019 W-2 tax form is now available to all employees online. Employees can log in to MyU and click on the My Pay tab, then on View W2/W2C Forms. Employees who have opted to receive their W-2s exclusively online will not receive a printed form in the mail. If they did not opt in, their printed forms will be mailed this week.

For added security, logging in to MyU now requires Duo two-factor authentication. Employees who haven't yet signed up for Duo will be required to enroll when they log in to MyU to get their W-2. They can get help with Duo at https://it.umn.edu/technology-help-our-staff. Suspected phishing attempts, which tend to increase during tax season, should be reported to UMN Technology Help at 612-301-4357 or help@umn.edu.

System Security

New 'Personal Data View' Security Group Created: To make access to private data more secure, a new security group—Personal Data View—has been created to provide view-only access to these PeopleSoft pages:

• Citizenship-Identification Data
• Disabilities
• Modify a Person

Users with a business need for view-only access to this private data should submit an Access Request Form (ARF) for the new security group. Appointment View users who need to see personal data should have the ARF process completed by February 16; at that point, Appointment View will only provide access to appointment data. Users with Appointment Entry access do not need to request the new security group; they will continue to have access to both appointment and personal data.

Procedure Change

Change in Access for Entering Excused Paid/Unpaid Absences: Beginning with the pay period Monday, January 6, employees will no longer be able to submit the absence types Excused Paid and Excused Unpaid directly in Absence Management through MyU. Only unit absence administrators will have access to enter these absence types and will need to make them on behalf of their unit's employees. The change is the result of an audit that found these absence types were often used incorrectly.

Resources

New Feature Added to Institutional Base Salary Dashboard: The Employee Institutional Base Salary dashboard has been enhanced to show whether an employee was scheduled to receive additional pay during the previous year. If additional pay was scheduled, you will now see a link to the Employee Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay) dashboard. To view the updated Employee Institutional Base Salary report, in MyU go to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resources > Workforce Analysis > Employee Institutional Base Salary.

Update

Issue with Payroll Encumbrances: On December 24, an issue caused all existing payroll encumbrances to reverse and recalculate only through 01/03/20. The issue has been resolved, and payroll encumbrances will recalculate correctly tonight. All corrected payroll encumbrance balances will be available on UM Reports tomorrow morning.

In addition, due to payroll being moved back a day to Thursday, payroll activity for the current week is reflected in Finance Payroll Accounting UM Reports as of Tuesday, December 31.

Taxes

IRS Issues New W-4 Form: The IRS has issued a new version of the W-4 form for 2020. You can find it here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

Here are a few key things to know about the form:

• A new concept: Withholding allowances will no longer be used.
• Current employees are not required to complete a new revised form. The IRS has designed the withholding tables so they will work with both the new and previous forms.
• Employees hired in 2020 and any employees who make withholding changes during 2020 will be required to use the new form.
• Employers cannot give employees advice on what content to provide on the form. Instead, direct employees to the Tax Withholding Estimator (www.irs.gov/W4App). The new form will be available in MyU tomorrow, January 1.
• The IRS has published Frequently Asked Questions that may be helpful in completing the form: https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/faqs-on-the-draft-2020-form-w-4.

Pay Schedule

First 2020 Pay Date Moved From Wednesday to Thursday: As a reminder, the first scheduled pay date of 2020 is tomorrow, January 1. However, New Year's Day is a bank holiday, which means pay cannot be delivered on that day. In order for employees to receive their pay in the same tax year as it is accounted for, the University will move this pay date to the following business day, Thursday, January 2. Normally, pay dates are moved one day earlier if they fall on a bank holiday, except when the change affects taxes.

Reports

More Data Now Available for HR Analytics Ad Hoc Reports: If you run ad hoc reports using HR Analytics in the Reporting Center, you now have more data available to you. The data has been expanded to include all information in two recent dashboards: Employee Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay) and Departmental Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay). You can also choose from several new fields when running ad hoc reports.

If you don't yet have ad hoc access, you can complete an Access Request Form (ARF) for HR Analytics ad hoc reporting. Select Additional Applications & Data Warehouse Tables > Additional Applications > UM Analytics. On the ARF form, under Author Access, select HR Public. You will also need to complete two prerequisite courses: Working with Employee Data (OHR060) and one of the UM Analytics: Creating Basic Analyses and Dashboards (EUS132, EUS133, or EUS134) courses. Register in Training Hub.

Payroll Schedule

Payroll Close Schedule During Christmas Holiday: The University's holidays during the week of Christmas fall on a payroll close week. The University will be closed from Monday, December 23, through Wednesday, December 25, leaving only Thursday and Friday to process and close payroll. In this case, the unit deadlines that normally fall on Wednesday of payroll close week will be moved to Thursday, December 26:

• UMP will close Thursday morning
• The time and absence and interface deadline is 2:00 p.m.
• The job data deadline is 6:00 p.m.

Payroll Services will carry out a one-day payroll close on Friday, December 27, with a payroll update deadline of 1:00 p.m.

Please plan ahead, as much as possible, to ensure that time, absences, and job data are entered, approved, and validated by the end of this week.

Header

Extra Pay Statement for Employees in Fit Choices: Employees who participate in the Wellbeing Program’s Fit Choices will see two pay statements in MyU this pay period. One statement is their regular paycheck. The other statement shows a zero balance, along with a line item showing taxes the University has paid on their Fit Choices reimbursements for the last year. Fit Choices reimburses $20 to employees when they visit a participating gym at least eight times a month. Federal tax law requires these reimbursements to be taxed as income. The second pay statement adds their annual reimbursements to their taxable gross earnings on the 2019 W-2 they will receive in January. It also allows payment of FICA taxes. The University pays both the employer and employee portions of FICA for this reimbursement.

Taxes

IRS Issues New W-4 Form: The IRS has issued a new version of the W-4 form for 2020. It can be found here: https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/fw4.pdf

Here are a few key things to know about the form:

• A new concept: Withholding allowances will no longer be used.
• Employees are not required to complete a new revised form. The IRS has designed the withholding tables so they will work with both the new and previous forms.
• Employees hired in 2020 and any employees who make withholding changes during 2020 will be required to use the new form.
• Employers cannot give employees advice on what content to provide on the form. Instead, direct employees to the Tax Withholding Estimator (www.irs.gov/W4App). We are working to make the new form available in MyU by January 1.
• Employees will receive the following communication:

The 2020 Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Certificate, is very different from previous versions. This is due to the federal tax law changes that took place in 2018. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is not requiring all employees to complete the revised form and has designed the withholding tables so that they will work with both the new and prior year forms. However, certain employees will be required to use the new form: those hired in 2020 and anyone who makes withholding changes during 2020.

Even though the IRS does not require all employees to complete the revised form, and even if your tax situation has not changed, we recommend you perform a "paycheck checkup" to see if you need to make adjustments to your current withholding. To conduct the checkup, you can use the IRS's Tax Withholding Estimator (www.irs.gov/W4App). To effectively use the estimator, it is helpful to have a copy of your most recent pay stub and tax return. It is likely that the estimator will be updated to account for the 2020 tax tables in early January. Please note: if you do not submit a new form, withholding will continue based on your previously submitted form.

The IRS has also published Frequently Asked Questions that you may find helpful as you complete the form (https://www.irs.gov/newsroom/faqs-on-the-draft-2020-form-w-4).

Student Employees

Work-Study Reminders:

• Work-study funds cannot be used on days when the University is closed, including University holidays (refer to your campus holiday calendar) and unexpected campus closures.
• For campus closures, it is a best practice not to use work-study student employees as essential employees, and departments should inform those students that they should not report to work on those days.
• If a student employee is graduating this fall 2019 semester, the last day they can work is December 22, 2019.
• If a student was not registered for the fall 2019 semester, the first day they can work is December 26, 2019.

Resources

New Look: Human Resources Area in Reporting Center: The Human Resources section in the Reporting Center will have a new look on December 16. The top-level folders will be “HR Operational,” “Talent Management,” “Work Study,” and “Workforce Analysis,” with subfolders containing relevant reports. We hope this new design will provide a more intuitive user experience. You can also use the “Filter by Title” search box at the top of the Reporting Center to quickly find a report or query. The change will not affect reports you have added to your Favorites.

Payroll Schedule

First 2020 Pay Date Moved From January 1 to January 2: The first scheduled pay date of 2020 is January 1. However, New Year's Day is a bank holiday, which means pay cannot be delivered on that day. In order for employees to receive their pay in the same tax year as it is accounted for, the University will move this pay date to the following business day, Thursday, January 2. Normally, pay dates are moved one day earlier if they fall on a bank holiday, except when the change affects taxes.

Resources

Presentation from December 5 Payroll Forum Now Online: If you missed the December 5 Payroll Forum, or would like to review the material, you can view a recording of the online session, or see the slide presentation only, on the Payroll Administration page of the OHR website or on the OHR Operations Google site in the Payroll section.

New Employees

Health Benefits Workshop December 12: The next Health Benefits Workshop will be held Thursday, December 12, from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in the Donhowe Building, Room 210. Participants should register in advance through Training Hub. Health Benefits Workshops are for employees who want to learn more about their benefit options (medical, dental, pre-tax flexible spending accounts, life insurance, and disability) and would like help before completing their enrollment online. This workshop complements the New Employee Welcome by providing detailed benefits information. New employees should plan to attend the earliest session after their start date. For questions, call 612-624-8647 and select option 1 to reach Employee Benefits.

Benefits

Open Enrollment Ends December 2: Monday, December 2, is the last day for employees to review their benefits selections for 2020 and make any changes to their medical and dental coverage, short- or long-term disability coverage, flexible spending accounts, or additional life insurance. Employees can sign up through the My Benefits tab in MyU. Because HealthPartners Dental will be discontinued next year, employees who want dental coverage will need to select a Delta Dental plan for 2020. Employees will also need to enroll if they want a flexible spending account in 2020, even if they had an FSA in 2019. If they are satisfied with their current selections, don't want an FSA or additional life insurance, and are already enrolled with Delta Dental, they do not need to take any action; their benefits will stay the same for next year. Learn more about Open Enrollment options, which will take effect January 1, on the Open Enrollment website. For questions, email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647, 800-756-2363).

Resources

‘Employee Job History’ in UM Reports Has Been Retired: The HR Analytics Employee Job History report in the MyU Reporting Center has been enhanced to include all job history information dating back to 1998. The previous version of the dashboard provided data back to April 6, 2015. In addition to the expansion of historical data, the dashboard has been updated with new security features: Only HR professionals can view the job history of all employees. As a result of these enhancements to the HR Analytics report, the legacy Employee Job History in UM Reports has been retired.

Schedule

Payroll Close and the Holiday Season: Thanksgiving Week: This year the Thanksgiving holidays fall on November 28 and 29, which is during a payroll close week. With a shortened week, the unit deadlines that normally fall on Wednesday of payroll close week will be pushed back to Tuesday, November 26. Payroll Services will carry out a one-day payroll close on Wednesday, November 27, with a payroll update deadline of 1:00 p.m. Please keep this in mind as you are planning for coverage during the short holiday week.

Christmas Week: The University's holidays during the week of Christmas also fall on a payroll close week. The University will be closed from Monday, December 23, through Wednesday, December 25, leaving only Thursday and Friday to process and close payroll. In this case, the unit deadlines that normally fall on Wednesday of payroll close week will be moved to Thursday, December 26. Payroll Services will carry out a one-day payroll close on Friday, December 27, with a payroll update deadline of 1:00 p.m.

In both of these cases we urge units to plan ahead. As much as possible, please ensure that time, absences, and job data are entered, approved, and validated before the abbreviated payroll close weeks.

Meeting

Save the Date: Online Payroll Forum Thursday, December 5 : This quarter's Payroll Forum will be held online from 11:00 a.m. to noon on Thursday, December 5. We will record the session and make it available online for those not able to attend at that time.

Resources

Updated Employee Job History (HR Analytics) Report: On Monday, November 25, the Employee Job History (HR Analytics) report will be enhanced to include all job history information dating to 1998. The previous dashboard provided data back to April 6, 2015. The dashboard will also be updated with new security features; only HR professionals will be able to view the job history of all employees.

Employee Wages

State Minimum Wage Set to Increase to $10: Minnesota's minimum wage will increase by 1.4% to $10 an hour for large employers beginning January 1. The minimum wage is now $9.86 an hour. All University of Minnesota employees, including student workers, must be paid at or above this rate no later than January 1. HR Leads will receive a report of any affected employees in mid-December. The Office of Human Resources will process pay increases centrally, using an effective date of December 23. These changes will appear on January 15 paychecks. We want to make you aware of this change now so you can begin to assess the potential impact to your collegiate or administrative unit.

Payroll Schedule

Payroll Close Deadlines Affected by Thanksgiving Holiday: This year the Thanksgiving holidays fall on November 28–29, which is during a payroll close week. With a shortened week, the unit deadlines that normally fall on Wednesday of payroll close week will be pushed back to Tuesday, November 26. Payroll Services will carry out a one-day payroll close on Wednesday the 27th, with a payroll update deadline of 1:00 p.m. Please keep this in mind as you plan for coverage during that short holiday week.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Departmental Non-Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay): OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 17th in a continuing series of data dashboards- Departmental Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay). This new dashboard displays the non- institutional base salary compensation (otherwise known as additional pay) by HR department hierarchy for any date range from the start of fiscal year 2019 (June 1, 2018) to the present. The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Departmental Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay).

Data Entry

Future-Dated Benefits Row Added to Some Employee Records: During the week of October 28 to November 1, a 12/9/2019 Data Change/Benefits Use Only row will be inserted into some employee records for Open Enrollment processing. Please do not delete this row unless the employee is terminating before December 9, 2019.

Benefits

Open Enrollment Starts November 1: Open Enrollment begins November 1 and runs through December 2. This is the one time each year employees can make changes to their benefits, including medical and dental coverage, short- and long-term disability, flexible spending accounts, and Voluntary Life Insurance.

The medical plan rates have changed for 2020. In addition, as of January 1, 2020, HealthPartners Dental will no longer be a UPlan option. Employees now enrolled in HealthPartners Dental should choose a Delta Dental option during Open Enrollment to continue dental coverage in 2020. Otherwise:

• Employees who now have HealthPartners Dental and use the Open Enrollment online portal through MyU to submit changes to their benefits but do not select a dental plan are waiving their dental coverage for 2020.
• Employees who now have HealthPartners Dental but do not enter the Open Enrollment online portal and submit any changes to any benefits for 2020 will be automatically enrolled in a similar Delta Dental plan.

Employees who want a flexible spending account for 2020 will need to enroll whether or not they have had one before—FSA selections do not carry over to the next year.

To make a change, employees need to enroll online through MyU by the December 2 deadline. The selections they make will take effect January 1. If an employee does not want an FSA, is already enrolled with Delta Dental, and doesn't want to add or change anything about their current benefits, they do not need to take any action; their benefits will stay the same for next year.

For more information, see the Open Enrollment website, or email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647, 800-756-2363).

System Improvement

Improvements to Distribution Entry: Improvements to the search and display features of the UM Distribution Entry page in HRMS will be made on Sunday, October 20. These improvements include:

• A more robust search screen. A drop-down menu to select the department or employee distribution view will replace the radio buttons. The search criteria and results now display on the same page for quicker navigation.
• Introduction of the "As Of" search criterion. This new criterion allows you to view job data and distribution funding levels as of a specific date in the fiscal year.
• Appointment funding page: The distribution effective date has moved above the job data information. Job data will now display relative to the current distribution effective date.
• All funding level pages changed to a pop-up window that overlays the main search page, and the action buttons have been standardized (Save and Close). This allows for a consistent experience in all pages.

For more information, see the job aid Distribution Entry Improvements Fall 2019.

News

Two Important Regulatory Changes Effective January 1:
State Minimum Wage Increasing to $10
Minnesota's state minimum wage will increase to $10 an hour for large employers effective January 1, 2020, from the current rate of $9.86 an hour. All employees, including student workers, must be paid at or above this rate. We will provide more information next month about the process the Office of Human Resources will follow to implement these mandated increases, but we wanted to make you aware now so you can begin to assess the potential impact to your collegiate or administrative unit.

Salary Threshold for Maintaining Exempt Status Increasing to $35,568 per Year
The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently released the final rule increasing the salary threshold for white-collar exemptions to the federal overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act from $23,660 to $35,568, effective January 1, 2020. The DOL did not make any changes to the duties test. Collegiate and administrative units will receive more information in the coming months, including a project timeline and steps for identifying solutions for affected employees.

Student Workers

Student Work-Study Reminders: As you continue to hire for student jobs, here are a few tips to make sure your work-study students are set up properly:

• On the UM WS Award Placement page, be sure the Placement Status appears on your department's record with the appropriate effective date. The effective date is usually the student's hire date.
• Use the "Employed Student With Unused Work Study Awards" query in the Reporting Center to identify any student worker in your unit who may have a work-study award that is not being used. If one of your student workers appears on the report, talk with them about using their award and complete the work-study placement panel.
• Students can have more than one work-study job. They can decide to split their work-study between a maximum of two positions. How the award is divided between the two employing departments is up to the students. To split work-study, please email stdtempl@umn.edu with the student ID and how much the student would like to allocate to each job record (for example, 50/50).

The department will begin receiving the partial reimbursement of the student's earnings once the placement panel is completed. The work-study placement panel is part of the appointment entry process. Please refer to the Work Study Placement Job Aid for entry details, or find it on the A-Z Materials/Tools page of the HRMS Instruction site.

For questions, please contact Student Employment Programs at stdtempl@umn.edu or 612-626-8606.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Headcount and FTE by Administrative Cost Benchmark and Subgroup: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 16th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee Headcount and FTE by Administrative Cost Benchmark and Administrative Cost Benchmark Subgroup. This new dashboard displays the headcount and FTE by administrative cost benchmark, administrative cost benchmark subgroup, and HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015, to the present. The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Headcount and FTE by Admin Cost Benchmark and Subgroup.

System Issue

Daily System Interruption Between 12:30-1 p.m.: Each afternoon there is a process that runs to update who has access to view University of Minnesota employee data in the HRMS system. If this process does not complete successfully, all users lose HRMS access until the process runs to success. This normally occurs 2-3 times per year but has recently increased significantly to almost daily in the last few weeks. The process is being monitored daily so that issues can be resolved quickly, however, you may experience a 10-15 minute interruption in the afternoon between 12:30-1 p.m. until a more stable solution can be developed. Development is in progress and we will communicate back when the solution is implemented. This issue does not impact the data in the system.

Resources

UM Report 'Job Code Average Salary' to Be Retired: The Job Code Average Salary report will be removed from the Reporting Center on Monday, September 30. It has been replaced with the Employee NHBR Job Code Average Salary report found in the Human Resources area of the Reporting Center and delivered through the UM Analytics system (MyU > Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee NHBR Job Code Average Salary). Please send an email to OHR@umn.edu by September 27 if you have any concerns with the removal of this report.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay): OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 15th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay). This new dashboard displays an employee's "non-institutional base salary compensation" (otherwise referred to as "additional pay") for any date range from the start of fiscal year 2019 to the present.

The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Non Institutional Base Salary (Addl Pay).

Resources

OHR Operations Website: A Wealth of Resources in One Location: The busy fall semester is here, and so we would like to remind you of a resource developed to make your human resources–related duties easier: the OHR Operations website. It has payroll information, links to resources, tips and tricks, an archive of the OHR Operations updates, and much more. If you have questions or feedback about the site, please email ohr@umn.edu .

New Procedure

Updates on Implementing Minnesota's New Wage Theft Law: A new Minnesota law, which took effect July 1, provides several protections for employees from wage theft by their employers. Among the law's provisions, employers are required to provide new employees with a very detailed written notice of the terms and conditions of their employment when they start work, which should be included in the offer letters the University sends to new hires. In addition, all employees must receive advance written notice of changes in any of the terms and conditions of employment. Here are a few updates on the University's implementation of the law:

• Temporary, casual, and labor-represented employees should be included in coverage under the Wage Theft Law. Student workers are not covered by the law.
• Offer letter templates on OHR's website have now been updated to comply with the law. Please download the new versions and use them from now on. (Note: The offer letters available in the Recruiting Solutions module in PeopleSoft have not been updated. We have determined that they do not meet the law's requirement that employees must review and sign their offer letters. We are still reviewing how to resolve that issue.)
• OHR is working on a process of notifying employees about changes in their terms and conditions of employment. In the meantime, if you make changes to an employee's terms and conditions, notify the employee as soon as possible in advance of the change.
• For employees who request a language translation of their notice of employment terms (a right under the new law), the Minnesota Department of Labor has downloadable notices online in several languages . If you need further translation help, the State of Minnesota has a contract with Betmar Languages that includes the University. Use the normal purchase order process and reference state contract S-888(5).

For a helpful resource on the Wage Theft Law, see this question-and-answer page of the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry. As always, the Contact Center can also help with specific questions.

Training

Reminder on Completing 'Preventing Sexual Misconduct' Training: Occasionally new employees call the Contact Center asking why they haven't been credited with completing the Preventing and Responding to Sexual Misconduct training, even though they have taken the course. Most likely it is because the employees haven't completed the final step by pressing the Next button in Training Hub after finishing the course. To resolve the issue, see this guide on how to return to the training and complete the last step.

New Hires

Health Benefits Workshop September 20: The next Health Benefits Workshop for new employees will be held Friday, September 20. The workshops are for employees who want to learn more about their benefit options (medical, dental, pre-tax flexible spending accounts, life insurance, and disability) and would like help before completing their enrollment online. This workshop complements the New Employee Welcome by providing detailed benefits information. New employees should plan to attend the earliest session after their start date.

New employees should register in advance. For questions, call 612-624-8647 and select option 1 to reach Employee Benefits. Meetings will be held on the following dates from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in the Donhowe Building, Room 210:

• Friday, September 20
• Thursday, October 10
• Thursday December 12

Student Workers

Student Work-Study Reminders: As students return for the new school year and are hired for student jobs, here are a couple of tips to make sure your work-study students are set up properly:

• On the UM WS Award Placement page, be sure the Placement Status appears on your department's record with the appropriate effective date. The effective date is usually the student's hire date. The first day a student can work is 8/19/19.
• Use the "Employed Student With Unused Work Study Awards" query in the Reporting Center to identify any student worker in your unit who may have a work-study award that is not being used. If one of your student workers appears on the report, talk with them about using their award and complete the work-study placement panel.
• Students may have more than one work-study job, if interested. Students can decide to split their work-study between a maximum of two positions. How the award is divided between the two employing departments is up to the students. To split work-study, please email stdtempl@umn.edu with the student ID and how much the student would like to allocate to each job record (for example, 50/50).

The department will begin receiving the partial reimbursement of the student's earnings once the placement panel is completed. The work-study placement panel is part of the appointment entry process. Please refer to the Work Study Placement Job Aid for entry details, or find it on the A-Z Materials/Tools page of the HRMS Instruction site.

For questions, please contact Student Employment Programs at stdtempl@umn.edu or 612-626-8606.

New Procedure

Layoff Letters: As a reminder, departments no longer need to send copies of layoff letters to the Total Compensation Department in OHR.

New Employees

Reminder: Foreign National Employees Need I-94 Form for I-9 Walk-in Appointments: Through September 4, foreign national employees who need to complete an I-9 will not need an appointment. They can stop by the Donhowe Building, Room 210, anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. To complete their I-9s, foreign national workers will need to bring some required documents, including their I-94 form, which can be printed from this government web page. Other required documents depend on the type of visa they have. They can find that Information on the I-9 Process for Foreign National Faculty, Staff, and Student Workers page of the OHR website.

News

First 2020 Pay Date Moved From January 1 to January 2: The first scheduled pay date of 2020 is January 1. However, New Year's Day is a bank holiday, which means pay cannot be delivered on that day. In order for employees to receive their pay in the same tax year that it should be paid, the University will move this pay date to the following business day, Thursday, January 2. Normally, pay dates are moved one day earlier if they fall on a bank holiday, except when the change affects taxes.

Contract Renewals

9-Over-9 Contract Renewal Reports Available: The 9-over-9 contract renewals for the Twin Cities and Rochester campuses and the Law School were completed on Thursday, August 15. The reports below are available in the MyU Reporting Center (Reports Run for Me > HR Contract Renew):

• UM CONTRACT RENEWALS (08/15/2019)
• UM CONTRACT RENEWALS (08/15/2019)

New Employees

I-9 Walk-in Dates for Foreign National Employees Begin This Week: Beginning today through September 4, foreign national employees who need to complete an I-9 will not need an appointment. During those dates, foreign national workers can complete their I-9s anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Donhowe Building, Room 210.
 
As a reminder, please make sure foreign national employees know what documents they need to bring to complete their I-9, based on the type of visa they have. They can find that Information on the I-9 Process for Foreign National Faculty, Staff, and Student Workers page of the OHR website. Foreign national workers will also need to bring their most current I-94.

Reminder

Increased Security Measures for Direct Deposit Authorization: As we all prepare for new employees, remember that, to increase the security of access to employees' direct deposit data, Payroll Services has added some additional steps to the process for updating a direct deposit using a revised paper Direct Deposit Authorization form. Keep in mind that the best and most secure way to establish a direct deposit is for an employee to set it up themselves online in MyU.  
 
If a paper form must be used, we now require these added security steps:

1. Unit HR/Payroll verification is now required. The new form includes fields for this verification.  
2. "Paper" forms will only be accepted by scanned email, sent to payforms@umn.edu from a unit HR/Payroll representative. We no longer accept paper forms by mail. To facilitate this, the new form no longer requires a Social Security number or a voided check or deposit slip.  
3. Only complete forms will be processed. If the form is not complete, it will be returned to the department. 

Procedure Change

Job Data Changes for Graduate Assistants: To prevent issues in running the tuition benefits program, job data changes to graduate assistants qualifying for Advanced Classification appointments can no longer be entered mid-semester or retroactively. Graduate assistants must meet the requirements for Advanced Classification job codes and must have their appointment entered before the beginning of the semester. If the graduate student’s qualifications are met or verified mid-semester, the hiring unit must then wait until the following semester to make the change. Email gaesinfo@umn.edu with questions.

Resources

August Payroll Forum Recording Now Online: A recording and PowerPoint slides from the August 14 Payroll Forum are posted on the Payroll page of the OHR Operations Google site. The meeting focused on the I-9 employment verification process but also included discussion of the January 2, 2020, pay date change, HR requirements under Minnesota's new wage theft law, and Payroll project updates.

New Employees

Health Benefits Workshop Dates Set Through December: Health Benefits Workshops are for employees who want to learn more about their benefit options (medical, dental, pre-tax flexible spending accounts, life insurance, and disability) and would like help before completing their enrollment online. This workshop complements the New Employee Welcome by providing detailed benefits information. New employees should plan to attend the earliest session after their start date.
 
Please register in advance. For questions, call 612-624-8647 and select option 1 to reach Employee Benefits.  Meetings will be held on the following dates from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m. in the Donhowe Building, Room 210.

• Monday, August 19
• Friday, September 20
• Thursday, October 10
• Thursday December 12

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee NHBR Starting Salary: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 14th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee NHBR Starting Salary. The new dashboard displays employee starting salary information by job and HR department hierarchy for any date range from April 6, 2015, to the present. (NHBR is an hourly compensation value that allows for comparison regardless of pay group, compensation frequency, standard hours, additional pay, etc. It is the best way to compare pay because it provides a common baseline for comparison that excludes other variables.)
 
The Employee NHBR Starting Salary dashboard is now available in the MyU Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources >  Employee NHBR Starting Salary.

Meeting

Next Payroll Forum Wednesday, August 14: The next Payroll Forum will be held Wednesday, August 14, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in Bruininks Hall, Room 412. As in previous years, the August Payroll Forum will focus on I-9 compliance. If you have specific topics or questions you'd like addressed, please email Heather Kidd at kidd0029@umn.edu.

New Employees

I-9 Walk-in Dates for Foreign National Employees: August 21–September 4: Mark your calendars: From August 21 to September 4, foreign national employees who need to complete an I-9 will not need an appointment. During those dates, foreign national employees can complete their I-9s anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Donhowe Building, Room 210.

Meeting

Next Payroll Forum Wednesday, August 14: The next Payroll Forum will be held Wednesday, August 14, from 9:00 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. in Bruininks Hall, Room 412. As in previous years, the August Payroll Forum will focus on I-9 compliance. If you have specific topics or questions you'd like addressed, please email Heather Kidd at kidd0029@umn.edu.

Contract Renewals

Preparing for 9-Month Contract Renewals: The 9-month contract renewals will be run the week of August 12. Please enter the Return from Short Work Break rows into job data by Friday, August 9.

New Employees

I-9 Walk-in Dates for Foreign National Employees: August 21–September 4: Mark your calendars: From August 21 to September 4, foreign national employees who need to complete an I-9 will not need an appointment. During those dates, foreign national employees can complete their I-9s anytime between 8:00 a.m. and 3:30 p.m. at the Donhowe Building, Room 210.

Procedure Change

Reporting Taxable Gifts to Employees and Taxable Expense Reimbursement: The Internal Revenue Code stipulates that the value of some awards or gifts to employees as well as some reimbursable expenses must be included in an employee’s income (for details, see University Employee Recognition Awards, an appendix to the University policy Business Expenses).  

When reporting employees' taxable gifts (including gift cards) and taxable expense reimbursements (expense reimbursements submitted after 60 days), departments will no longer have the option to gross up an employee's pay to cover any tax obligation related to an award. This aligns with the aforementioned policy. We have also developed a new taxable benefit reporting form that should be used when reporting these taxable gifts or taxable expense reimbursements.  

To report taxable benefits, gifts, or expenses as taxable income, complete the Taxable Benefit Taxation Reporting Form detailing the taxable income. Be sure to include all requested information. E-mail the form to payforms@umn.edu.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Departmental IBS by Workforce Category: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 13th in a continuing series of data dashboards—Departmental IBS by Workforce Category. This new dashboard displays institutional base salary by workforce category and HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015, to the present. The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Departmental IBS by Workforce Category.

Procedure Change

Change to MSRS Vacation and Comp Payments for Active Employees: As of July 1, the Minnesota State Retirement System (MSRS) is requiring the University of Minnesota to cover the first 40 hours of vacation or compensatory time payments for MSRS purposes if the payments are made while the employee is actively employed. You may notice on your payroll reports that several earnings codes (TMO, TMD, and CMO) have been added to accommodate this requirement. Time and Absence has been reprogrammed to allocate these payments appropriately, starting on the July 31 paycheck.
 
If you are a member of the HRMS Advisory Committee, you will notice that the actual processing method is not changing, as we are able to program the changes to occur automatically. We hope this is good news for you, as it simplifies the process significantly.

Reminder

Summer Work-Study Items to Keep in Mind: Because Wednesday, July 4, is a University holiday, students' earnings cannot be funded by work-study. For the Fourth of July and other official University holidays, departments are responsible for 100% of the students' pay on those dates.

Also, students are eligible for employment during certain dates each term. The student employment begin and end dates for the 2019–2020 school year have been published to the OHR website

Procedure Change

Taxable Gifts to Employees: Beginning with the pay period starting July 8, departments that give employees taxable gifts, including gift cards, will no longer have the option to "gross up" (charge the tax to the University rather than to the employee) the reporting of these taxable earnings. The gross-up option is being discontinued because it requires additional complex steps to report the taxable income correctly. Making the change also aligns with finance practices.

New Hires

Foreign National Employees Should Make Appointments for I-9 Processing: Please emphasize to your foreign national employees who must come to Payroll to process an I-9 or reverification that they should call the OHR Contact Center (612-624-8647) to set up an appointment—even  those who need to come in the same day because of their start date. Scheduling appointments avoids long waits and assures that employees know what documents to bring.

Reminder

Personal Holidays Must Be Used by June 30: Please remind your employees that they must use their personal holidays by the end of this week. Unit HR and supervisors can review their employees' leave balances by running the "Vacation, Sick and Comp Balances" report in the Reporting Center. Follow this path: Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Payroll & Time > Vacation, Sick and Comp Balances.

Update

Payroll Accounting Distributions Are Ready for FY 2020: On Sunday, June 9, Accounting Services completed the payroll accounting distribution roll for fiscal year 2020. All current and future-dated payroll accounting distributions were automatically copied forward into the new 2020 entry and are now available for review.

Reminder: If any distribution changes are needed for the 26th pay period that should also apply to the first pay period of 2020, distribution changes must be made in both 2019 and 2020.

Payroll Update

First 2020 Pay Date Moved From January 1 to January 2: The first scheduled pay date of 2020 is January 1. However, News Year's Day is a bank holiday, which means pay cannot be delivered on that day. In order for employees to receive their pay in the same tax year as it is accounted for, the University will move this pay date to January 2. Normally, pay dates are moved back by one day if they fall on a bank holiday, except when the change impacts taxes.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Pay Increases: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 12th in a continuing series of data dashboards: Employee Pay Increases. This new dashboard displays employee pay increase information by workforce action and HR department hierarchy for any date range from April 6, 2015, to the present. The Employee Pay Increases dashboard is the first to use new security features that allow access to HR professionals only. If you can't view the dashboard but believe you should have the access granted only to HR professionals, please send an email to ohr@umn.edu requesting access and explaining why it is required in your role.
 
The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Pay Increases.

Records Update

Contract Renewals Updated: Contract renewals for 12-month appointments and 9- or 10-month appointments paid over 12 months have been entered. Contracts, job data, and notice of appointments have been updated. Five contract renewal reports, dated 5/21/19, are available in the Reporting Center via Reports Run for Me > HR Contract Renew.

Records Update

Teamsters Pay Increases and Step Realignments Are Now Entered: Teamster pay increases and step realignments for eligible job codes and employees were manually entered by OHR the week of May 20. OHR updated the Salary Admin Plan/Grade tables in PeopleSoft with the new hourly rates of pay and step realignments. For eligible employees, Central OHR manually inserted a Data Change/Special Circumstances row and updated the hourly rate of pay and/or the step. Not all Teamster employees were eligible for these updates.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Departmental Institutional Base Salary: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the 11th in a continuing series of data dashboards— Departmental Institutional Base Salary. This new dashboard displays institutional base salary by pay component (such as base, hourly, or incremental pay) and HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015, to the present. It allows comparisons across and within departments. The new dashboard is now in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Departmental Institutional Base Salary.

System Update

New Look for U: PeopleTools Update Coming June 1–2: On Saturday and Sunday, June 1–2, the University's PeopleSoft system will be updated. The project team will be sending change management communications weekly in preparation for the launch. Please review these communications and familiarize yourself with the upcoming changes. In addition, mark your calendars so your unit can plan around the service outage during the launch weekend. If you have questions about the PeopleTools update, contact psupdate@umn.edu.

Resources

OHR Contact Center Reduces Hours Due to Training Through June: Throughout May and June, the OHR Contact Center team is going through training to learn all aspects of benefits, payroll, and HR operations. Contact Center phone lines will be closed during these times:

 
Team members will be trained to take all calls starting July 1.

Although the Contact Center phone lines will be unavailable, you can still email ohr@umn.edu to open a case, and we will reply as quickly as possible when we return. Thank you for your support as we do this important cross-training to enhance our service.

Resources

OHR Contact Center to Reduce Hours Due to Training Through June: Starting May 7, the OHR Contact Center team will be going through training to learn all aspects of benefits, payroll, and HR operations. Team members will be trained to take all calls starting July 1. Throughout May and June, Contact Center phone lines will be closed during these times:

 
Although the Contact Center phone lines will be unavailable, you can still email ohr@umn.edu to open a case, and we will reply as quickly as possible when we return. Thank you for your support as we do this important cross-training to enhance our service.

New Procedure

Increased Security Measures for Direct Deposit Authorization: To increase the security of access to employees' direct deposit data, Payroll Services is adding some additional steps to the process for updating a direct deposit using the paper Direct Deposit Authorization form. While the revised form is now available, the new requirements will be effective Monday, May 6, 2019. Keep in mind that the best and most secure way to establish a direct deposit is for an employee to set it up themselves online in MyU.  
 
If a paper form must be used, we will require the following additional security steps:

1. Unit HR/Payroll verification will be required to be processed. The new form includes fields for this verification.  
2. "Paper" forms will only be accepted by scanned email, sent to payforms@umn.edu from a unit HR/Payroll representative. We will no longer accept paper forms by mail. To facilitate this, the new form will no longer require a Social Security number or a voided check or deposit slip.  
3. Only complete forms will be processed. If the form is not complete, it will be returned to the department.

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Headcount by Workforce Category: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the tenth in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee Headcount and FTE by Workforce Category. This new dashboard displays the numbers of employees in broad employment categories—such as athletics, building and grounds, executive leadership, faculty, legal, and so on—for any date from April 6, 2015, to today. It also allows comparisons across and within the HR department hierarchy. This dashboard is the first to use the workforce category, which is defined as a "categorization of job codes used to organize University employees and student workers into groupings based on the type of work performed." Importantly, this and other dashboards represent a shared understanding of how this information is defined; users can trust that the information has been vetted and approved by the greater organization.
 
The new dashboard is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Headcount and FTE by Workforce Category.

New Procedure

1826 and 1885 Job Openings: New Screening Questions: As part of a pilot program beginning April 15, unit recruiters will be required to add system screening questions to all new job openings for 1826 and 1885 job codes. This pilot aims to reduce screening time so that hiring managers can review and contact qualified applicants sooner. A new job aid is available on adding these screening questions. To see the job aid, visit the A–Z Materials/Tools page or the Recently Updated Materials page of the HRMS Instruction site and click on Adding Screening Questions to a Job Opening.

New Procedure

Updated Hiring Manager Access: Starting April 15, the Hiring Manager, Interviewer, and Search Committee roles in Recruiting Solutions will have access to only qualified applicants for Civil Service and Labor-Represented positions. These roles will not have access to applicants who have not been screened by a central recruiter or to applicants whose status has been changed to "Rejected." This change restores the access previously in place and eliminates the possibility of hiring an applicant who is not minimally qualified.

New Procedure

Single Sign-on for I-9 Express: Department I-9 administrators are now able to access I-9 Express using their University log-in credentials. From now on, please log in to I-9 Express using this URL: z.umn.edu/i9express. The current sign-in method, including your current password, has been disabled. Employees completing I-9s will continue to access I-9 Express the same way they do now.

Resources

Summer Appointments Instructions for 2019 Now Online: Many units are already starting to think about the approaching summer term. To help with summer hiring, OHR has updated the summer teaching appointments instruction manual for 2019. Here is a link to this year's materials. You can also view them by visiting the HRMS Training site and clicking on A-Z Lists > A-Z Material/Tools > Summer Teaching and Research Appointments (Includes May Sessions).

Resources

More Data Now Available for Ad Hoc Reports: The data available in HR Analytics ad hoc reporting has been greatly expanded. You can now run your own customized reports using all the compensation data in the four existing compensation dashboards. In addition, the data now include all active and inactive employees and workers, including undergraduate student workers and temp/casuals.
 
If you don't yet have ad hoc reporting access, you can complete an Access Request Form (see instructions below). You will also need to complete two Training Hub courses as prerequisites: Working with Employee Data (OHR060) and one of the UM Analytics: Creating Basic Analyses and Dashboards (EUS132, EUS133, or EUS134) courses. Register for both in Training Hub. We have also scheduled a working lab for Thursday, April 18, from 1:00 to 4:00 p.m. in Humphrey 50A. 
 
To complete an Access Request Form (ARF): From OIT's Enterprise Access Requests page, scroll down to Instructions and Forms and select Additional Applications & Data Warehouse Tables > Additional Applications > UM Analytics. On the ARF form, under Author Access, select Human Resources—Public.

Schedule Change

One-Day Payroll Close Thursday, March 21: Payroll Services will close payroll on Thursday, March 21, due to the Friday, March 22, floating holiday. Please submit Payroll Updates no later than 1:00 p.m. on Thursday, March 21, in order for them to be processed.

Meeting

Save the Date: Online Payroll Forum Tuesday, March 26: This quarter's Payroll Forum will be held as an online-only meeting and will take place on Tuesday, March 26, from noon to 1:00 p.m. We'll share sign-on information in next week's Operations update.

Systems Update

PeopleTools Update Postponed Till June 1–2: The PeopleTools update, originally scheduled for the weekend of April 6–7, has been postponed to the weekend of June 1–2. MyU and PeopleSoft applications will be available as usual April 6–7. The PeopleTools project team will send more information in the coming weeks.

Policies

FMLA Listening Sessions This Week: OHR will hold two listening sessions to gather information on internal processes units are using to track FMLA leave. We are working on developing standardized processes in response to the recent FMLA audit and want to hear what approaches are working for FMLA unit administrators. If you attend, please be prepared to share information on how your unit handles FMLA administration, and in particular how you track employees' use of FMLA leave. The sessions will be held: 

• Wednesday, February 27, 2:00 p.m.
• Friday, March 1, 9:00 a.m. 

Both sessions will be held in the Donhowe Building in conference room 210.

New Process

Single Sign-on for I-9 Express: Department I-9 administrators are now able to access I-9 Express using their University log-in credentials. From now on, please log in to I-9 Express using this url: z.umn.edu/i9express. The current sign-in method, including your current password, will be disabled for the University on March 8. Employees completing I-9s will continue to access I-9 Express the same way they do now. Department I-9 administrators who need access to I-9 Express can find the request here: https://it.umn.edu/self-help-guide/enterprise-access-requests-complete.

Systems Update

MyU and PeopleSoft Applications Unavailable Weekend of April 6–7: On Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7, the PeopleSoft development platform, PeopleTools, will be updated. We will be sending more information before then but wanted you to know that while the update work is underway, MyU and PeopleSoft applications will be unavailable for most of that weekend. Please mark your calendars so your unit can plan around the service outage. If you have questions about the PeopleTools update, contact pt_project_inbox@umn.edu.

Update

U of M's Indeed.com Job Postings Delayed: The process to send UMN job postings directly to Indeed.com each day has been delayed one week to March 3. The delay is needed to ensure adequate communication and testing. We appreciate your patience as we finalize this complicated process. Please contact your unit recruiter or Talent Acquisition consultant to discuss alternative advertising and sourcing strategies.

Resources

Headcount by Job Category Dashboard Has Been Modified: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released an enhancement to one of its previous data dashboards. The revised Headcount and FTE by Job Category dashboard removes the Leadership category and redistributes those employees to the category most applicable to their job code (P&A, Civil Service, Faculty, Labor Represented, Graduate Assistants, and Professionals-in-Training). The revised dashboard allows any University employee to easily gather headcount and FTE totals by job category at any level of the HR department hierarchy for any date from April 6, 2015. The Employee Headcount and FTE by Job Category report is available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Headcount and FTE by Job Category.

Resources

Regents Scholarship Info Now on OHR Operations Website: Do you have questions about the Regents Scholarship? The OHR Operations site now has some helpful documents on the Resources page, including some frequently asked questions about Regents Scholarship taxes. Take a moment to check out the revised Resources page.

Pay Increases

Pay Increases for AFSCME Technical Employees: PeopleSoft records will be updated the week of 2/25/19 to reflect pay increases to AFSCME Technical–represented employees as a result of recent contract negotiations. The annual and step increases will be reflected on the 3/13/19 payday. Specific instructions for processing retro pay and the non-recurring lump sum payment for eligible employees will be sent in a separate communication to HR Leads. The retro pay and non-recurring lump sum payments will be processed in the 3/4/19–3/17/19 pay period.

Resources

New Email Address for HRMS Help Desk: The email address hrmshelp@umn.edu has been deactivated. Please use the regular Contact Center address, ohr@umn.edu, and your email will be forwarded to the HRMS Help Desk.

Resources

Contact Center Moves to New Customer Management Software This Week: The OHR Contact Center is moving to a new customer relationship management system this week, which means hold times for callers may be a little longer for the next couple of weeks as the team gets used to the new system. You can reach the Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647, 800-756-2363).

New Procedure

Coming Soon: Single Sign-on for I-9 Express: In the next few weeks OHR will introduce a new sign-on procedure for I-9 Express that will allow I-9 administrators to access the site using their University log-in credentials. Look for more information in future Operations updates when we have determined the implementation date. I-9 administrators will also receive direct emails about the change. Employees completing I-9s will continue to access I-9 Express the same way they do now.

Update

Updated Military Data Entry Instructions: Maintaining accurate data in PeopleSoft about our employees’ veteran status is important for accurate reporting to the Department of Labor and for appropriately recognizing our veteran employees for their service to our country. To support consistent data entry, we recently updated the Appointment Entry job aid to clarify how military data provided by employees on the HR Information Form (HRIF) should be entered into PeopleSoft. Find the updated job aid on the HRMS Instruction site under Recently Updated.
 
In addition, the military fields on the HRIF have been updated to better align with the options in PeopleSoft. The updated document is on OHR's HRMS Training and Resources web page under Resources. Please make sure you are using this updated HRIF when asking employees for information.
 
As a reminder, employees can voluntarily choose to designate their veteran status anytime in MyU by navigating to My Info > More Personal Information.

Onboarding

Health Benefits Workshop for New Employees Friday: The next Health Benefits Workshop, designed for new employees interested in learning more about their benefit options, is scheduled for Friday from 9:00 to 10:30 a.m., in Room 210 of the Donhowe Building. The workshop covers medical, dental, pre-tax flexible spending accounts, life insurance, and disability benefits. It complements the New Employee Welcome by providing detailed benefits information before employees complete their enrollment online. Workshops are held monthly. New employees should plan to attend the earliest session following their start date at the University.
 
Employees should register in advance. They can call Employee Benefits at 612-624-8647 (select option 1) if they have questions in advance of the workshop. Upcoming workshops will also be held March 15 and April 12.

Update

Government Resumes Form I-9 E-Verify Processing: E-Verify resumed operations following the temporary reopening of the government. While all E-Verify features and services, including the ability to resolve a Tentative Non-Confirmation (TNC), are now available, you may experience longer than usual processing times as the government works through a large volume of accumulated cases. You may receive a response that they are working on your submission. 
 
Form I-9
Even though E-Verify service was disrupted and Form I-9 support representatives were unavailable during the government closure, employers were still required to complete Form I-9 for every person hired during that time.
 
Tentative Non-Confirmations
If your employee received a TNC and notified you of their intention to contest it by February 11, you must revise the date by which your employee must contact the Social Security Administration (SSA) or Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to begin resolving the TNC. To do this, add 10 federal business days to the date on your employee’s Referral Date Confirmation notice. Federal business days are Monday through Friday and do not include federal holidays. Give the revised notice to your employee. 
 
You may reprint a copy of your employee’s Referral Date Confirmation by logging in to E-Verify, selecting your employee’s case, and selecting the Print Confirmation button. Be sure to cross out the old date and insert the new date. Employees have until this new date to contact the SSA or DHS to resolve their cases.
 
For TNC cases that were referred after E-Verify resumed operations, do not add days to the time your employee has to contact either SSA or DHS. If your employee decided to contest the TNC when E-Verify was unavailable, you should now refer the employee’s case and follow the TNC process.

Resources

New and Improved HR Analytics Dashboards Introduced: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team continues to add to and improve its series of data dashboards, with two more releases:

• Employee Outside of Salary Grade Range is a new dashboard that identifies all employees whose pay falls below their salary grade minimum or above their maximum. It displays the employee's normalized hourly base rate (NHBR), the salary grade minimums and maximums, and whether the employee's NHBR is below the minimum or above the maximum. The report can be run by job code and HR department hierarchy for today's date. The new dashboard replaces the Reporting Center query Over Max/Under Min Salary. To see the new dashboard, navigate to MyU and click Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Outside of Salary Grade Range.
• Employee NHBR Jobcode Average Salary has been enhanced with a new tab titled Years of Service Analysis. The new feature displays the average normalized hourly base rate and calculated annual P12 salary by number of years an employee has been in each job code and their number of years at the University. The report can be run by job code and HR department hierarchy for any date since April 6, 2015. To see the enhanced dashboard, navigate to MyU and choose Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee NHBR Jobcode Average Salary.

Update

Pay Procedure for January 30 Campus Closure: We have had many questions about pay during the Twin Cities campus closure on Wednesday, January 30. The applicable policies are: 

Campus and Building Closing: Twin Cities

 
The policy states that employees required to work during an emergency closing that falls within their normal workweek will be awarded equivalent time off at regular pay for the hours they worked during the official closing. Time off granted under this policy must be approved by the supervisor and taken at a time convenient to the department. 
 
To report this equivalent time off, the employee should request an absence in Absence Management and choose Excused Paid as the absence type and Other as the reason code. This combination of type and reason will trigger the correct time reporting action to be recorded on the employee’s time sheet and will flow appropriately to Payroll Accounting.
 
For questions about these policies, please contact your Employee Relations consultant. For questions about requesting an excused paid absence, please email or call the OHR Contact Center at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647, 800-756-2363).

Update

Pay Increases for AFSCME Health Care Employees: PeopleSoft records have been updated to reflect pay increases to AFSCME Health Care–represented employees as a result of recent contract negotiations. Last week, central OHR processed the increases by manually inserting a Pay Rate Change/Annual Increase row and updating the hourly rate on that row and future-dated rows for bargaining unit employees. The new hourly rates will be paid in the 1/7/19–1/20/19 pay period, 1/30/19 pay day.
 
Units will need to enter all associated retro pay for the 1/21/19–2/3/19 pay period. Instructions and a spreadsheet with new hourly rates will be sent to HR Leads in all units that have employees from the health care bargaining unit. The instructions will outline how the increases were processed centrally and how the retro payments should be processed by units. HR Leads will be sharing those instructions with staff responsible for updating appointments.

Schedule change

OHR Contact Center to Close for a Few Hours Next Week for Training: On February 11, the OHR Operations Center, Payroll, and Benefits Administration teams will begin using Salesforce as their customer relationship management software, rather than ServiceNow. Because the change requires quite a bit of training before implementation, the Contact Center will be closed for training during these times next week:

January 28: 8:30 a.m.–noon
January 29: 10–11 a.m.
January 30: 8:30 a.m.–noon
January 31: 1:00–2 p.m.

Procedure Change

New I-9 Process for Foreign National Employees: We have some great news that will make I-9 processing for new foreign national employees easier! After consulting with experts and our I-9 Express vendor, we’ve learned that foreign national employees are not required to apply for a Social Security number before they complete their I-9. This will make it easier for foreign national employees to meet the University requirement of completing their I-9 on or before their first day of work for pay, because they can go to the Social Security Administration after completing their I-9.
 
Things to Know

• New F-1 and J-1 students and scholars who have just arrived at the UMN: All international students and scholars must attend ISSS’s Immigration Check-In (for students) or Scholar Check-In (for scholars) before they complete their I-9. New H-1B employees and others do not need to check in at ISSS (see the full list at the bottom of this message).
• New foreign national employees should call 612-624-8647 to make an appointment to complete their I-9 at OHR’s Foreign National Employee Support Desk.  
• F-1 student employees must obtain an employment verification letter (printed on department letterhead) from their department and bring it to ISSS to have it signed before applying for their SSN. J scholars do not need this letter.

Foreign national employees should be strongly encouraged to apply for their SSN within 10 days of their employment start date. A Social Security number is required for employment, and foreign nationals will not be able to claim tax treaty benefits until they have received and reported their SSN. They will also need their SSN for many personal transactions such as opening a bank account and filing a tax return.
 
We ask that all new foreign national employees call 612-624-9647 to make an appointment to complete their I-9 at OHR, but we do accept walk-ins for employees who are completing their I-9 on their first day of employment.  
 
Several types of non-immigrant employees are not required to check in with ISSS, including:

• H-1B and E-3 visa holders (optional but not required; interested individuals should call 612-626-7100 to make an appointment)
• F-1 OPT whose most recent I-20 was not issued by the UMN 
• J-1 Academic Training whose DS-2019 was not issued by the UMN
• J-1 Scholars whose DS-2019 was not issued by the UMN
• J-2s whose J-1s DS-2019 was not issued by the UMN
• Other visa types such as TN and O-1, for which ISSS is not involved in any stage of the application process

Resources

New HR Analytics Dashboard: Employee Institutional Base Salary: OHR Operations' HR Analytics team has released the eighth in a continuing series of data dashboards—Employee Institutional Base Salary. This new dashboard displays an employee's institutional base salary and breaks that salary into individual components to provide a single page view of that employee's institutional base salary. The report can be run by Employee ID for any date from April 6, 2015, to today.
 
The Employee Institutional Base Salary report is now available in the Reporting Center. In MyU, navigate to Key Links > Reporting Center > Human Resource Management > Human Resources > Employee Institutional Base Salary.

Update

I-9 Express, E-Verify, and the Federal Government Shutdown: You do not need to make any changes to your I-9 process due to the E-Verify service interruption during the federal government shutdown.

During the shutdown, the E-Verify system will not accept new I-9 form submissions. However, I-9 Management service will continue to hold I-9 forms in queue. Employees may work even though they do not yet have a status of "verified." Continue to ensure that both sections 1 and 2 of the I-9 form are completed on or before the first day of employment.

Once E-Verify is reinstated, the I-9 Management service will submit pending E-Verify cases. You do not have to track the status of the shutdown or resubmit cases. After the E-Verify system is running again, please continue to monitor your E-Verify open cases to ensure they are being handled in a timely manner.

Please email or call the OHR Contact Center with any questions at ohr@umn.edu or 4-UOHR (612-624-8647, 800-756-2363).

Update

Minimum Wage Increase: As of January 1, the minimum wage in the state of Minnesota was increased to $9.86 an hour for large employers. To reflect that change, on Friday, December 28, OHR centrally updated more than 3,100 records that were below the new minimum wage. A Data Change/Special Circumstances row effective 12/24/18 was inserted into job data to increase the hourly rate to $9.86 for affected employees.

Reminder

Check Your Offer Letters to New Hires for Correct I-9 Link: The OHR Contact Center occasionally gets calls about newly hired employees who can't access I-9 Express to fill out their I-9 information. Often it's because the offer letter they received gave them the wrong link to the site. Please make sure your unit's offer letters have the correct I-9 link. "I-9 Process Template Letters" for the various bargaining units, which have the correct link, can be found on the OHR website here: https://humanresources.umn.edu/supervising-u/template-letters. Units should use these templates as the basis for their offer letters.