HRF Meetings 2005-11 [Fall]

Arrivals/Promotions

• Elaine Phelps, Director of Benefit Program Administration
• Jessica Moore, Academic Affairs Generalist Team Leader

Departures

• Connie Boyce, Academic Affairs Generalist Team Leader
  

Information will be coming out soon from the University Counsel's office regarding the Identity Theft Protection Act, a new law limiting the use of Social Security numbers. HR Facilitators will be asked to report forms originating in their departments that use SSNs.

• The final phase of SPA RecruitmentWeb is a web-based applicant and position tracking and referral system for SPA employees. It offers the following benefits:
• • The entire candidate review, referral and selection process will be automated
  • The electronic process will eliminate the need to print every referred application, as well as referral records and selection documents
  • Transmission of information will also be handled electronically -- no more couriers, faxing or campus mail
  • Reduced turnaround time for all steps of the process
• A pilot phase, including approximately 30 departments, will begin in mid-December. Training for the pilot program will begin in early December.
• Full rollout to campus is anticipated in early February 2006. Training for this group will begin in mid-January.
• New! SPA RecruitmentWeb Records Retention Update: After SPA RecruitmentWeb goes live, the records retention schedule will be updated, and departments will no longer need to keep hard copies of all referred applications when recruiting for vacant positions. The electronic record of the application in SPA RecruitmentWeb will be sufficient to meet the requirements of our retention schedule. Note that this change will not be effective until after the complete system rollout in 2006. Further details will be provided during training.

Disciplinary actions must be placed in the employee's personnel file that is maintained by the Office of Human Resources. This includes all written warnings, pre-disciplinary conference notifications, notifications of investigatory status with pay and disciplinary action decision letters.

HR Generalists are available to assist departments in preparing the disciplinary letter prior to giving it to the employee.

The department must attach a copy of the staff grievance procedure to all written warnings or disciplinary actions, and indicate in the letter that the action is grievable under the University's Dispute Resolution and Staff Grievance Policy.

Procedural Change: The department must send a copy of the final signed document to their HR Generalist, CB# 1040, immediately after providing notice to the employee.  Currently, these letters are sent to Employee Services. The sample letters on the HR website have been updated to reflect this change. 

Any disciplinary letter from calendar year 2005 that previously had not been forwarded to the Office of Human Resources for processing should be sent immediately to the HR Generalist.  All subsequent actions should be sent as they occur.

• Effective November 1, 2005, retirees in TSERS cannot return to work for the State in any capacity for six months after the effective date of retirement. Optional Retirement Program participants are not affected.
• The provision contains an exception for participants in the Phased Retirement Program through June 30, 2007. This is being interpreted by the Office of the President as allowing anyone who enters the program prior to this date to complete the three-year program.
• The continuation of the Phased Retirement Program beyond June 30, 2007, for both TSERS and ORP participants is uncertain.
• We are working with the Office of the President to get clarification about the interpretation of the statute, related to whether faculty will be allowed to enter the program for fall 2007, or whether fall 2006 is the last opportunity under the current legislation.
• Communication about the 2006 Phased Retirement Program will go out to eligible faculty in December. The deadline for applications for fall 2006 is Jan. 31, 2006.

• OHR is currently planning a series of focus groups to gain input from various campus community segments on OHR issues and services.
• Planning a total of 11 groups, including staff, faculty, EPA non-faculty, HR Facilitators and others. Participants will be randomly selected.
• Institutional Research & Assessment will facilitate the groups.

• Following a preliminary two-week pilot earlier this fall, the EPAWeb Personnel Action System began a second pilot of the system on Nov. 1, including five departments. These pilot departments will be able to process all EPA actions for their base employees all the way through to the Payroll system.
• Full rollout to campus is anticipated in early January, presuming the pilot is successful.
• Training reminder: All users were asked to attend a 90-minute mandatory orientation meeting. Following this orientation meeting, two separate training options will be provided:
  • Users originating or preparing actions: Six-hour training classes now available for registration at www.training.unc.edu
  • Inquiry-only users: Computer-based training module (available in mid- to late November)
• See attachment (Oct. 19, 2005, memo) for additional information and contacts for questions.

Holiday Schedule
Departments or work units may choose to close for public business during the holiday period if such a closing would meet departmental operational needs; however, employees cannot be compelled to use leave (or take leave without pay) for any non-holiday workdays that the department is closed. Therefore, employees who wish to work must be allowed to come to work. The department must find meaningful work (consistent with the employee's current job duties) for the employee to do during that time.  Employees who do not wish to work must either:

1. Code leave for all non-holiday workdays during which the unit is closed; or
2. Code leave without pay if the employee has no available leave but wishes to be excused from work for those days

Interim Performance Reviews
A reminder that interim reviews for SPA employees must be completed by December 31.

Policy Changes
Departmental Recognition Programs Policy: A revised departmental recognition programs policy went into effect on November 1, 2005. The new policy raises the maximum amount a single employee may receive from one or more departmental award programs in a calendar year from $500 to $2,000 (gross). All departmental awards programs should be registered with the Employee Services Department for the University's Awards Registry (available on the Office of Human Resources website). In addition, all departmental award programs offering monetary or paid leave awards must be approved by the Employee Services Department prior to implementation. Departments should also send the names of each award recipient (and award amount, if applicable) to the Employee Services Department for inclusion on the Awards Registry.

On-Call Pay Exception: Effective October 31, 2005, the Office of State Personnel has granted an exception that allows employees in FLSA exempt IT positions to receive on-call pay, if approved by department management. Normally, FLSA exempt employees would not be allowed to receive pay for on-call hours, but could receive on-call time off. The use of this pay exception is at management's discretion.