EPAWeb End Employment Action

Important Note Prior to Finalizing or Communicating Any End of Permanent Appointments: Before finalizing or communicating an end of appointment decision for any permanent EPA non-faculty employee, departments will be required to contact the EPA Non-Faculty HR Unit in the Office of Human Resources (OHR) by phone so that the proposed action may be pre-screened. Pre-screening is not required for EPA non-faculty temporary or student employees, postdocs, or an employee who voluntarily submits their resignation in writing or by e-mail. Screening is required for at-will appointment ends, term non-reappointments, the exercise of a funding contingency due to loss of funding, and discharge for cause. EPAWeb end of appointment actions for these circumstances will *not* be approved by OHR until pre-screening has been completed.

The EPAWeb End of Employment action is used when an EPA non-faculty employee is separating from UNC-Chapel Hill employment. For a list of EPA End of Employment Termination reasons with definitions, click here. The EPAWeb End of Employment action is used for individuals...

• on the UNC-CH EPA non-faculty Payroll and leaving their EPA position for an SPA position, whether permanent or temporary, or;

Note: In these cases, use care to set the transfer from EPA to SPA field correctly and to notate this in comments to alert Payroll and Benefits that employment will be continuing to assure no benefits are interrupted.

• on the EPA non-faculty payroll and who is ending ALL of their EPA and/or SPA appointments with UNC-CH.

Note: An individual who is ending a primary EPA appointment but will be retained on the EPA Payroll with one or more other existing EPA appointments should not be terminated within EPAWeb, but instead the individual appointment ending should be processed through a Reappointment or Secondary Appointments action (in which an Actual End Date is entered).

Note:  An individual whose primary appointment is changing from one EPA position to a completely different EPA position, whose Permanent/Temporary Indicator will remain "Permanent", and where there is no break-in-service should not be terminated within EPAWeb, and the current unit should submit a Department Transfer action so that the gaining unit can process a Job Change action.

To ensure an employee continues to receive direct deposit of his/her paycheck, whenever an action is processed within EPAWeb or HRIS to initiate an employment period for someone who is switching from an EPA position to an SPA position, or vice versa, Payroll requires the resubmission of the appropriate Direct Deposit Form.

SPECIFIC DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS ("STANDARD ORDER")

The remainder of this page contains the standard order of documents for EPA End of Employment actions.

The EPA Non-Faculty Human Resources Office prefers whenever possible that all documents included with an EPAWeb action are attached as a single file (.pdf or .tiff format required) as opposed to separately attached files for ease of review at all approval levels.  This also facilitates easier re-attachment of required documents by the originating department should that become necessary in the event an action must be retracted and resubmitted.

Your School/Division administrative approval chain may have additional documentation requirements beyond what is required by EPA Non-Faculty Human Resources. Consult your Dean/Division HR staff if you have specific questions regarding any such requirements.

** This is a required item for permanent employees; this documentation is not required to be submitted to EPA Non-Faculty HR for temporary employee end of employments. **

When a permanent employee voluntarily submits his/her resignation: A signed letter of resignation should be obtained from the employee which includes the termination date whenever possible. E-mail is also acceptable but less preferable than a signed letter. Absent either, the department should attach a memorandum documenting the manner in which the employee communicated his/her intention to resign.

When a permanent employee's appointment is ended by the Department Head/Departmental Management (e.g., not a voluntary resignation by the employee): The Department should prepare the appropriate letter to the employee communicating the end of appointment with proper notice when applicable. Templates for the various end of appointment situations are included in the next section.

Note Concerning Term Appointments

In cases where a Term Appointment is being terminated during the second or subsequent year of service of the employee, if the written notification is not provided at least 90-days prior to the date of termination, the appointment must be extended for a period of 90 calendar days beyond the scheduled expiration date of the term.  Such an extension should be communicated within the same written notification of the termination.

• Click here for a non-reappointment/non-renewal letter template for a term employee with an expiring term. Notice Required: Non-reappointment for a 1-year term requires no advance notice regardless of whether the employee has had one or more prior 1-year term appointments; terms of 2- to 5-year durations require a 90-day notice of non-reappointment.
• Click here for an end of an at-will appointment with notice. Notice Required: In the first 12-months of at-will service, a 30-day working notice is due; following 1-year or greater of at-will service, a 90-day working notice is due the employee.
• Click here for an end of an at-will or term appointment due to funding contingency. Notice Required: If the original terms of appointment include a funding contingency, no advance notice is required. Departments are advised to provide notice whenever possible and a 30-day courtesy notice is recommended but not required or obligated.
• For a termination for cause of an at-will or term appointment employee, please contact OHR Employee & Management Relations E&MR). To identify your Department/School/Center's assigned E&MR representative, please refer to http://hrconnect.unc.edu/. EM&R in coordination with the EPA non-faculty HR unit will assist you in preparing any required communications to the employee. Termination for cause letters or documentation should not be attached to EPAWeb actions. The action comments should indicate the end of employment is due to termination for cause and any supporting documentation should be sent via paper to EPA Non-Faculty Human Resources.

For all other end of employment circumstances not described above, please contact the EPA Non-Faculty HR unit for assistance regarding the format of the communication to the employee.

Some Schools/Divisions limit signature authority for end of appointment letters to specific individuals. You should be certain to follow whatever guidelines are established by your administrative approval chain.

** This is a required item for leave-earning permanent employees which are those at .50 FTE or greater. **

A final report of the employee's leave balances must be attached to the EPAWeb end of employment action from the University's Time and Attendance (TIM) system, which should include accruals and debits for the month in which employment ends. If there is any discrepancy in the leave payout or lack of payout in the proposed end of employment action as compared to the TIM System, it must be fully explained in the action comments or in an attached memorandum from the terminating department.

Note: if a permanent employee's FTE was reduced to below .50 FTE prior to the End of Employment action, include a comment in the End of Employment action referencing the serial number(s) for the preceeding Lump Sum Payment and/or Salary/FTE Change actions (in cases where leave payout is not permitted, only the Salary/FTE Change action will exist).

Detailed guidelines on leave payout for EPA non-faculty employees are available by referring to the following web page: http://hr.unc.edu/epanf/epa-nf-pol/leave/epanf-leave-disp.

For employees with 24 months or less of UNC-CH leave earning service, but who have a combined leave earning service in excess of 24 months when also counting leave earning service from one or more North Carolina local or state government agencies, please include appropriate documentation in support of that service as an attachment to the EPAWeb action.  Such documentation would be anything in support of the unit's, school's or division's verification of that prior leave earning service.  This would include a memorandum addressing the prior employment, service period(s), agency(ies), and leave earning status (permanent or with benefits, not temporary).  Or, it could also be a copy of the credential verification and a comment within the action, if appropriate.  Any questions regarding what prior service counts towards this calculation should be resolved with EPA Non-Faculty Human Resources prior to submitting the End of Employment action in order to facillitate action review and approval.

When employment ends because the position was eliminated or abolished due to reduction in or reallocation of funding used to support the job or its responsibilities, in total or in part, the employee may be entitled to up to twelve (12) months of employer-paid coverage under the State Health Plan.

Note: after the twelve month period, the employee would be able to continue his/her coverage at his/her own expense.  Employees not eligible for this limited coverage may opt to pay for their own coverage.  In addition, the employee would continue to be responsible for any costs to provide coverage for dependents, both during that initial twelve month period and afterward.

An employee IS eligible when all of the following requirements are met:

• the position must be eliminated due to reduction in funds, in total or in part, or reallocation of funds that support the position or its responsibilities

• the individual must have been employed for at least 12-months in a permanent position by UNC-Chapel Hill and/or another State government agency or UNC campus and be participating in the State Health Plan at the time the position is eliminated 

• the employee's work hours must have been at least 30 hours a week or .75 FTE during the 12 months preceding the end of employment

Schools, Units or Divisions who plan to eliminate or abolish an EPA Non-Faculty position due to reduction in or reallocation of state funds used to support the job or its responsibilities, in total or in part, should contact EPA NF HR to discuss before proceeding (#962-2897). At that time, if this eligibility applies, EPA NF HR will provide additional language to include in the end of employment notification letter provided to the employee.

Click here to see this specific University of North Carolina policy.

An employee is NOT eligible if any of the following apply:

• an employee whose contract letter specified a funding contingency and the end of appointment is due to an exercise of this contingency
• an employee whose term appointment happens to end at the same time the position is being eliminated or abolished
• an employee whose appointment is being ended for any reason other than reduction in or reallocation of funds
• an employee who opts to retire at the end of employment
• • that is, withdraw from active service with a a retirement allowance from TSERS or ORP -- the retiree health insurance program would then apply

Questions

Questions about an employee's benefits should be directed to the appropriate Benefits Specialist within OHR for the respecitve Unit, School or Division utilizing HR Connect.  When using HR Connect remember to enter either the Department Name or Department Number to ensure you reach the appropriate Benefits Specialist.  The "Topic List" choice is "Benefits Questions".

Other questions related to this limited eligibility for Health Plan Coverage for EPA Non-Faculty employees should be directed to EPA NF HR (962-2897).

• Although faxed or electronically submitted documents with signatures can be utilized to initiate the end of employment process, the original documents should be obtained and maintained within departmental files.
  
• The Effective Date of the End of Employment action should match the date specified in attached documentation or be addressed through comments within the action.
  
• The Effective Date of the End of Employment action should also be the same dates listed in the fields within the action titled "End of Employment" and "Pay Through Date".
  
• When the action is approved, review the comments section for any additional information (such as, reference to any additional documentation that may be required and submitted via the EPAWeb "Add Other Document" feature).
  
• Whenever possible, EPAWeb actions should be submitted one to two weeks prior to the effective date to ensure adequate time for review and approval at each level.  This is especially the case for end of employment actions to ensure that no overpayment of salary and benefits occurs. Actions should be initiated to arrive in EPA Non-Faculty Human Resources by the 15th of the month unless an earlier schedule has been communicated due to holidays.