January 2004

Graduate, Teaching, and Research Assistants and Associates who meet the eligibility requirements are provided Graduate Assistant/Associate health insurance. In addition, these students have an opportunity to "buy-up" and purchase enhanced coverage. This opportunity is only available through January 28, 2004.

Many graduate students seem unaware of this opportunity. Please remind Graduate, Teaching, and Research Assistants and Associates to review the information available on the web at www.okstate.edu/UHS/uhsgatarains.htm.

We recently ran a report against the On-Line Special Payments in HRS. We found special pays that had not been approved/paid even though we have passed the special pay end date. In fact, the special pay end dates range from 7/16/1999 to 11/21/2003.

We are asking departments to help us clean up these special payments. If they are no longer valid, please delete the special payment by changing the Earnings Code to ‘DEL’. If this does not delete the special pay, please contact Payroll Services at (405) 744-6372 and ask for assistance. If the individual is no longer at OSU and does not have a current assignment, you may not be able to delete the special pay and will need assistance from Payroll Services.

If the special pay is valid, please review and approve so the employee can be paid.

The office of Internal Audits will be performing an audit of the On-Line Special Pay system in early 2004. Cleaning up the system now can avoid questions and concerns in the near future.

Calendar Year 2003 W-2s will be mailed by January 31, 2004. Employees receive W-2s at home department/priority location (same as the payroll advice). Separated employees receive W-2s at home addresses.

W-2s will be distributed by University Mailing over several days. If employees do not receive their W-2 by February 9, they may call Employee Services, (405) 744-5449, to check on the address where it was mailed.

We will begin taking requests for W-2 reprints on February 9. Reprints will be mailed within two business days or can be picked up at 106 Whitehurst Information Hub.

HRS WebFOCUS applications have been unavailable for several weeks due to possible security weaknesses. While these applications will eventually be restored, a specific date has not been established. Once security issues are addressed and the HRS WebFOCUS applications can be made available, an announcement will be issued on the administrative officers list serve.

Leave Before/After the Holidays

Payroll processors who process the monthly confirmation should remember that employees who did not work on Monday, December 22 or Tuesday, December 23, 2003, and/or Friday, January 2, 2004, need to take annual leave or leave without pay.

Amounts of sick leave that accrue each pay period that are in excess of the 1600 hour maximum were transferred to an Extended Sick Leave Account. Amounts forfeited prior to July 1, 2003, were estimated from prior payroll records and amounts applied to the Extended Sick Leave Account for the last ten-year period.

This Extended Sick Leave Account balance can be found in HRS on Screen 046 – Accrual Maintenance. This balance is located in the Balance Available Column and in the Half Salary Sick row. See example below (bolded and italicized).

When entering leave balances on the Employment Action (EA) form, please do not combine these two sick leave balances. Both balances should be entered and labeled separately. A separate space will be provided for the Extended Sick Leave Balance on the next revision of the EA form.