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| September 2004 |
It is extremely important to understand and carefully review payroll processes to ensure that all employees are paid timely and correctly. The HRStar Calendar and the biweekly and monthly processing schedules are on the HR website at www.okstate.edu/osu_per. Click on Administrative Helps, then Processing Schedules and Deadlines. Departments need to be familiar with these schedules and the departmental responsibilities related to payroll functions.
Human Resources offers the HRStar Performer Program to help train departmental staff on HRS and the Payroll Process. We encourage departments to send at least one representative to this program. This person can become the department’s HRS expert and help payroll processing become more efficient on all sides.
Classes are as follows:
HRS, Sept 24, Oct 22, Nov 19.
Employment Action Forms & Payroll Sign-Up Oct 5, 14.
Payroll Processing Oct 19, 28.
Payroll Accounting Nov 9, 12.
Information about the HRStar Performer Program can be found on the web at www.okstate.edu/osu_per/hr/hrstar.htm or refer to the OSU Faculty and Staff Development Opportunities brochure.
Fall Break is scheduled for Monday and Tuesday, October 25 and 26, 2004. Tuesday, October 26, is the deadline for Biweekly Time Input for the 4R08 payroll which covers the period October 9 through October 22.
It is important that each department plan ahead to make sure they have at least one inputter and one approver for their Biweekly Time Input. Remember, Biweekly Time Input should be input and approved by 3:00 pm on Tuesday, October 26, 2004.
• Job Code B is to be used for non-retirement faculty with an assignment of
six months or more with the following class codes and titles: 6608 - Interim
Faculty (Visiting/Adjunct Faculty), 6589 - Fellow (Post Doctoral Fellow), 1979
(Interns), or 1971 (Residents).
• Job Codes R (biweekly) and J (monthly) have been added so leave accrual does
not decrease for any employee who may be reclassified from exempt to nonexempt.
• The Student Professional title is no longer available. If you think a student
or temporary position may qualify as exempt in accordance with the Fair Labor
Standards Act, please contact HR, (405) 744-5373, for the appropriate position
number and class code. Otherwise, use the nonexempt student code 1767 (Student
Employee).
• Class Codes 5067 (Senior Facilities Services Manager) and 3148 (Systems
Support Technician) have been eliminated. Positions have been transferred to
class codes 5069 (Senior Administrative Services Manager) and 3147 (Technical
Support Contributor), respectively.
Use of Administrative Position and Effect on Average Benefit Rate
In the July issue of Inside Information, we shared information that an administrative assignment (assignment #998, position #000001) should only be used for occasional payments to temporary employees. Employees who are receiving regular or frequent payments through the Special Payment system should be placed in a specific hourly position so payments are identified. When these employees work, the department will just need to specify the hours worked on time input.
In addition, placing an employee in a specific position ensures that the appropriate average benefit rate is applied to the position based on the home department and the job code. When an administrative assignment is used, the system automatically defaults to the highest rate for the job code used. This could result in higher costs to departments, grants and contracts, stores, and auxiliary services.
Remember, more than one employee can be placed in a position. "Pooled" positions also offer the advantages of appropriate average benefit rates and tracking of labor expenses without the need to establish individual positions.
Recent legislation requires employees hired after December 31, 2004, to participate in the direct deposit system. Therefore, employees hired January 1, 2005, are required to sign up for direct deposit.
HRS Tip: US5 – A New Special Pay Screen
A new Special Pay screen (US5) has been added to HRS to determine when a special pay was input and approved and by whom. It will also show when the special pay was processed. This screen is accessed by accessing an employee on the US4 screen. On the second command line of the US4 screen, enter in the US5 LINE field the line number of the special pay to view. The US5 screen of information for that special pay is then displayed.
Below is a screen print of the new US5 screen. The Modified date is the date the special pay was entered. The Approved date is the date the special pay was approved, The Processed date is the date the special pay was pulled into the system, which would normally be the night prior to a payroll final.
