January 2005
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January 2005 |
Certain personnel actions require Board approval. In general, actions affected include tenure or tenure-track faculty and employees with a director title or above. These actions are submitted to the Board for their approval by the Provost and Senior Vice President, Office of Academic Affairs.
Academic Affairs compiles the listing requiring Board approval from EA forms that are submitted to Payroll Services with BOARD APPROVAL REQUIRED on the top of the EA form. To provide adequate preparation and review time, these forms must be submitted to Payroll the Monday, three weeks prior to the Board meeting.
For example, the next Board meeting is March 4. EAs are due February 14. A list of the 2005 dates can be found at www.okstate.edu/osu_per/payroll/sch_deadlines.htm.
WebFOCUS is a web-based application that provides programming to assist in
extracting and/or submitting information or reports. Previous applications
include job history, checking five year service anniversaries, and reviewing
assignment listings, among other things. The system was taken down last year to
address security concerns.
We are very pleased to inform you that progress has been made toward restoring WebFOCUS availability. A new version of WebFOCUS has been installed. Some applications to implement security procedures remain to be installed. Web-FOCUS applications should return in the near future.
Improvements to Web for Employees
Enhancements to Web for Employees have been made, including pay period start and
end dates and the Payroll ID. The current taxable gross wages column has also
been added.
As the University moves toward e-mail notification of payroll information
available on Web for Employees, you will want to check out these improvements.
Until these and other changes are complete, paper Payroll Advices will continue
to be distributed. Web for Employees is at
http://prodhosu.okstate.edu.
More information about Web for Employees can be found at
www.okstate.edu/osu_per/docfiles/webforemployees.pdf
or by calling Employee Services, (405) 744-5449.
Verify Benefits Coverage for 2005
Please remind employees to compare their January payroll advice with their
advice in December to ensure all benefit enrollments are correct. Biweekly paid
employees can use their January 14 and the December 17 advices to identify
benefits changes for calendar year 2005. Please note the December 23 biweekly
payroll advice cannot be used as no benefit deductions are taken on the third
payment in a month. For monthly paid employees, compare month-end advices from
December 23 and January 31.
Please report any questions or concerns to Employee Services, (405) 744-5449. If notified timely, Employee Services can correct almost any error.
Hiring International Employees
The Office of International Students and Scholars (ISS) announced the OSU
International Employment Clearance form has changed. There are now two forms,
one for student and classified positions and one for professional positions.
Each form has a different color. They are also using the more familiar term Work
Permit instead of Employment Clearance. The new forms are effective January 1,
2005.
The new Work Permit has instructions for applying for a social security number. One change is that the Social Security Administration requires students who arrive in the U.S. with an F-1 visa show proof of employment or job offer before a number will be assigned. This can be accomplished with specific job information printed on the hiring department's letterhead with an original signature. The student will then bring the letter to ISS for another original signature. A template of the letter can be found at http://osunet.okstate.edu/iss/files/SSN_employer_letter.doc.
There is a common misconception that it is illegal to hire someone without a social security number. As long as an employer can verify someone’s identity and employment eligibility, the employee may begin work. However, OSU is not able to pay any employee until the SSN has been issued. Questions? Contact Linda Dunbar, (405) 744-5459.
Do you have an outstanding student employee? It’s time again to recognize the
contributions our student employees make to the University! Nomination materials
and guidelines are available at www.okstate.edu/finaid/seoty. The nomination
deadline is Wednesday, February 2. Questions? Contact Chad Blew, (405) 744-7056,
chad.blew@okstate.edu.
Scholarships for International Students
The process for awarding scholarships to international students has also
changed. If you are not aware of these changes, you will want to contact Linda
Dunbar, (405) 744-5459, in the Office of International Students and Scholars,
for more information.
The Human Resource System (HRS) has several large databases that store a variety
of employee information. It is also used as an input system for biweekly time,
monthly confirmation, special pays and labor distribution.
The Human Resources website has been updated to include a listing of standard
HRS access screens that are available and also payroll time input and
confirmation screens. The list of screens is at
http://www.okstate.edu/osu_per/docfiles/hrsscreens.htm.