ISSUE 23 • JUNE 2012
Deadline for Use or Payment of Accrued Compensatory TimeThe annual deadline is fast approaching for classified staff to use or be paid for accrued compensatory time balances. Compensatory time balances may not exceed 240 hours and must either be used or paid annually by June 30. If supervisors cannot approve an employee's use of available hours before the deadline, supervisors should request an extension from the HR Specialist in their HR Operations unit. Additional information can be found in the OWLS User Guide. Job Class Code DiscrepanciesWe're wrapping up a project to correct job class code discrepancies and can't do it without your help. In the near future, the OWLS Support Team will contact departments to correct job class code discrepancies between OWLS and the payroll system. Reports currently indicate over 700 discrepancies. Why do these discrepancies exist?Job class code discrepancies occur when an appointment change is made in the payroll system (OPUS) but a new record is not created in OWLS. Reasons for discrepancies in job class data might include promotions, reclassifications, and voluntary demotions that are entered in OPUS without creating a new record in OWLS. What's the big deal?When OWLS records aren't updated to reflect job class changes, information pertaining to and affecting employees' leave accruals, leave plan rules, and separation reasons may result in significant errors. OWLS records are UW's official leave records and it is important that they contain accurate, up-to-date information. What should I do?If you are notified that job class codes in some of the records you maintain are out-of-sync with data in the payroll system, existing records will need to be audited and ended before a new record can be created. We ask that you do this prior to July 31. You can find more information in the OWLS User Guide. Classified Staff Maximum Annual Leave BalanceClassified employees may carry a maximum annual leave balance of 240 hours from anniversary date to anniversary date. The 240 hour maximum is per employee and not per number of appointments. If a classified staff employee's supervisor denies an employee's leave request because of operational necessity, and this will cause the employee's annual leave balance to go over 240 hours as of the employee's anniversary date, HR may approve extending the annual leave use deadline as long as the extension request is made before the 240 hour limit is reached. See instructions in the OWLS Timekeeper Guide. To Accept or Not to Accept – that is the questionWhen setting up a new OWLS record, you may be asked if you want to accept values from a previous OWLS record. OWLS asks this question when a previous OWLS record for that employee was ended using the end record reason, "Moving or Reclassified to another leave bearing appointment at the UW". Before clicking "yes", look at the "Prior record date range" at the top of the page. If the end date is one day prior to your "record begin date", go ahead and click "yes". However, where you see a break of even one day between the end date of the prior record and the beginning date of your record, do not accept the values, because they won't be correct. MythbustersThe Myth: Holidays that fall during an employee's FMLA-covered medical leave of absence are not designated as FMLA covered leave. BUSTED! Any/all holidays that fall during an employee's FMLA leave must also be designated as FMLA covered:
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Upcoming Deadlines
TrainingThe next Leave Record Maintenance class (Q0160) will be held on July 25 and 26 from 8:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
To sign up, visit the POD quarterly course catalog.
Wise OWL TIPUse an "Audit Note" instead of a regular calendar note when entering information about a completed record audit. |
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