ISSUE 17 • DECEMBER 2010

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Severe Weather & Suspended Operations

Severe weather hit the Pacific Northwest early this year and the UW suspended operations on November 23 through November 24 due to snow, low temperatures and hazardous road conditions. If you have employees who may work extra hours to makeup time missed from work during suspended operations, review how to properly record the makeup time in OWLS.

The OWLS "Making Calendar Entries" pages provide information on how to make calendar entries relating to operational suspension, including detailed examples for entering makeup time worked into OWLS. Review also the suspended operations website, which provides an Excel makeup time calculator to help you track and account for makeup time employees work.

Your Suggestions at Work

Thanks for your feedback about the new OWLS newsletter format! One of the suggestions we've heard is to increase the font size of the email.

We use a font type and size that is consistent with those of other University email publications. If you have difficulty reading the newsletter, try opening it in your web browser. Click on the "You may view this message on the web" link at the top of the email, open the content in a browser window, and, if necessary, adjust your text size to "Largest." That should do the trick!

Browser Compatibility

With so many web browsers available, it's sometimes hard to keep systems compatible with the most recent versions. Testing has confirmed that OWLS is compatible with Internet Explorer 8. If you run into any issues, please contact us.

Holiday on a Saturday

This coming January 1 falls on a Saturday. As a reminder, Washington state law provides that when a holiday falls on a Saturday, it is observed the preceding Friday. Likewise, when a holiday falls on a Sunday, it is observed the following Monday.

Make sure employees know that Friday, December 31, 2010 is designated as a paid holiday. You can verify the 2010 and 2011 holidays on the UW Human Resources website.

Sick Leave Buy-Back

The Annual Attendance Incentive Program allows employees whose sick leave balances exceed 480 hours as of January 1 to be compensated at 25% value for the previous calendar year's accrued and unused sick leave.

To avoid potential pitfalls, think about the following when entering sick leave payment in OWLS:

  • OWLS shows the deduction of paid sick leave effective January 1 of the current year.
  • Employee donations of sick leave as shared leave are deducted from the employee’s sick leave balance as if they had been "used" in the Program.
  • The employee must retain a sick leave balance of at least 480 hours after the payment.
  • Use the “Balances” tab to total sick leave use. Because sick leave donated as shared leave counts too, check the “Used” and “Adj” columns for sick leave.

TIP:Before submitting the attendance incentive payment request to Payroll, enter the payment in OWLS to ensure that the number of hours to be paid is correct. OWLS will not allow more hours to be paid than the employee is eligible for.

Visit the OWLS User Guide for detailed information about Sick Leave Buy-Back entries in OWLS.

Changing Supervisor Designations

When a supervisor leaves a department or the supervisory position, timekeepers need to remember to:

  • Audit and end the individual's own OWLS record
    AND
  • Remove the individual's name as a supervisor from other employees' OWLS records in your unit. 

The former supervisor will continue to receive PERMs until the supervisor designation is changed. 

View the Supervisor Notification webpage to learn how to add, remove, or change the supervisor designation in OWLS.

More Mythbusters

The Myth: The personal holiday is "worth" one day, regardless of the employee's work schedule.

BUSTED!The personal holiday is "worth" a standard work day based on the employee's FTE. It is a maximum of 8 hours, just like all the other holidays, and is prorated according to the FTE at the time of use. 

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