Important dates and deadlines announced for
holiday season

Reporting the December Personal Leave days
12-month Academic Personnel and TEAMS exempt employees:

• “Non-essential” employees will not need to report their personal leave days via the Weekly Elapsed Time screen.
• “Essential” employees (i.e., those who will be working during the holiday period) will need to report the number of hours to be worked and any personal leave days to be used December 26 through 31 by December 4. This will prevent the four personal leave days from automatically loading for December 26 through 31.  Otherwise, manual adjustments will be necessary.

• All TEAMS non-exempt employees will report the personal leave days by using the “DPL-270 December Personal Leave” time reporting code through the Weekly Elapsed Time screen in the myUFL system.

Advanced vacation leave available to USPS

USPS employees are not eligible for the four personal leave days; however, they may be required to use vacation or accrued compensatory leave during the holiday closing period if a department chooses to close or upon supervisory request. In the event a USPS employee does not have vacation leave to cover the period, he or she may request that vacation leave be advanced to cover that absence, in which case the department is obligated to provide it. USPS employees also may use leave without pay, in keeping with University of Florida policy, during this time.

As in the past, USPS employees who wish to be advanced vacation leave during the holidays should report all vacation leave usage in a timely manner through Weekly Elapsed Time in the myUFL system.  The system will allow vacation leave balances to become negative for USPS employees from December 26 through 31. The system will automatically prohibit vacation leave usage after January 6, 2011, until the vacation leave balance is positive again.

In keeping with past practice, in order to be eligible for any paid holidays, employees must be in pay status for a reasonable amount of time (determined by each employee’s department) on their last scheduled workday before the holiday.  If you have further questions, please contact Leave Administration at (352) 392-2477 or central-leave@ufl.edu. Human Resource Services wishes you a joyous and safe holiday season!

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Timeline for holiday season time,
leave, and holiday reporting
Leave Administration encourages early time and leave entry throughout the holiday season. Please note the important holiday and time- and leave-related entry dates and deadlines below.

December 2               
TEAMS/Academic Personnel

• Personal leave day hours will appear on employees’ balances
• “Essential” employees can begin to use and enter December Personal Leave
  

• Can begin to enter advanced vacation leave that will be used December 27-30
  

• Exempt employees: Personal leave days automatically applied to records and visible for exempt employees in the Weekly Elapsed System for December 27-30. The system will be changed not to require approval for the DPL-270 time reporting code for exempt employees.
• Non-exempt employees (non-essential): Must enter DPL-270 leave into the system for December 27-30
  

• Must be in pay status (work or paid leave) for a “reasonable portion of the workday” on this day (determined by the individual department) to be eligible to receive holiday pay for Dec 24
  

• Must be in pay status (work or paid leave) for a “reasonable portion of the workday” on this day (determined by the individual department) to be eligible to receive holiday pay and December Personal Leave for Dec 24, 27, 28, 29, 30, and 31
  

• Must be in pay status (work or paid leave) for a “reasonable portion of the workday” on this day (determined by the individual department) to be eligible to receive holiday pay for December 31

• Last day to enter advanced vacation leave used between December 27 to 30

• Conversion of accrued vacation over the maximum (USPS-240, TEAMS/Faculty-480)

MUST be entered into the system by January 6 for vacation used on or before January 6, 2011

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Benefits transactions effective in 2011 must be completed by December 3
All benefits enrollments, changes, and premium payments to take effect January 1, 2011, must be received by University Benefits by 5 p.m. on Friday, December 3.  This includes all new hires who wish to begin their health insurance effective January 1, 2011. Enrollment paperwork received between December 6 and December 24 (prior to the holiday closing) may still request health coverage for January 2011; however, new hires may be unable to access their actual coverage until approximately mid-January, once all premiums have been collected and sent to the state for posting.

If you cannot meet this deadline, please contact University Benefits at benefits@ufl.edu or (352) 392-2477 to discuss the earliest possible effective date. For assistance or questions regarding insurance during the holiday closing, please contact the People First Service Center at (866) 663-4735.

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Review Open Enrollment changes and check your payroll deductions this month
Before the new year begins, please review any changes you made during the fall benefits Open Enrollment period. To access your benefits information, visit the People First web site and log in with the user ID and password you used during Open Enrollment. If you have questions about your online enrollment or forgot your password, please contact the People First Service Center at (866) 663-4735.

Deduction changes for Open Enrollment elections will start with the December 3 paycheck to pre-pay for coverage effective January 1, 2011. Supplemental state coverage carrying over—such as state-sponsored dental, hospital insurance, etc.—may include slight increases based on options you elected and company rate increases for the new plan year. If you enrolled in a state supplemental plan that requires underwriting (medical approval), your coverage is pending until People First receives notification from the company for which the underwriting has been approved or disapproved. If the underwriting is approved, your enrollment will be processed and premium deductions will begin. You should receive notification from the company regarding your approval or disapproval.

Employees who made Open Enrollment changes to the UF Domestic Partner, Term Life, and Long Term Care plans will begin deductions with the January 14, 2011, paycheck. Because reimbursement accounts (i.e., Medical, Dependent Care, Limited Purpose Medical, and Health Savings Accounts) provide tax savings based on the tax year, these deductions will begin on January 14 as well.

Please carefully review all deductions. If your earnings statement does not reflect proper deductions for plans you currently have or those you elected during Open Enrollment, please contact University Benefits and Retirement at (352) 392-2477 or benefits@ufl.edu as soon as possible.

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Want to receive your W-2 electronically?
More than 15,000 UF employees received their 2009 W-2 electronically through the myUFL system.  For those who have already consented, no additional action is required for 2010. 

If you have not already done so, you may consent by logging in to the myUFL system and navigating to My Self Service>W-2/W-2c Consent.  Consent will be confirmed via e-mail.  This initiative provides convenience to employees and furthers UF’s efforts to be a sustainable campus.  This functionality provides unlimited access to prior years’ documents dating back to 2005.

Electronic W-2 forms will be available earlier than printed forms. Printed forms will be mailed by U.S. mail on January 31, 2011, to those employees who do not consent to receive the electronic version. Forms will be mailed to those employees’ addresses listed in the UF directory; employees are responsible for ensuring their contact information is up-to-date in the myUFL system. 

With the implementation of electronic W-2/W-2c and the university’s commitment to sustainability, the Employee Year-End Earnings Statement (EYES) is available in electronic form only at My Self Service>UF Employee Year End Statement.  Consent is not required to access the EYES.

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Employee Education Program accepting applications for spring semester
The Employee Education Program (EEP) is a benefit available to eligible UF faculty and staff. The program provides tuition assistance for up to six credit hours of eligible college-level courses per semester.

A new EEP tutorial has been added to the HRS web site to provide helpful information regarding this popular educational program.

Employees interested in participating in the EEP during the spring semester should register and complete their applications by the following deadlines:

UF students must register between December 23, 2010, and January 11, 2011, for the spring semester. All completed applications must be turned in to the University Registrar’s office located at 222 Criser Hall or by fax to (352) 846-1126 by 5 p.m. on January 12, 2011. No late applications will be accepted.

Santa Fe students should register during regular registration, which ends December 9, 2010. All completed applications should be turned in to the Santa Fe cashier’s office by this date. Registration after December 9, 2010, is permitted, but those applications must be turned in to the cashier’s office by 4 p.m. the next business day after registration.

Students attending other institutions should register before the registration deadlines at their approved institutions. Completed applications for the spring 2011 semester must be turned in by December 3, 2010 to Kenya Williams, Education Coordinator, by fax at (352) 392-1055 or via email to kenya-williams@ufl.edu.

Visit the EEP section of HRS’s web site to view the new tutorial and learn about program participation requirements, eligibility, and application deadlines. For questions about this program, please contact Kenya Williams, UF Training and Organizational Development, at (352) 273-1761 or kenya-williams@ufl.edu.

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Vacation leave conversion slated for January 6
This year, vacation leave conversion will take place at the end of the December 24, 2010, to January 6, 2011, pay period. If a TEAMS or vacation-accruing Academic Personnel employee’s vacation leave balance exceeds 480 hours or a USPS employee’s vacation balance exceeds 240 hours at the end of that pay period, the excess vacation leave hours will be converted to sick leave.

Please note that the vacation leave accrual for the December 24, 2010, to January 6, 2011, pay period also will be included in the conversion. The myUFL navigation to view your most recent vacation leave balance is as follows: My Self Service > Payroll and Compensation > View Leave History. Any vacation leave taken on or before January 6, 2011, must be reported in the Weekly Elapsed screen before the January 6, 2011, conversion. Vacation leave taken after January 6, 2011, should be reported after the conversion occurs.

Questions? Contact Leave Administration at (352) 392-2477or central-leave@ufl.edu.

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State Basic Life plan reduced; Optional Life and UF Term Life enrollment changes pending
As a reminder, the state’s basic life plan will reduce to a $25,000 coverage amount for all employees beginning January 2011.  During the Open Enrollment period, if you signed up for the state’s Optional Life plan for amounts over the guarantee issue (coverage of more than $500,000 or for more than one multiple of your salary) a medical application was required. Those employees whose medical applications were properly submitted should by now have received either an approval, denial, or a request for more information/medical testing from Minnesota Life.

Those approved for Optional Life coverage will began seeing their new deductions on the December 3, 2010, paycheck.   If you have not received a response, please call Minnesota Life at 1-888-826-2756 to follow up on the status of your pending enrollment.   Employees who failed to submit the required medical application or provide the additional information requested from Minnesota Life may be denied coverage.

Minnesota Life will not have any information for employees who supplemented coverage under the UF Term life plan up to $300,000 during open enrollment.  Questions regarding this plan should be directed to University Benefits at (352) 392-2477 or benefits@ufl.edu.  The new coverage/ deductions for the UF Term life will begin with the January 14, 2011 paycheck.       

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Contribution limits for retirement plans unchanged
for 2011
The IRS has announced that retirement plan limitations for 2011 will remain at the same level as the 2010 limits.  Please review your contributions and consider starting or increasing your deferrals in order to maximize the tax savings.

To change your deferral and download the necessary forms, please visit the Retirement section of the HRS web site.

Limits for 2011 are:

• Elective Deferrals for 403(b) and 457 Deferred Compensation Plans: $16,500
• Age-based Catch-up Contributions (age 50 by December 31, 2011): $5,500
• 415 Annual Addition Limits (employer + employee contributions): $49,000

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Third annual Sustainable Solutions Awards to be held this spring
The Office of Sustainability will host the third annual Sustainable Solutions Awards as part of Rethink—a semester campaign to engage, educate and empower Gators to consider waste in its many forms and the ways they can reduce, reuse, recycle, repurpose, renew, restore, and respond in their own lives!

Award recipients will be announced April 1 at the Earth Day Ceremony, following President J. Bernard Machen’s annual State of Sustainability address. Please begin thinking of individuals, efforts and programs you can nominate, and stay tuned for dates when nominations for the 2011 awards will open and close.

The awards recognize individuals or teams that have made significant contributions toward advancing sustainability at UF. Qualifying projects will have helped to realize UF’s sustainability vision in the categories of Waste Reduction, Water Conservation or Energy Conservation.

Nominations are judged based upon their positive impact, the extent to which they have engaged others, and their ability to be expanded or replicated among departments, units or groups on campus.

Awards will also be presented to the most active Green Team and student organization, and the “Bright Idea” award calls on students as well as faculty and staff to submit sustainable ideas for the university.  Ideas are judged based upon their integration of the “triple bottom line” analysis (environmental health, human wellbeing, and financial performance) as well as their feasibility.

Please contact the Office of Sustainability for more information.  

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©2010 University of Florida Office of Human Resource Services
The InfoGator is a monthly e-publication produced by the University of Florida’s Office of Human Resource Services. It is distributed electronically to UF faculty and staff and is available online. Please direct questions or comments to its editor, Angie Brown; Human Resource Services; P.O. Box 115006; (352) 392-4626; TDD 800-955-8771. The InfoGator is available in an alternative format upon request.