University of Florida Employee Assistance Program now offers 24/7 access to services

ProtoCall’s services enable faculty, staff, and other employees to speak directly with a counselor during hours when a counselor is not available from the Employee Assistance Program. The ProtoCall counselors will provide immediate support for a variety of issues—including occupational, family, and environmental stressors; mental health issues; and alcohol and drug-related concerns—as well as assistance to employees needing access to services within the UF EAP  office and local community resources.

UF employees may access this service by calling the UF EAP at (352)392-5787. In addition, a UF EAP professional counselor will follow up with employees who receive services from ProtoCall on the first business day following their contact with ProtoCall.

[back]

E-Verify updates impact ePAF

Overdue explanation now necessary
If you initiate an E-Verify case more than three days after the employee’s hire date, you will be prompted to provide a reason why the case was not submitted within three days. Please note in particular a major change to USCIS’ definition of “Hire Date”: Instead of entering the date the I-9 was signed as the Hire Date for E-Verify purposes, the Hire Date will be either:

• The first day the employee began working (if entered after the employee’s start date), or
• The date the E-Verify/ePAF process was initiated (if entered before the employee’s start date)

New card number requirements
This is only required for an employee who provides a Permanent Resident Card (I-551), Resident Alien Card, or Employment Authorization Card (I766) for his or her I-9 documentation. 

• If an employee provides a Permanent Resident Card (I-551), the card number is the second set of letters and numbers located on the first line of letters and numbers at the bottom of the card. This code should have three letters and ten numerical digits.

• If an employee provides a Resident Alien Card that was issued prior to December 1997, simply enter three “A”s and ten zeroes (AAA0000000000). 

• If an employee provides an Employment Authorization Card, the card number can be found directly below the alien number. 

Due to the upgrade, it is important to provide a clear photocopy of an employee’s employment authorization documents along with photos.  This is especially important for those who provide U.S. passports, passport cards, Permanent Resident cards (I-551), or Employment Authorization cards (Form I-766) for their I-9 documentation. 

Prior to submitting an E-Verify request, please be sure to review the accuracy of the information and the entry.  This will minimize the number of tentative non-confirmation responses from USCIS and the number of E-Verify cases that have to be resubmitted. 

When creating an E-Verify request, be sure to use the name provided on the Social Security card, which is considered the official name for employment and employment verification purposes.  If a condition is noted on an employee’s Social Security card, the employee will need to present another document to verify his or her eligibility to work in the United States.

If you have questions, please contact Recruitment and Staffing at (352) 392-2477 or e-mail employment@ufl.edu.

[back]

GatorGradCare enrollment deadline is January 30

Students interested in spring-only or spring/summer coverage must log on to the GatorGradCare web site to complete the enrollment process before January 30.  Students can also adjust their current and dependent coverage during this enrollment period.  To make changes to current or dependent coverage, students can call the GA and Post Doc Associate Benefits Office at (352) 392-0003 before January 30.

Please note that even if a graduate student is unsure about his or her graduate assistantship status, he or she must complete the GatorGradCare enrollment by the January 30 deadline.  Eligible students are strongly encouraged to elect the spring/summer enrollment option.  With this option, UF is able to base a student’s summer coverage on his or her spring eligibility.  This means as long as the student meets the eligibility criteria for GatorGradCare in the spring, he or she can maintain continuous coverage throughout the summer.

The GatorGradCare eligibility requirements, brochure, and other related information can be found on the GatorGradCare section of HRS’s web site.  If you have any questions, please contact the GA and Post Doc Associate Benefits Office at (352) 392-0003.

[back]

Tenure, permanent status, and promotion workshops available for faculty and staff

Wednesday, March 23
9:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Smathers Library Room 1A (Library East)

Wednesday, March 30
2 to 4 p.m.
Health Science Center/Shands, Room 6120 (Atrium elevators to 6th floor)
This workshop will be available to Jacksonville employees via videoconference in the Deal Board Room.

To sign up for either of these workshops, please RSVP Ileana McCray at mccrayi@ufl.edu

A workshop on tenure and promotion designed specifically for staff that assist faculty in the process will be held on February 24 from 9 a.m. to 12 noon in Room 120 of the HR Building as part of the PRO3 Series (PRO324). To register, please logon to myUFL and navigate to Request Training Enrollment via My Self Service, Training and Development.

If you have questions on the faculty or staff workshops please contact Janet Malphurs at jmmalph@ufl.edu.

[back]

Final session of administrators’ series to address searches, waivers, and sexual harassment

Part IV of the series—Managing Searches, Waivers, and Sexual Harassment Issues—will be held on February 9 from 8:30 to 11:00 a.m. in Emerson Alumni Hall, President’s Room B.  Topics and presenters are:

Faculty Search and Waivers Process and Procedures
Kathleen Long, Associate Provost, Academic Affairs, and Paula Fussell, Vice President for Human Resource Services

Sexual Harassment: Administrator Responsibilities
Jaquie Resnick, Senior Advisor to the Vice President for Student Affairs and Former Director of the Student Counseling Center

Human Resource Services: Faculty and Staff Issues
Larry Ellis, Director of Administration and Equal Employment Opportunity, Human Resource Services
Participants are advised to review the University of Florida's Sexual Harassment Policy Statement and online Sexual Harassment Prevention Training prior to this session.

To register for this seminar, please visit the Faculty Development section of Academic Affairs’ web site.

[back]

Inside Higher Ed advertising contract established

Inside Higher Ed is a free daily news and commentary web site for people who work in higher education. With more than 700,000 monthly readers, as well as more than 85,000 opt-in subscribers to free daily e-mail news alerts, the site is reputed to be a great tool for recruiting.  Inside Higher Ed's 30-day posting rate is normally $175; however, the University of Florida has purchased an annual recruitment advertising package that is now available at no cost to UF departments.

To post a job on the Inside Higher Ed site for 30 days or more, create an account on the recruitment section of Inside Higher Ed’s web site by clicking on the “Post a Job” icon. No word limits have been imposed.  If you need assistance, please contact UF’s Inside Higher Ed advertising associate, Samantha Smith, at (202) 695-9208 x 107.  If you have any questions regarding the contract, please contact your UF recruiter or Melissa Curry, HRS director of Recruitment and Staffing, at (352) 392-2477.

[back]

New laws impact rehired state of Florida retirees

A retiree cannot now renew membership in a state of Florida-administered retirement plan. It is very important for the applicant to understand that, regardless of his or her age, if he or she is receiving a pension payment from FRS or took a distribution or rollover from his or her ORP or FRS Investment Plan, he or she will not be able to participate in a retirement plan while employed at UF.

[back]

Can you identify a reemployed retiree? It could be a 26-year-old!

Please keep in mind that retirees are not allowed to be reemployed for six calendar months after receiving their first payment. If rehired, retirees will not accrue another retirement benefit while employed. If UF violates this statute, the university and the employee are both held liable and could face monetary penalties.
To help identify possible retirees and notify potential reemployed retirees of the new retirement benefit provisions, UF has taken the following steps:

1. Supplemental questions were added to the GatorJobs application asking if the applicant has received a pension or distribution/withdrawal and, if so, the date of the initial payment.

2. The recruiter e-mail to the department contact now includes information about the six-month waiting period.

3. The offer-letter templates now include language indicating that if the potential employee is a reemployed retiree he or she is not eligible to participate or renew membership in a State of Florida retirement plan.

4. The hiring package includes a revised UF FRS Certification Form as a last safeguard in which the employee must indicate if he or she is or is not retired from a State of Florida plan.

In addition, the Division of Retirement recently began sending new hires who are former ORP participants a distribution statement form to sign and return. All previous ORP participants will have to complete this form for the state prior to their contributions flowing to the ORP vendor they select when signing up.

[back]

Religious holidays policy available online

[back]

©2011 University of Florida Office of Human Resource Services
The InfoGator for Department Administrators 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.