February 2021 Edition

Volume 4 Issue 1

Welcome back!

I hope everyone enjoyed their time away from work and didn’t have to log into Zoom at all! Or if you did, I hope it was all in fun. If you’re like me you were excited to ring in 2021, as 2020 challenged us in ways few of us could have imagined. Once again we’re starting a semester online. I look forward to the day when we can see each other on campus again. Until such time, however, we must remain vigilant and continue to follow state and county guidelines in order to ensure the safety of ourselves and our community. 

Remember, you can always find up-to-date COVID-19 information on the UP website (News/Important COVID-19 Info). Links to campus wide messages, as well as policies and forms can be found on this page, including the COVID-19 Return to Campus Request. This must be completed to return to campus for any reason. 

I wish all a productive, successful and healthy 2021 and look forward to seeing many of you on Zoom.

Spartan Service Celebration and Staff Awards

The 53rd Annual Spartan Service Celebration honors SJSU staff members who reached a milestone year of service between January 1 and December 31, 2020. This year we will honor almost 300 staff and management employees!

This event will be held virtually over four days beginning March 1, 2021, culminating in the  LIVE presentation of the second annual Staff Awards on Thursday, March 4 at 4:00 p.m. Register now to celebrate your fellow Spartans.

Visit the Spartan Service Celebration webpage to view the list of honorees. Honoree videos for each year will be posted on this page beginning March 1, 2021. Contact Tamela Sullivan if you have any questions ( tamela.sullivan@sjsu.edu).

Register to Attend the Staff Awards Celebration

Faculty Service Recognition Event

The 22nd Annual Faculty Service Recognition Event will take place virtually on Thursday, April 15, 2021, from 12:30 - 1:30 p.m. The University will honor faculty with 15, 20, 25, 30, 35, and 40 years of service, as well as the recipients of the President's Scholar Award, the Outstanding Professor Award, the Distinguished Service Award, and the Outstanding Lecturer Award. A list of honorees and more details about the event will be distributed in the coming weeks. If you have questions about the event, please contact Melanie Schlitzkus in the Office of the Provost (melanie.schlitzkus@sjsu.edu).

Since March 17, 2020, most of SJSU’s employees have been working from home, but a handful of staff members have been faithfully coming to campus. They’ve been maintaining our facilities and grounds, keeping our residence halls in order, supporting our students living on campus, and making sure the campus is safe. In the next few newsletters we’ll be highlighting some of these essential workers.

UNIVERSITY HOUSING

Residential Life Coordinators (RLCs) in University Housing continue to support our students living on campus. They live on campus and oversee the operations of the residential communities. They also advise student groups and serve in an on-call rotation to ensure our student residents can always reach someone. As you can see from the image below they are having fun despite the stresses of the pandemic.

Pictured above: Michele Kleeman, Candice Brooks, Terri Luna, Keighla Burns

In addition to the RLCs, the University Housing Custodial and Laborer Staff is hard at work keeping the residence halls clean and safe for our students. With the increased cleaning and sanitization needs of the pandemic, this crew has been working hard to ensure our students stay healthy and safe.

Pictured above: Top-Mike Lara, Alberto Barajas, Margarita Padilla, Marcus Santos, Debra Steiner, Maribel Nambo; Bottom-Elizabeth Carranza, Evelia Barragan, Wilfredo Andaya, Flor Manner, Erika Fitch

UNIVERSITY POLICE

The University Police Department (UPD) has continued to function as a full-time 24/7 police force to ensure the safety and security of our campus. They patrol the campus, monitor security in the library and housing, answer dispatch calls, manage records, and respond to emergency situations when required. UPD is committed to providing a safe and secure learning environment through professional, progressive and superior police, emergency, transportation and educational services in alliance with the campus community.

Pictured above are a few of our dedicated UPD team: Top-Marvin Aguilar, Elizabeth Kehoe, Kiara Barajas, Aaron Cantrell, Astrid Neilsen; Bottom-Andrew Amistoso, Lolita Pedro, Victor Covarrubias, Manuel Chaidez, Pricilia Vazquez, Jenny Gaxiola

In addition to the 24/7 police force, the Parking Services staff has continued to work on campus to enforce parking regulations, maintain equipment, answer questions and distribute parking permits, and drive campus shuttle buses. Parking Services is dedicated to providing a clean and safe parking environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors. 

Pictured above are a few members of our dedicated parking team: Eric Cross, Ngoc Nguyen, Ben Cabudoy, Rosario Micu, Santiago Gomez

Curious About Medicare?

General Tips for Working CalPERS Members Age 65 and Older

Four months before your 65th birth month you will receive a letter from CalPERS titled “Important Information Concerning Health Coverage at Age 65.” This notice contains information regarding the CalPERS Medicare enrollment requirements. We encourage you to carefully review and save this letter for future reference.

We recommend you also review and save all mail received from the Social Security Administration (SSA), as it will contain valuable information regarding your Medicare enrollment.

You may remain enrolled in a CalPERS Basic (non-Medicare) health benefits plan until retirement. When you retire, you'll no longer be eligible to remain in a CalPERS Basic (non-Medicare) health plan if you are eligible for Medicare Part A at no cost.

Medicare Part A

While working, you may enroll in Medicare Part A by applying online with SSA, contacting SSA at 1 (800) 772-1213, or by visiting your local Social Security office. Call first to make an appointment.

• Refer to Apply Online for Medicare – Even if You are Not Ready to Retire (PDF) and the Medicare (PDF) publication for additional resources.

Medicare Part A will be premium-free if you:

• Worked for at least 10 years (40 quarters) in Social Security/Medicare-covered employment;
• Are eligible through the work history of a current, former, or deceased spouse; and/or
• Have End-Stage Renal Disease (ESRD), Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS), or a Social Security-qualified disability and meet certain SSA requirements.

Enrolling in Part A may save you money:

• If you enroll in Part A, your current CalPERS Health Plan will continue to be the primary payer of your insurance claims and Medicare Part A will be a secondary payer. As a secondary payer, Medicare pays up to their allowable amount of costs not covered by your CalPERS health insurance, potentially reducing your out-of-pocket costs.
• But, there are limitations to be aware of: Part A only covers inpatient care in a hospital, skilled nursing care, hospice, and some home health. Therefore, remaining in a CalPERS health plan and enrolling in Medicare Part A will only help defray cost sharing for those covered services up to the allowable amount based on the Medicare fee schedule.
• However, you may want to consider delaying Medicare Part A until a later date if you contribute to a Health Savings Account (HSA) or if you will have to pay a premium to enroll in Part A.

Form W-2 Frequently Asked Questions

Please note that Form W-2s are issued by the State Controller’s Office and are not maintained or reissued by San José State University Personnel. Form W-2’s, wage statements and YTD earnings can be accessed online at Cal Employee Connect.

When were Form W-2s mailed?

• Forms were mailed by the State Controller's Office and should have arrived by January 31, 2021.

I didn't received my Form W-2, what should I do?

• Contact your Payroll Representative after January 31. Form W-2s that are undeliverable by the post office will be returned to University Personnel/Payroll Office.

Who should I contact if my W-2 was damaged, not sealed?

• Contact your Payroll Representative to order a replacement.

How do I obtain a Duplicate Form W-2?

• Duplicate Form W-2s can be requested by completing a Duplicate Wage and Tax Request (compatible with Internet Explorer only). This form can also be found in the Forms & Documents section of the University Personnel website. Generally there is a $8.50 fee charged by the State Controller’s Office for a duplicate copy of the Form W-2. If your address is correct in the system and your Form W-2 has not been received, please contact your payroll representative. A waiving of the processing fee may be applied if your address has not changed. The final date that a fee waiver for an unreceived Form W-2 is March 1, 2021. You can download a copy of your Form W-2 via Cal Employee Connect.

Who should I contact if I have any further questions about my Form W-2?

• Contact your Payroll Representative with any further questions.

Minimum Wage Increase

The City of San Jose's hourly minimum wage grew to $15.45 on January 1, 2021. San José State followed suit and moved all employees making less than $15.45 per hour to the new minimum. This primarily impacted our student employees.

Designated individuals in each department can review salaries by running employee profiles or the HR_STAFF_REPORT_BY_DIVISION query. Questions about running or obtaining access to these processes should be directed to  hr-info-systems@sjsu.edu .

Employees can see their own rate of pay by viewing  Job and Compensation History  in  SJSU @ Work .

If a department wishes to further increase the hourly rate for student employees, they should submit an  Employee Profile  or  Student Assistant Appointment Form  to their  Employee Support Services Representative  indicating the new amount.

eFaculty Training - Mini Review and Post Tenure Review

The process for Mini Review and Post Tenure Review has transitioned to eFaculty. SJSU uses eFaculty to manage the faculty evaluation process from materials submission to the evaluations for Post Tenure Review and Mini Review. University Personnel Faculty Affairs (UPFA) is currently offering training classes via Zoom. The training sessions are listed below and are available for faculty undergoing review as well as reviewers.

Post-Tenure
Tuesday, Feb 16th @ 10:00 - 11:00 am
Friday, Mar 12th @ 10:00 - 11:00 am

Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS, or Android: https://sjsu.zoom.us/j/88313946437

Open Labs
UPFA is currently holding Open Labs to provide one-on-one assistance using eFaculty in the various faculty evaluations. Please visit and scroll to the bottom of the eFaculty Training Schedule to access these drop-in hours. Look for the “Open Labs” header.  Our dedicated eFaculty Training web page also has helpful QuickTips for using eFaculty.

Materials
Faculty may start to upload their materials for reviewers. To sign in, follow the instructions eFaculty Quick Tip directions: Logging in.  If you have any issues signing in, please contact UPFA directly at efaculty@sjsu.edu. For help with uploading materials, refer to the What Goes Where? Preparing Materials for eFaculty help guide.

Contact Information
If you have any questions about Post Tenure Review and Mini Review processes, please contact the staff at efaculty@sjsu.edu or Post Tenure Review and Mini Review staff lead, Junie Urbano. If you have questions about policies or collective bargaining guidelines, please contact James Lee.

The California State University (CSU) Learning & Development team is pleased to present CSU's Got Talent for 2021. These webcasts are open to all CSU employees and can be viewed on the dates/times below via Adobe Connect. After the live presentation, they will be available in the CSULearn library.

To receive these emails directly, sign up for the CSU's Got Talent mailing list. We will also post more detailed information on each course prior to their airdate on the UP News and Announcements blog. If you do not receive these blog posts, subscribe now!

Questions about these courses, including trouble connecting to the live events, should be directed to the CSU's Learning & Development Team.

February 26 - "Understanding and Achieving Resilience to Face Challenges” presented by Dan Day, Director of Client Success at Tracom **Please note, this is a change from the originally announced date.**
 
March 23 - " Trauma in the Time of Corona: Implications for Educators, Students and Our Learning Communities" presented by Shaili Jain, M.D., PTSD specialist and Professor of Psychiatry, Stanford University **Please note, this is a change from the originally announced date.**
 
April 29 - " Transforming Tech Stress into Tech Health” presented by Erik Peper, Ph.D., Professor of Holistic Health of San Francisco State University
 
May 26 -  " Effective Communication Online or Off": Secrets to Getting Your Message Heard" presented by Betsy Hays, M.A., Advertising and Public Relations Professor, Fresno State
 
June 30 - " Playing with Your Inner Critic” presented by Jeff Harry, International Positive Psychology Play Speaker
 
July 28 - " Conflict Resolution vs. Conflict Transformation: When is Each Appropriate" presented by Jeremy Pollack, M.A., Mediator, Coach, Trainer, Organizational Interventionist & Founder, Pollack Peacebuilding Systems
 
September 29 - " Cultural Intelligence as the Foundation to Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” presented by Dr. Sandra Upton, VP, Global Diversity Practice at the Cultural Intelligence Center
 
October 27 - " Better Business Writing: Lessons in Power and Persuasion” presented by Nancy Flynn, M.A., Writing Skills Trainer, Business Writer & Author
 
November 16 - " Digital Nutrition: De-guilt Your Tech Use and Optimize Your Digital Wellbeing" presented by Jocelyn Brewer, Registered Psychologist and Cyberpsychology Researcher

Upcoming Training and Events

Courses with a course number are open for enrollment in SJSU @ Work. These include all CHRS Recruiting, PeopleSoft, and eFaculty courses. Courses led by vendors typically have a separate registration list. 

Enroll via SJSU @ Work Now

Contact University Personnel via Phone or Email

408.924.2250 or university-personnel@sjsu.edu

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