December 2021 Edition

Volume 4 Issue 4

I hope you all enjoyed time away from work over the Thanksgiving break last week. It’s always good to step away for a day or two to relax and recharge. We’ll get to do it again in a few weeks when the campus closes for the winter holidays. As a reminder, December 30 is a Campus Closure day, as opposed to a holiday/rescheduled holiday. You will need to take vacation or comp time, or use your personal holiday, for that day. Alternate arrangements may be made for some employees so please discuss any concerns with your manager.

This last year has been another one filled with change and unprecedented events. Many have returned to campus but things aren’t completely back to what we used to think of as normal. Full repopulation of campus is slated for January 24, 2022, with all employees expected to return five days a week. Some areas may be implementing telecommuting/hybrid modalities; for areas where telecommuting/hybrid modalities have been approved, employees should expect to see telecommuting agreements for signature by December 17.

While It remains to be seen what 2022 will bring, I believe the SJSU community will continue to flourish no matter what crosses our path. I wish you all the best in this holiday season and look forward to reconnecting in the New Year.

Thinking of taking a few extra days off before the end of the year? Great! It's important to take your vacation time. Excess vacation time at the end of the year may be forfeited if not used.

Please refer to the Vacation webpage to view a summary of maximum vacation and CTO credits. Check your balance in SJSU @ Work then obtain your appropriate administrator's approval to take a few days off.

It's important to have time away from work to relax and recharge and to spend time with friends or family, and most importantly, time away from Zoom!

CHECK YOUR BALANCE NOW

End of Year Holidays, Deadlines and Reminders

As we approach the holidays, please be mindful of the various campus holidays, campus closures and other important dates.

December 10/Mailing Address: Last day to update your mailing address to ensure your W-2 is mailed to the correct location. See Change My Address and other info to review your address and make any necessary changes. The State Controller’s Office will mail W-2s at the end of January 2022.

December 15/CSULearn: Please review your CSULearn Assigned Courses. All courses with a due date prior to December 31, 2021, must be completed by the end of the calendar year. To check the status of these courses follow these steps:

1. Open CSULearn
2. Click Assigned Learning
• If a course is listed and shows REGISTER it means you have not started the course; Register and begin the course
• If you started a course but never finished, you will see a VIEW DETAILS button; Click the button to complete the course

See CSULearn on the UP website for tutorials and FAQs. Email csulearn@sjsu.edu if you have questions or if you have difficulty with a course.

December 22/Absence Management: Last day to enter and approve December absences. To ensure accurate and timely pay for the December pay period, all absences for both salaried and hourly employees must be entered and approved no later than 12:00 p.m. on Wednesday, December 22, 2021. See Enter My Absences or Approve Reported Absences.

December 24-29/Campus Closed for Winter Holidays: The campus is closed from December 24 through December 29 for the holidays. No personal leave needs to be taken for these days.

Please note: If the Governor and/or Chancellor provide additional time off prior to December 24 as they have in previous years, we will notify you separately.

December 30/Campus Closure: The campus is closed on December 30. All employees (excluding AY faculty) must use vacation, personal holiday or compensatory time off for the December 30 campus closure. Bargaining unit employees should work with their manager if they do not have enough time to cover the closure date.

December 31/Paycheck Distribution: University Personnel South (UPD Building/3rd Floor) will be open from 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m. for employees who wish to pick up their December paycheck. Employees must bring a photo ID and may only pick up their own check. Department contacts can pick up paychecks when the campus reopens on January 3, 2022, from 9:00 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.

December 31/Campus Closed for New Year’s Day: The campus is closed on December 31 and no personal leave needs to be taken for this day.

January 1, 2022/Open Enrollment: All open enrollment changes will be effective January 1, 2022. Please log into Cal Employee Connect to review your December pay warrant to confirm your changes have been processed. If you have any questions regarding your open enrollment changes, please contact your Benefits Representative.

If you have any questions, please contact your Benefits/Payroll/Employee Services Representative.

Thank you for your attention to these deadlines.

Flexible Spending Account (FSA) Benefits Information

• The CSU provides a 2 1/2 month grace period for employees enrolled in a Healthcare Reimbursement Account (HCRA) through December 31. If an employee is enrolled through December 31 and also has a balance as of December 31, the grace period allows them to be reimbursed for eligible expenses incurred through March 15 of the following year. FSA Debit Cardholders will have access to the prior year's balance through the grace period (March 15 of each calendar year).

• Employees must submit claims no later than June 30 of the following year after the current plan year ends. After this date, any funds remaining in the employee's account will be forfeited.

Staff Recruitment & Position Management Deadlines

If you manage the Staff/MPP Recruitment or Position Management processes in your department, please be aware of these important year-end deadlines:

December 6/New Hires: Last new employee start date for 2021. This includes emergency hires, casual workers, and regular or temporary employees.

December 6/Position Management: Last day to submit funding, department and approval structure position management changes for December payroll. Changes received after this date will be processed in January 2022.

December 13/Recruiting: Last day a fully-approved Job Card in PageUP, including a fully-signed Position Description, can be received in order for the job to be posted by December 21, 2021. Job approvals received after this date will be posted in January 2022. As a reminder, a vacancy will not be posted without a signed Position Description.

January 10, 2022/New Hires: First new employee start date (includes emergency hires, casual workers, and regular or temporary employees) for 2022.

Mailing Address and Form W-2

December 10, 2021 is the last day to update your mailing address to ensure your Form W-2 is mailed to the correct location. See Change My Address and other info to review your address and make any necessary changes. The State Controller’s Office will mail Form W-2s at the end of January 2022.

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 will my Form W-2 be mailed?

• The State Controller's Office will mail the 2021 Form W-2s to state and California State University employees on January 31, 2022.

What if I have not received my Form W-2 or my mailing address has changed?

• 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.

Duplicate Form W-2s can be requested by completing a Duplicate Wage and Tax Request Form which can be obtained on the University Personnel webpage. 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, 2022. Please note that wage information is now available online.

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

• Contact your Payroll Representative with any further questions.

Spartans Stepping Beyond

Spartans Stepping Beyond provides all members of the San José State community with the opportunity to recognize or thank a fellow Spartan who makes a difference on campus.  Recognize a fellow Spartan today!

Follow us on social media ( @sjsu and @sjsu_up on Twitter, @sjsu_up on Instagram, and the SJSU LinkedIn page) to find out who has been recognized!

CHRS: The CSU’s Common Human Resources System

We’ve been communicating about CHRS for several months in an effort to make you aware of what it is and why we’re doing it, but we know it’s big and can be confusing. Many of you have asked us questions like “What does it mean for SJSU?” and “How will it impact my job?” We’ve answered a lot of these questions on our Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) webpage, and we encourage you to email chrs@sjsu.edu with any additional questions or concerns you may have.

One of the most common questions we hear is, "Will CHRS impact my job?"
The short answer is, it depends. We are still exploring the system and learning how everything works but a summary of what we know so far is below. For more detailed information please see the CHRS Changes webpage.

All Employees
All employees will see changes to the look and feel of the system, especially on the self-service and manager self-service pages. For faculty, staff and managers, No Leave Taken will be entered and approved separately from absences. Compensatory Time Off (CTO), Additional Day Off (ADO) and Holiday Credit/Holiday Credit CTO will be entered and approved on the Timesheet instead of where you report and approve absences. Benefits self-service will also be different from what you see today. Student and other hourly employees will see changes on the Timesheet as well including a default view that is the current week only as opposed to the whole pay period.

Faculty
If you are a faculty member whose primary role is educating our students then CHRS will likely not impact your job. However, if you are a department chair there will be new processes for temporary academic employment and changes to the approval processes for time and absence. There will also be changes to the way transactions are submitted to University Personnel. Please note, there are no changes to MySJSU.

Staff
Many staff members will be impacted by the new system due to new ways to submit transactions to UP (no employee profile, no appointment form) and new processes for temporary academic employment. There will also be changes to the way Persons of Interest (POIs) are entered and maintained. In addition, a new reporting solution will be implemented so that many reports you currently run as queries or reports in SJSU @ Work will be run in the new system. Finally, there will be a change to the HR Expense Adjustment process. It will move from FTS to the delivered CHRS functionality.

Managers
The primary impact for most managers will be changes to the approval processes for time and absence, but some of our academic managers may also be impacted by the new temporary academic employment functionality. Reports that you currently run may change and be run in the new reporting solution.

Student Employees
If you are a student employee, your job will most likely not be impacted by the implementation of CHRS. There are certainly exceptions, of course, depending on where you work. Please note, there are no changes to MySJSU.

Faculty Additional Employment in OnBase is Here!

We are proud to announce that the OnBase Faculty Additional Employment Unity Form is now available for use. In addition, we are rolling out a new process to collect hiring documents for new special session faculty, as well as those returning with a break in service greater than 12 months. CHRS Recruiting will now be used to college and assemble documents as the first step in appointing faculty to additional employment.

All faculty additional employment appointments for the following categories must now be made using the new OnBase Faculty AE Unity Form:

• Category 2403-Full-time Faculty, Additional Employment
• CPGE Special Session Appoint & Pay
• CPGE Summer Session Appoint & Pay
• CPGE Winter Session Appoint & Pay
• Category 2403-Full-time Faculty, Additional Employment
• Faculty Special Consultant Pre-Approval
• Faculty Special Consultant Payment

Training and Documentation
We have updated documentation as well as online training to assist you with using the new OnBase AE Unity Form for the additional employment types listed above. They include:

• New web pages devoted to Faculty Additional Employment
• Guides and tutorials for using the OnBase AE Unity Form (more to come):
• Tutorial for CPGE Winter Session Appointment
• Tutorial for CPGE Special Session Appointment
• Tutorial for Category 2403 for Full-Time Faculty
• Tutorial for Special Consultant Pre-Approval
• Tutorial for Special Consultant Payment
• Online Training Sessions (drop-in)
• Recording of an Online Training Session
• OnBase AE Unity Form Approval Roles Guide (information for approvers)

CHRS Recruiting (PageUp)
CHRS Recruiting will be used to gather new and rehire paperwork for special sessions. This includes:

• Faculty being hired for the first time into special session appointments
• Returning Faculty with a break in service greater than 12 months

Documentation can be found on the CHRS Recruiting Help webpage. Documents that have been updated with instructions for Special Sessions hiring are:

• Initiate Recruitments User Guide - please refer to Appendix A: Special Sessions & Summer Sessions Job Card (p. 21)
• Preparing and Extending the Offer - Part Time Faculty Recruitments - please refer to Appendix E: Prepare the Offer (Special Sessions & Summer Sessions, p. 44)

We hope that with the implementation of this new platform we will be able to provide a one stop shop for additional employment appointments and reduce processing times, and provide status. Special thanks to Ryan Campbell (IT), Cynthia Salinas (UP), CPGE, and all the department and college contacts who assisted with this project!

Have questions about the Special Sessions CHRS Recruiting process? Attend a CHRS Recruiting Open Lab or email hr-info-systems@sjsu.edu.

Have suggestions for improvement? Email additionalemployment-faculty@sjsu.edu.

Contract with Interfolio to Provide eFaculty Extended

University Personnel has extended its agreement with Interfolio for its SaaS (Software as a Service) faculty information and data systems branded as eFaculty at SJSU. A committee chaired by James Lee, Senior Director, Faculty Services (members: Magdalena Barrera, Vice Provost for Faculty Success, Matt Masucci, Associate Dean, CHHS, Alison McKee, Academic Senate Chair, Professor, Film and Theatre, and Junie Urbano, Tenured and Probationary Faculty Analyst, UP - FS) reviewed proposals in a competitive bid process--many thanks to Sylvia Sosa in Contracts.

Interfolio's services were rated highest and a 3-year extension was subsequently negotiated, meaning Faculty180 and RPT will be available through AY 23-24. Faculty Services will continue to work with Interfolio to improve product features. With a new Client Advisory Service being provided by Interfolio, Faculty Services will be better positioned to implement best practices in reporting on faculty success and research ways to leverage eFaculty for other evaluation purposes.

Manager Dashboard

Did you know that in CSULearn managers and supervisors (chairs, work leads, etc.) can view the assigned and completed training for their staff?

See the CSULearn Manager Dashboard Reference Guide [pdf] for detailed steps.

Learn More

Contact University Personnel via Phone or Email

408.924.2250 or university-personnel@sjsu.edu

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