July 9 – 10, 2014
Stevens Point, WI
Where Policy Meets Process
Time
9:00 – 10:30
Agenda Item
Ah-Ha Moments (Sandy Smith)
10:30 – 10:45 Break
Benefits-Putting it All
10:45 – 12:00 Together
(Joanna Bauer)
Leave
Administration
(Sandy Reuter, Lindi
Farra)
HR Directors and
Service Center Mgmt
Team
12:00 – 1:00
Lunch will be provided (buffet)
1:00 – 2:00
Significant Benefit Changes for 2015 (Beth Ritchie)
2:00 – 2:45
Not Just “Training” Anymore (Michelle Running)
2:45 – 3:00
Closing Remarks/Wrap-up (Sandy Smith, Nicole Zimm)
•
•
•
•
•
•
Savings Events
Future Dated Effective Rows
Retro Benefits
Benefits Eligibility Drivers
Terminations in Error
Leave Tips
Pre-Tax vs Post-Tax
Deductions
Both are categorized as Tax Sheltered Annuities (TSA), but
each have their own codes and enrollment boxes.
Pre-tax deductions [“403(b)” plan type] must be entered in
the Before Tax box on the left. The description must say
403b.
Post-tax deductions [Roth plan type] must be entered in the
After Tax box on the right. The description must say Roth.
NOTE - WRS Additional Contributions are not TSA,
however they are also entered in the After Tax box on
the right. The description must say WRS Add’l.
When there is a mismatch between Pretax and After-tax codes and the
deduction type, there is no deduction.
• Mismatches occur when an employee
(through the portal) or a benefits
administration (through a SAV event) does
not match the correct TSA fund with the
correct deduction type.
Mismatches will not take!
There is nothing to stop you from entering,
deleting and modifying future dated effective
rows but there are downstream consequences.
This creates a domino effect….
Consequences
• Mass changes in HRS (ex. pay plan implementation,
encumbrance updates, ICI annual process…)
– SC must manually update future rows out there with
any mass changes (chance the person could be
missed, increased risks for errors…)
• Job Data rows are added so far in the future, the system
does not have pay calendars created for those dates yet
– Event just hangs out there until pay calendar added
Consequences (continued)
• Change to hire date (ex. entered 7/1 and change to
7/15)
– Incorrect WRS start date (must manually correct)
– eBN – will fool HRS and shorten 30-day
enrollment window
• Termination events don’t process correctly
– Benefit deductions don’t terminate on correct date
or never terminate
– Multiple termination events created
– Deductions may be missed
Best Practices
• At a minimum, DO NOT enter any Job Data or enrollment
changes more than one year in the future
• Do not enter any future effective date changes unless you
are certain that they are valid
– Terminations
– Going on/return from leave
– Hires/transfers
• HR must communicate with payroll and benefits staff if
any future dated job changes are entered, modified or
deleted.
• Payroll & benefits staff must monitor benefits events and
WRS enrollments (7Y) to ensure processed correctly –
contact SC with any questions and to correct HRS
Any retroactive job data or benefits entry that is
effective before the first day of the current pay
period, can trigger benefits retro.
Benefits retro – what is it?
Automatic HRS process that reviews an
employee as a whole and tries to determine if
insurance premiums should be collected or
refunded based on job data or benefits change.
Benefits retro can be triggered by a
variety of job data and benefits changes
including:
• Hire
• Benefit enrollments
• Department change
• Salary change
• Classification change
• Termination
Consequences
• Benefits retro does not always work correctly and may
not accurately set up premium refunds or collections
• Retro process does not account for all manual
adjustments (ex. paylines)
Best Practices
• HR needs to communicate with payroll & benefits if
there is any retroactive HR entry
• Monitor the benefit retro queries prior to every payroll
confirm (KB 20583)
Benefits Eligibility Override
Benefits Primary Flag
Benefit Record Number vs Primary Empl Rcd
• In rare cases, if HRS isn’t determining
benefits eligibility correctly and a benefits
eligibility override is entered in HRS (using
Eligibility Exception Field), the override will
attach to the employee until termination.
• Consequence – job changes could change
benefits eligibility but HRS will NOT identify
new eligibility and enrollments will be missed
(including WRS).
• The institution should NOT update the
Eligibility Exception Field – contact the
Service Center if you feel this field should
be updated.
• The number of employees who truly need
an benefits eligibility override is less than
0.5% of employee population.
• Benefits primary flag is main driver for benefits
eligibility and determines from which job
benefit deductions are taken.
• Flag automatically is set to lowest number
active empl record and will automatically
change upon a job termination if there is
another active job. HR must work with benefits
staff to monitor and adjust flag.
• The benefits flag will move in real time to
the lowest active empl record
If someone has multiple jobs at termination (ex.
primary job plus back-up position), ALWAYS
terminate the secondary jobs BEFORE the
primary job (that has the benefits flag).
Why?
• Benefit deductions will be missed if flag is moved
to secondary or no-pay basis job for which the
employee does not receive earnings.
Situation: Employee’s primary job is
EMPL RCD 0 and EMPL RCD 1 is a 0%
No Pay Basis Academic Staff position.
Employee retired on 3/29/2014
Date/Time
3/4/2014
8:53:10 AM
3/4/2014
8:53:52 AM
Action
Empl Rcd#
Eff Date
Action
A
0
3/29/2014
TER
A
1
3/29/2014
TER
Every second counts!!!
Missed deductions:
• Income Continuation
• State Group Life
• Employee Reimbursement Account (ERA)
• Tax-Sheltered Annuity/WI Deferred Comp (used for
leave payouts)
• WRS Deductions
•
Benefit Record Number and Primary Empl Rcd do
NOT have to match
•
Benefit Record Number should almost always
equal 0
•
If not 0, an unfortunate series of events occurs….
•
No WRS deductions taken
•
Won’t load WRS earnings to accumulators
correctly
•
Won’t evaluate WRS eligibility on combined
hours from multiple positions
•
Institution should NEVER update Benefit Record
Number
•
Contact Service Center if you think Benefit Record
Number should be something other than 0
•
Very few people need a Benefit Record Number
other than 0. Examples include:
•
Enrolled in 2 different WRS plans (general &
teacher)
•
Covered by WRS but also work in non-WRS
eligible job
• Reminder – do not update the following:
•
Benefit Eligibility Override (Eligibility Exception Field)
•
Employee Benefit Record Number
•
Benefits Program Participation Page (in Job Data)
If you have an expected job end date (EJED) on a job, the job
will automatically terminate if you do nothing.
Consequences – if EJED is not timely updated and job terms in
error
• If employee has other active job, benefits flag will move to
lowest active empl records and benefits deductions may be
missed
• If a rehire is entered within 5 days of the termination effective
date, the termination event will “void” and this will prevent
insurances from being terminated.
• Reminder – campus must review and fix benefits flag if
it moved to a different empl record
Consequences
• If more than 5 days have lapsed since effective date of job
termination
• The benefits termination event will process the night of
the entry
• Insurance premiums refunded – institution must manually
reinstate coverage & collect appropriate premiums
• Incorrect coverage termination date reported to vendors
– employee may be denied services
• Missed earnings – missed payroll requests
• WRS termination may be reported to ETF and WRS reenrollment may not process correctly (WRS deduction do
NOT automatically re-start)
Rehire Action Reasons Used 12/1/2012 to 11/30/2013
Rehire using “Rehired <=30 Days” reason
332
Rehire using “Reinstate” reason
3,268
Rehire using “Termination in Error” reason
4,469
Termination and Rehire on Same Effective
Date, but backdated at least 5 days
4,088
* Query logic based on certain Action/Action Reasons so
the accuracy is directly linked to the assumption that those
values are used correctly.
Best Practices
•
•
Prevention – monitor EJED report and adjust termination dates
proactively
If there is a termination in error:
• Enter “rehire” on job within 5 days of effective date of
termination
• If more than 5 days has lapsed:
• Enter “rehire” on job as soon as it’s known (must do this
before any other actions taken)
• Ben Admin should immediately reinstate insurances, review
WRS enrollment, review/correct benefits flag
• Contact SC to reinstate coverage with vendors, request any
missed earnings, correct WRS enrollment, do any necessary
HRS clean-up...
Unclassified employees
may still be eligible for
paid leave even if they
are not eligible for the
WRS
• WRS and leave
eligibility used to
align. In 2011, Act 32
changed WRS
eligibility but not paid
leave eligibility
Minimum Leave
Eligibility
Requirements
• A Basis = 21% for at
least one year
• C Basis = 28% for at
least two semesters
with expectation to
return the following
semester
• When you make a retro change in HRS, a
trigger is set in the system
•
Note: This can be any change – job data,
general deduction, benefits, etc.
• This change will “trigger” the Absence module
to recalculate every absence entry for that
employee from the date of the change and
forward
• This causes hours to be revaluated and can
send unpaid time to a paycheck if employee
has overspent leave
• You should validate the leave accrual after
requesting an unclassified payline for missed
prior wages (such as late documentation, NOT
missed wage increase)
• If the employee was not in the initial payroll
cycle, it is likely they will not get leave for that
missed payroll period
• May need to send in a WiscIT to get the leave
credited
When an employee returns
outside their reinstatement
period, their sick leave (and
continuous service) is lost
• Classified: must return to
a Classified or
Unclassified position
within 5 years
• Unclassified: must return
to an Unclassified
position in 3 years or a
Classified position in 5
years
Not automatic in the
system
• If an employee is
rehired, leave balances
will still be on record
• Evaluate all re-hires for
previous leave
balances
• Must submit a WiscIT
to clear all balances if
applicable
• A program fix is being
evaluated.
• Benefits – Putting it All Together
• Room: Stonefield/Harvest
• HR Directors and Service Center Mgmt
Team Room: Evergreen/Frontier
• Leave Administration
Room: Expo 4 (this room)