August 2024 - Seattle Days and Sunny Rays

August 2024 Newsletter Table of Contents

• HR/Payroll
  • Delegation of Authority
  • Security Role and Supervisory Organization Change Requests
  • Hiring Plan Approved!
  • Autumn I-9 drop-in schedule now available!
  • SDB Award Form Update and Reminders
• Payments and Procurement
  • Flight Upgrade Requirements
  • Car Service Policy Changes Coming September 1, 2024
  • Updated Proof of Payment Policies
  • Department Match Exceptions
• Accounting and Grants
  • Issue of Duplicate ‘Correct Entries’ Requests
• Foreign National Services
  • Update on staff H-1B, E-3, and TN visa sponsorships
• Looking Ahead
  • You’re invited to AST’s Open House on September 4!

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HR/PAYROLL

Delegation of Authority

The Office of Academic Personnel has announced several policy updates in their Special Edition Policy and Process eDigest. We strongly encourage you to review the full announcement and supplementary documentation.

We would like to call special attention to the clarification regarding the Delegated Authority policy, as it will significantly impact the delegation of authority for the hiring and reappointment of certain short-term faculty titles (Faculty Code, Section 24-52, paragraph C1). This change will affect nearly all of our units and needs to be addressed promptly in the Autumn quarter.

Key points from the Faculty Senate’s guidance on delegating authority to a “departmental committee” are as follows:

• The delegated faculty committee is advisory to the chair and therefore should not include the chair.
• Throughout the Faculty Code, the term ‘committee’ is interpreted to be plural and, therefore, the expectation is that it includes two or more persons.

To continue delegating hiring and reappointment authority for appropriate titles (rather than conducting a full faculty vote), please take the following steps:

• Elect a Committee: The voting faculty must elect a committee.
• Vote to Delegate Authority: The voting faculty must vote annually to delegate hiring and reappointment decisions to the newly formed committee.
• Annual Renewal: The delegation of authority must be renewed on an annual basis.

For 9-month schools, such as the College of Arts & Sciences, there is a potential issue with committee members being unavailable during the summer. It is advisable to establish a backup plan involving other faculty members who are in a paid status during this period. The College is seeking further guidance on this matter and how it related to Summer Hiatus.

Finally, the Office of Academic Personnel acknowledges that many of our autumn quarter hires have been finalized but have not yet been entered into Workday, and have indicated that they will accept these hires under the previous delegation model. However, we must ensure that the new committees and updated hiring documents are in place for hires effective winter 2025 and subsequent quarters.

Security Role and Supervisory Organization Change Requests

Effective immediately, AST will process all requests for Workday security roles related to both finance and HCM functions. Additionally, AST will now manage all requests concerning supervisory organization changes, including the creation of new orgs and modifications to existing org names. These changes will affect all CAS units, whether AST manages your HR/Payroll or not.

Please use the following forms for your requests:

• Security Role Requests: Submit through the Security Role Requests and Delegation Form.
• Supervisory Org Changes: Use the Create or Change Supervisory Organization Form

Hiring Plan Approved!

The Provost has now approved our 2024-2025 hiring plan. The Dean’s Office has initiated a Position Details case through Interfolio for each search and forwarded it to the unit for additional information. The salary ranges included in these Position Details are the UW minimum and the estimated maximum entered on the hiring plan. If your Divisional Dean has provided a narrower range, please use that in the advertisement and note it in the Position Details case.

If you have not yet done so, please submit your proposed advertisements via email to the appropriate Divisional Dean and Susan Miller (susanh82@uw.edu). The advertisement must include specific statements as outlined in the Generic Advertisement for a Faculty Position. Once the Divisional Dean and Susan have approved the language, you can enter it into Interfolio using the OAP Create a position user guide.

Once the ad is approved in Interfolio, it must still be posted to either the Chronicle of Higher Education online or a national print journal to meet posting requirements. Other discipline specific postings are encouraged. As soon as the advertisement is posted in the Chronicle of Higher Education online, print the ad to PDF (ensuring the URL is clearly visible) and save it. If it was posted in a print journal, request a copy of the tear sheet or a PDF of the posting that clearly shows the journal name, volume, and date. This will be a required part of the documentation when a hire is made.

Autumn I-9 drop-in schedule is now available!

Autumn quarter is our busiest hiring season, and AST is here to assist your new hires with the in-person verification of their I-9 documents and authorize UW employment.

AST HR/Payroll-supported units: We will be hosting I-9 drop-in hours from September 25 to October 4 in AST’s Office, CMU B042 (located in the basement level of the Communications Building). Please view the attached autumn 2024 drop-in calendar (PDF) for the full schedule and share it with your new hires.

Additionally, we encourage you to share the following resources with your new hires:

• I-9 Journey Map: This resource helps guide new-to-the-university employees through the process of filling out Section 1, Employee Information and Attestation, of their Form I-9 in Workday.
• I-9 Appointment Scheduling Link: If your new hires are unable to attend our I-9 drop-in hours, have them schedule and appointment to verify their original, unexpired document(s) with our team. We highly recommend this process be done within three business days of their hire date, as required by the USCIS.

Please contact us at teamcas-i9@uw.edu if you have any questions.

SDB Awards Form Update and Reminders

On September 3, 2024, we’re launching updates to our SDB award form to help streamline the process of submitting multiple award requests at the same time. If AST processes your SDB award requests and you are interested in trying out the updated form, please contact Sam Quiambao at samq2@uw.edu.

In the meantime, here are two action items that your units can do to prepare for autumn quarter SDB award requests:

1. Encourage your students to set up direct deposit and update their address information on MyUW. Signing up for direct deposit is strongly encouraged so that students can receive their funds quickly and securely. If your student cannot set up direct deposit, aid checks will be mailed to their local (not permanent) address on file instead.
2. If you have not done so already, submit your Requests for SDB Fund Number Setup for aid year 2024-2025. One of the most common delays for SDB award requests is not having your 6-digit fund numbers setup. You can confirm with Student Fiscal Services (sfshelp@uw.edu) whether your funds are setup before submitting your SDB award requests to AST.

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Payments and Procurement

Flight Upgrade Requirements

Flight upgrade requirements differ between UW employees and UW guests. Please review the following table if your unit has a UW employee or UW guest who needs a flight upgrade.

Who is receiving flight the upgrade?	Flight Upgrade Requirements
UW Employees	The Travel Office will only accept a flight upgrade when the appropriate approval is attached to the reimbursement request. See Travel Services’ Airfare Upgrades for approval details. If the upgrade is a necessary medical accommodation, a letter of approval from the Disability Services Office (DSO) must be on file in the department. To be clear: DSO annual renewal is required for non-permanent conditions. It is the department’s responsibility to keep the approval letter on file. The letter should not be attached to the reimbursement request. When submitting a reimbursement request, you must note if there is an accommodation letter on file so this information can be entered in the Workday transaction.
UW Guests (students who are not UW employees, prospective students or staff, speakers, etc.)	If the department determines there is a need, a flight upgrade is acceptable but must be charged to a discretionary fund. Students needing medical accommodation for travel should continue to seek guidance from Disability Resources for Students (DRS) office. Departments assisting prospective students and prospective employees with travel medical accommodations can contact the DSO for assistance.

Car Service Policy Changes Coming September 1, 2024

Travel Services has announced two changes to car services requirements occurring on or after September 1, 2024:

1. All car services (e.g., Uber, Lyft, taxis, etc.) occurring on or after September 1, 2024, regardless or dollar amount, will require a receipt showing proof of payment.*
2. Starting September 1, 2024, Travel Services will allow reimbursements using non-discretionary funds for fare upgrades (such as Uber Comfort & Lyft XL) and wait time fees. Travelers must attach a business justification and the signed approval of the department administrator or chair/director. Departments may choose to create an annual blanket approval for these expenses using Travel Services’ Approval for car services update template. If created, this form must be attached to each relevant transaction.

*Note: Car service expenses under $75 that occurred prior to September 1, 2024, can be reimbursed under the $75 receipt waiver.

Updated Proof of Payment Policies

PayPal, Venmo and other mobile payment method services are now approved as legitimate proof of payment and will no longer require the traveler’s bank statement to validate the mobile payment method.

Peer-to-peer payments (a.k.a., exchanging funds between individuals) continue to be non-reimbursable.

Department Match Exceptions

There is a new Procurement form for “Department Match Exceptions”. Please use this form to secure department match exception types of:

• Approval for other charges over $100
• Approval for freight over $1,000
• Invoice line mismatches

Requests submitted via this form will be treated as a high priority by Procurement offices.

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Accounting and Grants

Issue of Duplicate ‘Correct Entries’ Requests

We are seeing units submit requests for correcting entries that have already been corrected. This results in a duplicate entry, which created the need to correct the correction; no fun for anyone. It is important for units to have a process in place to validate a correct need. Prior to submitting a request to correct a transaction, please complete the following steps:

1. Run R1300.5 Actuals with Encumbrance Balance for Unit Reporting
2. Identify the ledger account line via the “Ledger Account Hierarchy”. You can drill down at the ‘total line’ or by however you have sliced the data (e.g., by resource worktag).
3. Filter by ‘Journal Source’ and then sort for ‘Accounting Adjustment’, ‘Shared Environment Reclass’ and ‘Reclass’ (depending upon the correction, one of these attributes will be used). Payroll Accounting Adjustments (PAAs) can also be identified using this method.
4. Review executed correcting entries to check and see if the correction has already been completed.

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Foreign National Services

Update on staff H-1B, E-3, and TN visa sponsorships

After a successful trial period, ISO and UWHR have announced that staff H-1B, E-3, and TN visa sponsorships for qualifying, specialized staff positions will become part of regular operations! Units should continue to contact their HR recruitment partner for consultation on new and open recruitments.

Additional information is available on UWHR’s Staff visa sponsorship page. Feel free to contact the CAS Foreign National Services team at teamcas@uw.edu with questions.

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Looking Ahead

You’re invited to AST’s Open House on September 4!

We cordially invite all administrative and fiscal staff in CAS to AST’s first open house! Stop by the Bat Cave (a.k.a., AST’s office) to say hi, mingle with folks, and enjoy some treats.

• When: Wednesday, September 4 from 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.
• Where: Communications Building, CMU B042*

We look forward to seeing you there!

*Note: Our office is located on the basement level of the Communications Building. An elevator is available outside the building to the left of the southwest entrance. Take the elevator to “Floor B,” and AST’s office will be across the elevator.

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As always, please fill out our General Inquiry Form (preferred) or email teamcas@uw.edu if you have any questions or concerns. 

Administrative Support Team