The holiday season is upon us. Here are some of those last minute reminders to assist you in making the year end well.

Mailing Address and Form W-2

W-2s will be issued in January by the State Controller's Office and mailed to the address you have on record in HRIS/Payroll as of November 16, 2006.

If your mailing address has changed, please go online today and update your HR/Payroll record through PeopleSoft Self Service. All employees have this capability. You can access Self Service through the Web portal at https://www.csun.edu/portal/. If you have never used this service before, there are instructions available for access and use of the Self Service portal at https://www-admn.csun.edu/hrs/selfsvcref.pdf.

You may also fill out a change of address form in person in the Office of Human Resources, University Hall, Room 165 by November 16, 2006.

Excess Plus/Minus

Departments with employees working alternate schedules (schedules different than the standard Monday through Friday, 8:00a.m. to 5:00p.m.) should identify those employees who may end the year with deficit hours that will need to be reconciled or "paid back" with personal leave time (vacation, CTO, or personal holiday if in whole increments). By January 3, 2007 (Timekeeper cutoff), affected employees should have been contacted by the department and a decision reached for the type of leave to be used, and entered in Time and Labor using the following date and Time Reporting Codes:

12/31/2006EMPAYX number of hours AND
12/31/2006VACX number of hours OR
CTOX number of hours OR
PHX number of hours (if equivalent to one full day)

Processing notes are available online at https://www-admn.csun.edu/hrs/payroll/excessplusminus.doc.

Your PeopleSoft Campus Support Team can answer any questions regarding this at pshelp@csun.edu or x6685.

Maximum Vacation Balance Cap

Quick Reminder - your vacation balance as of January 1, 2007 must be at or below your maximum carryover per your applicable bargaining/administrative unit agreement. All employees can view their leave balances online through PeopleSoft Self Service at https://www.csun.edu/portal/. If not, please see your department Timekeeper.

Also remember to consider your vacation accruals for October, November, and December when calculating the number of hours you must use before January 1st. For details concerning the calculation of your "Maximum Carryover Hours," please refer to http://www-admn.csun.edu/hrs/benefits/vacation_carryover.doc.

Special note for Faculty: After one (1) full year of employment, a California Faculty Association (R03) employee who accrues vacation (12-month appointments) shall take at least forty (40) hours of vacation each calendar year. Any part of the forty (40) hours not taken during the calendar year shall be forfeited by January of the subsequent year (Article 34.7).

Holiday Schedule

Don't forget, this year the CSU celebrated Veterans' Day on Friday, November 10, 2006. This change means there will be one day (December 29th) during the December 25th to January 1st holiday break that will not be covered as it was in the past. You will want to be sure you have a vacation day, CTO, or your unused personal holiday to cover this day.

University Holiday Schedule:

HOW DO I...? DIRECT DEPOSIT - FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS

1. How do I sign up for direct deposit?
   
   Individuals wishing to enroll in this program must complete the Direct Deposit Enrollment Authorization Form and return it to Human Resources at University Hall, Room 165. The form can be found online at:
   
   http://www.documents.dgs.ca.gov/osp/pdf/std699.pdf
   
   
2. What is the bank routing number and account number?
   
   These numbers are used to identify your financial institution and account. We recommend that you verify your bank routing and account number with your financial institution prior to submitting your Direct Deposit Enrollment Authorization Form.
   
   
3. How long will it take for my direct deposit to go into effect?
   
   We advise employees to allow up to two pay warrants (2 months) for the direct deposit process to go into effect.

The new 2007 Professional Development Program's schedule of courses will be available on the Human Resources website this month. Several new and exciting classes have been added if you are looking to improve your problem solving, team member effectiveness, and achieving peak performance skills. Brush up on leadership, management, service excellence, performance development, communication, influencing, and interpersonal skills by attending a Professional Development session this winter and spring.

Visit our website at http://www-admn.csun.edu/hrs/training/index.html.

Flu Season

It's that time of year! Winter is coming, and along with it so comes the coughing, sneezing, and runny nose associated with the flu. Getting your flu shot before you get sick can help. Here are some other tips that can help during this flu season.

• If you are sick, please stay home from work. This will help protect others as well.
• If you sneeze or cough, use a tissue to cover your mouth and nose. Throw the tissue away after using it, and then was your hands with soap and water.
• Wash your hands often with soap and water. Gel sanitizers work well when soap and water are not available.
• Keep hands away from your eyes, nose, and mouth so germs can't get in.
• Avoid close contact with people who are sick with a cold or the flu.
• Clean surfaces that you touch often if someone in your household has a cold or the flu.
• Don't share anything that goes into the mouth.
• Keep healthy by getting appropriate rest, drinking plenty of water, exercising regularly, and eating nutritious foods.

Vision Plan Update

The CSU vision plan will change to Vision Service Plan, Inc. (VSP) effective January 1, 2007. Information pertaining to this benefit plan will be distributed to the campus as it becomes available.

MEDCO

Effective July 1, 2006, PERS Care and PERS Choice prescription drug program, Caremark, was replaced with MEDCO. If you want to register online for MEDCO you can do so by going to the MEDCO website at http://www.medco.com/. To register online you will need your Member ID#, which is located on your medical card. Do not include the first three letters of your Member ID#. If you experience any difficulty, please contact MEDCO at (800) 939-7091.

CalPERS Annual Member Statement

During the month of November the 2006 CalPERS Annual Member Statements will be mailed directly to the members home. Statements will also be available online this month and can be viewed at http://www.calpers.ca.gov/.

Questions about your benefits? Contact your benefits representative.
Last NameRepresentative
A-KMonica Escontrias(818) 677-3810monica.escontrias@csun.edu
L-ZCathy Salazar(818) 677-2119cathy.salazar@csun.edu

While we have not yet found a magic wand that would allow us to hire, pay, or reassign employees without paper transactions, we are looking at ways to streamline our processes, provide more information, and make those oh-so-loved forms more user-friendly. Here are a couple of proposed changes in the works.

Standardized Job Posting - Tired of writing a new job posting each and every time you need to fill an ASA or SSP position vacancy? With a standardized job posting system, you tell us what classification you wish to post and with a "CLICK" of the mouse, your posting will be up on the Employment Website the same day. But how will the employee know what they will have to do in MY department you ask? The job description. Your tailored job description will describe the specifics of the position within your department/college, and can be given to the applicant to read while waiting to be called into the interview. Remember, for CSU bargaining positions, we hire employees into a classification, not into an individual job. Of course you can always give us additional specifications for the hire that we will include in your posting. With a standardized posting system you have just shortened the 3-5 day turnaround time to post to a one-day turnaround. Of course, not all of the postings will initially fit into the new process, but we are looking at the most commonly "need to fill" positions to get us started.

Online Student Employee Hire Docs - WOW! Who were all those people lined up in front of the reception desk in HR back in September? Many of them were students in line to complete their new hire documents. Bet you're thinking that took time out of their day. Well, you're right. In order to resolve this service delivery issue, we are planning to make the new hire documents available online for students so they can download and complete the necessary paperwork prior to coming to HR. This will allow the students to ask their parents or tax advisors that recurring question that Human Resource staff is not allowed to give advise on "How many exemptions should I list?"

Eventually, we are hoping to set up a system that will allow the campus the option to process their new student hire right in their own department. No more wondering "Did my student sign in?"

Office Renovation / Service Delivery

The Office of Human Resources serves as the "window to the campus" for perspective employees and many other visitors to the campus. The front office has been renovated and now presents a more professional image. Concurrent with this renovation, we have consolidated three reception areas into one. This service delivery model offers visitors one entry point to all Human Resource services. To ensure your HR representative is available to answer your questions or assist you one-on-one with an employment, payroll, benefit, or employee relation issue, we will be happy to schedule an appointment, just call us at x2101. Many questions can be answered without a visit by consulting our website at http://www-admn.csun.edu/hrs/.


If you have a comment on either of these proposed process changes, please e-mail Valerie Myers at valerie.myers@csun.edu.

Your feedback is always welcome. Please send us any questions or comments about this communication via email to marianne.hudz@csun.edu.