In This Issue:

Employee Development & Communications

2

Recruitment 3

Benefits 4

HR Compliance & Equity 5

Title IX 6

Compensation 7

Accounting & Reporting 8

Payroll 9

TWU 2019-2020 Holiday Schedule

DAY DATE HOLIDAY

Monday September 2, 2019 Labor Day

Wednesday November 27, 2019 Holiday

Thursday November 28, 2019 Thanksgiving Day Friday November 29, 2019 Holiday

Monday December 23, 2019 Holiday

Tuesday December 24, 2019 Holiday

Wednesday December 25, 2019 Christmas Day

Thursday December 26, 2019 Holiday

Friday December 27, 2019 Holiday

Monday December 30, 2019 Holiday

Tuesday December 31, 2019 Holiday

Wednesday January 1, 2020 New Year's Day

Monday January 20, 2020 Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

Friday March 13, 2020 Holiday

Monday May 25, 2020 Memorial Day

September –November, 2019

Long Time HR Employee to Retire Estela Long, Manager of Compensation in the Office of Human Resources is set to retire at the end of 2019. Estela has been with TWU for 30 years. She first began in 1990 as an HR Records Coordinator. In 2009, TWU recognized Mrs. Long for her dedication to TWU and awarded her the Outstanding Achievement Award. When asked what she thinks she will miss the most about TWU, she responded, “All these years I have enjoyed working with departments in trying to meet their re-quests. I know that each request is important and in the end it gave me satisfaction to know I was able to help ac-complish the department’s goal. It has been a pleasure for me to be able to talk to so many department heads and em-ployees over the years. HR is a department that provides customer service on a daily basis and customer service has been my number one priority”. Please help us congratulate Estela with her new journey and wish her well.

While TWU determines the actual holidays to be taken, the State of Texas determines the number of holidays an institution may take.

Human Resources Messenger Volume 63

TWU 2019-2020 Pet Schedule

DAY DATE HOLIDAY

Friday October 25, 2019 Dogs

Friday November 22, 2019 Dogs

Friday December 13, 2019 Dogs

2

Employee Development & Communications

There are many training & development opportunities available in the Dallas/Denton/Houston areas: Departments need to make individual arrangements for payment and employee attendance. Phone numbers and web links are provided. Please view websites for a full list of courses and pricing.

National Seminars http://www.nationalseminarstraining.com/ 1-800-258-7246 Advanced Microsoft Excel for the Power User Business Grammar for Busy People Management & Leadership Skills for First-Time Supervisors

SkillPath Seminars http://www.skillpath.com/ 1-800-873-7545 The Essentials of Communicating with Diplomacy & Professionalism How to Become a Better Communicator Managing Emotions and Thriving Under Pressure

Fred Pryor Seminars http://www.pryor.com/site/default.aspx 1-800-780-8476 How to Deal With Unacceptable Employee Behavior How to Deliver Exceptional Customer Service Team-Building

Off-Campus Training Opportunities

Melissa Ozuna Dillon, Manager of Employee

Development & Communications mozuna@twu.edu 940-898-3558

State Mandated Training

Recognition and Prevention of Sexual Harassment with Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Overview training Required for all new TWU employees within 30 days of employment and supplemental training for all TWU Employees. (Every 2 years) Texas Woman’s University will immediately begin using the Texas Workforce Commission Recognition and Prevention of Sexual Harassment with Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Overview training. This will take the place of the current training in Inspired eLearning.

You will have to sign in with the our acronym, state number, First name and last name with spaces in between: Example: TWU 756002618 Firstname Lastname

The training takes 30-40 minutes. There are 15 questions at the end and you have to answer 11 of the 15 correctly to get your certificate.

After the training is complete, please send a copy of your certificate to mozuna@twu.edu You can log into the training by going to the following website: https://www.softchalkcloud.com/lesson/serve/VWyNFTlShH8dgj/html

State Mandated Ethics Training Required for all new TWU employees and supplemental training for all TWU Employees. (Yearly). To access training, log in to your Portal and select My Tools, then Online Training.

Computer Security Training Required for all new TWU employees and supplemental training for all TWU Employees. (Yearly). To access training, log in to your Portal and select My Tools, then Online Training.

Safety Training Required for all new TWU employees and supplemental training for all TWU Employees. http://www.twu.edu/health-safety/training/

3

EQUAL EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY/

AFIRMATIVE ACTION, PERFORMANCE,

COMPLIANCE & DISABILITY COORDINATION

IMPORTANCE OF PROFESSIONAL REFERENCE CHECKS

Recruitment

Myrna Flores

Manager of Recruitment 940-898-3557

Rhonda Redfearn Sr. HR Generalist

940-898-3554

When Texas Woman's University’s hiring commit-

tee manager or chair are at the point of contacting

references, they want to talk to past employers or

past professional references—on the phone,

where they may ask questions and probe around.

Tone is often more important than words. A good

reference-checker pays close attention to small

details of the conversation. If the reference sounds

hesitant, uncomfortable, or

anxious to get off the phone,

those are possibly red flags.

Professional reference

checks completed by email

are convenient due to busy

schedules of everyone.

The Office of Human Re-

sources Recruitment team

recommends contacting three professional refer-

ences (per vacancy search) listed on the candi-

dates TWU application. Customize the questions

to fit the needs of the position. Reference checks

are an excellent tool to help the hiring manager

and committee decide to recommend a strong

candidate for hire. After all, conducting an inter-

view will simply give you the candidate’s side of

the story. Who better than a previous supervisor

or professional reference to balance out that story

and provide some insights from a third-party, man-

agerial perspective?

Reference-checking isn't about simply checking off

a series of boxes confirming that an applicant

wasn't fired. Instead, a good reference-checker is

looking to see how your professional references

speak about their work, and whether they're en-

thusiastic about the applicant or not. People will

sometimes give you valuable information over the

phone that they do not want to put in writing. If the

professional reference listed does not respond to

the phone calls, TWU Recruitment team suggests

that an applicant provide another professional ref-

erence for the committee to contact. At the very

least, a hiring manager should be able to verify the

factual, objective information

the applicant provides. Em-

ployers' or professional ref-

erences can give you some

or all

of the following information:

employment dates

job titles

job tasks performed

work habits — including conscientiousness,

sense of responsibility, and ability to work with

others

whether they would re-hire the individual

Documenting your reference checking activities is

useful for hiring purposes as well as an aid in

avoiding negligent hiring claims that may arise. In

case of a lawsuit, or even just to protect yourself in

case an employee you hire later proves unsatis-

factory, you should document every step of your

reference check in order to show that you acted

reasonably in hiring the applicant based on the

information that you had or alternatively, could not

obtain. All documentation should be submitted

with the search file and kept by TWU Recruitment.

4

If you enrolled new dependents in health coverage during Summer Enrollment, you must submit request-ed verification documents by the due date or the de-pendent will lose all coverage. If you haven’t already, you will get a letter from Alight Solutions soon. Please pay close attention to any letters, calls or emails from Alight. If you are having trouble getting the required documents by the deadline, you need to call Alight before the deadline to discuss options. If documents are not provided by the deadline, that dependent will be dropped from coverage by ERS (Employees Retirement System) in all Texas Employ-ees Group Benefits Program (GBP) plans. Ineligible dependents A dependent who previously failed the dependent eli-gibility verification and lost GBP coverage will have a grayed-out profile in ERS OnLine. This dependent cannot be enrolled because he or she did not meet the eligibility criteria to participate in the GBP. Re-enrollment in both cases above is possible only: if the member has a qualifying life event (QLE)

or during the next Summer Enrollment, if a previous-

ly ineligible dependent has since been verified as eligible.

Employees can learn more about dependent eligibility verification on the ERS website.

Benefits

Gun Owners Supplement The Office of Human Resources has reached out to Legal Shield regarding offering Gun Owner protection as part of the voluntary benefit program. Gun Owner protection is s supplement to the legal plan currently avail-able through Legal Shield. For additional information you can review the flyer below and to enroll in this prod-uct contact Bowie Ballard directly at bowieballard@icloud.com.

Employees must verify for dependents to be covered Wellbeing Join the Fitness Program in September with no

enrollment fee!

The Fitness Program* is a flexible membership pro-gram for participants enrolled in HealthSelectSM of Texas and Consumer Directed HealthSelectSM, with access to more than 9,000 fitness centers nationwide. The monthly membership fee is $25, with a $25 one-time enrollment fee. For the month of September, the $25 one-time enroll-ment fee will be waived for all HealthSelect partici-pants and their covered dependents age 18 and old-er. Use code septembersave during registration to have the fee waived. To enroll, employees should: log in to their Blue Access for Members℠ account

and click Fitness Program under Quick Links, or

call (888) 762-BLUE (2583) toll-free, Monday–Friday 8 a.m. - 9 p.m. in any U.S. time zone.

Fitness Program benefits include: flexible membership with no long-term contract

for $25/month, unlimited access to over 9,000 participating fitness

centers nationwide, easy online enrollment; automatic monthly pay-

ment withdrawal, discounts on services from health and well-being

professionals such as acupuncture, personal train-ing, massage and more, and

Blue Points℠ (earned) when you enroll and track weekly visits.

To learn more about the Fitness Program and the en-rollment waiver, please visit the HealthSelect Fitness Program web page for more details.

Fitness Program members can cancel their member-ship at any time by calling (888) 762-BLUE (2583) toll-free, Monday–Friday, 7 a.m. - 7 p.m. CT.

Angela Cagle PHR Manager of Benefits,

940-898-3552

Holly Harris SPHR Sr. HR Generalist,

940-898-3542

5

STAFF PERFORMANCE EVALUATIONS

&

MERIT BASED COMPENSATION

Staff Self Appraisals & Performance Evaluations Thank you for participating in the Self Appraisals & Performance Evaluations process for the review period of June 1, 2018—May 31, 2019. With a few minor exceptions, the pro-cess is complete. Employees are being notified of any final outstanding process steps.

Merit Awards Merit Award decisions are being finalized, the verification process is underway and pay-roll is being prepared to have eligible monthly merit increase amounts added to base sal-aries for merit award recipients effective September 1, 2019. Eligible staff employees and faculty members will be notified of merit awards during the period of September 13, 2019—September 20, 2019. Pay slips should be available by September 27, 2019 and eligible monthly merit increase amounts will be reflected on the October 1, 2019 paycheck.

Tony Yardley ayardley@twu.edu 940-898-3563

Cyndee Tanttari ctanttari@twu.edu 940-898-3553

Employee Relations &

HR Compliance & Equity

6

Photo By, Lisa Taylor

Title IX

Parrish Nicholls, JD Director & Coordinator

of Title IX 940-898-3518

Lisa Taylor, PHR Senior HR Generalist Title IX Investigator

940-898-3759

A common question in regard to sexual misconduct

cases is whether the law enforcement or the Office of

Title IX leads investigative efforts. In short, both of-

fices may initiate their own separate investigation,

and neither will lead the other’s investigation since

they are based on two different standards and pro-

cesses.

TWU’s Office of Title IX is charged with administer-

ing the university’s Sexual Misconduct Policy

(Policy) and its accompanying procedures. These

were developed by university administration and are

designed to be in line with the requirements of Title

IX of the Education Amendments of 1972, the Vio-

lence Against Women Act (VAWA), and state law

where applicable. Although not contrary to the Office

of Title IX’s mission, law enforcement (whether

TWU’s Department of Public Safety, Denton/Dallas/

Houston Police Departments, or the applicable county

sheriff’s office) is charged with enforcing state and

municipal laws, most of which are found in the Texas

Penal Code.

While TWU’s Sexual Misconduct Policy prohibits

sexual assault, domestic violence, and other acts that

are also deemed crimes, the Policy’s definition of

those acts differs slightly than how they are defined in

the Texas Penal Code. The Office of Title IX also in-

vestigates and reviews Policy violations with a differ-

ent level of scrutiny than law enforcement uses.

These considerations allow the Office of Title IX to

more promptly address situations that do not rise to

the criminal level, but that nevertheless need to be

addressed to ensure a learning and working environ-

ment that is free from sexual misconduct and discrim-

ination.

The important thing is that students, staff, and faculty

who have experienced sexual misconduct know that it

is their option to report to either the Office of Title IX

and/or TWU DPS. While the processes may differ,

such concerns will be given dignity and attention.

Did you know?

Reporting to the Office of Title IX vs. Reporting to Law Enforcement

7

Compensation

Estela Long, Manager of Compensation

elong@twu.edu 940-898-3548

Teri Hasten Sr. HR Generalist thasten@twu.edu

940-898-3554

Please contact us if you need assistance regarding compensation related questions.

Department of Labor Submits Final Overtime Rule to Office of Management and Budget

For the University Compensation Pay Plan FY 2019-2020 click on the below link.

http://www.twu.edu/compensation-classification/compensation-pay-plan.asp

On August 12, 2019, the Department of Labor (DOL) submitted the

final rule updating the salary threshold for the "white collar" exemp-

tions to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)'s overtime pay require-

ments to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA). OI-

RA, part of the president’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB),

is required to review all draft and final standards as well as all regula-

tory actions before implementation. This is the final step before the

overtime rule is published. While OIRA has 90 days to conduct its

review, in most cases review takes 30 to 60 days. If this timetable

holds true, it is likely that DOL will publish a final rule in October or

November.

While the rule is being reviewed, the public is not provided any specific details on changes to the pro-

posed rule. However, interested stakeholders are allowed to file comments with OIRA and request a

meeting with the administrator while a rule is under review (for meeting requests please use this link).

CUPA-HR will provide additional details on how our members can submit written comments to OIRA

and on our plans to submit a follow-up letter on behalf of higher education that reiterates the com-

ments we submitted to DOL in response to their proposal.

Those comments, signed by 18 other higher education associations, offer support for DOL’s deci-

sion to update the salary threshold by applying the methodology used in 2004 to current salary data

and its decision not to make any changes to the duties test. It also included several suggestions for

im proving the proposal.

As always, CUPA-HR will continue to advocate on behalf of higher education and will keep all mem-

bers updated of further developments.

CUPA-HR eNews August 13, 2919

8

Hourly paid RTW retirees will continue to be paid based on time entered from the 16th of one month through the 15th

of the next month (ex: hours entered 9/16 – 10/15 will be paid on November 1st). However all hours worked through the last day of the month must be entered no later than the 2nd working day of the new month.

Department managers, be sure to find out if your RTW retiree is working at more than one state agency at the same time. All hours worked at all agencies are combined to determine if limits are exceeded and Surcharges apply. In FY2020, the Penalty Surcharge will increase to 15.2%, and the TRS-Care Surcharge (when applicable) remains at $535.00 per month. These are direct charges to the department(fund 10 accounts cannot be used for surcharges).

HR Accounting & Reporting Welcome back Faculty, Staff and Returning to Work Retirees! HR Accounting & Reporting is here to support you in the

new fiscal year. Important items to keep in mind…

Period Allowable Hours

Pay Date

9/1-9/30 84 10/1/2019

10/1-10/31 92 11/1/2019

11/1-11/30 84 12/2/2019

12/1-12/31 88 1/2/2020

1/1-1/31 92 2/3/2020

2/1-2/29 80 3/2/2020

3/1-3/31 88 4/1/2020

4/1-4/30 88 5/1/2020

5/1-5/31 84 6/1/2020

6/1-6/30 88 7/1/2020

7/1-7/31 92 8/3/2020

8/1-8/31 84 9/1/2020

9/1-9/30 88 10/1/2020

When Allowable Limits are Exceeded

Impact to Individual (Retiree)

Loss of income. The retiree forfeits

the annuity for each month that the

retiree exceeds the amount of time

allowed to work during that month.

Impact to Employer

A TRS-covered employer incurs sur-

charges when a TRS retiree who re-

tired after September 1, 2005 exceeds

the time allowed to work during that

month.

*Applicable to most employees retired after 12/31/2010. See TRS website for detailed rules.

https://www.trs.texas.gov/TRS%20Documents/employment_after_retirement.pdf

Returning to Work Retirees – Both the department managers and returning employees have a stake in how their hours are reported and earnings are paid. Please refer to the following TRS guidelines for allowable hours per month for retirees working one-half time or less.*

Department Managers – Please make note of the following to ease your financial worries:

At the beginning of the semester, run a SQL Budget Manager Detail report to ensure your Payroll and Fringe Benefit accounts are funded.

Utilize Manager Self Service to enter PTFs and Student Permits according to Payroll processing guidelines. Multiple levels of approval are required, so don’t delay.

Be mindful of grant expiration and new grant start dates.

Avoid mid-month costing changes. These can be diffi-cult to process and the end result may not be what you expected.

Remind students to enter time as it is earned, and on the correct assignment.

Approve timesheets prior to the monthly deadline. Check for duplicate entries on the same or other assign-ments.

Check your available funds on a regular basis, prefera-bly at the end of each month.

Reconcile information on the Payroll Summary report to the Budget Manager Detail report.

Don’t wait until it’s too late. Contact us as soon as you identify an issue.

Sharon Cowan Manager, HR Accounting & Reporting scowan@twu.edu, ext. 3594

Nature Miller Sr. Human Resources Generalist nmiller11@twu.edu, ext. 3586

9

Upcoming Pay Dates: October 1, 2019

November 1, 2019 Payroll

Welcome to the new fiscal year! The first payroll of the new fiscal year will be payable on Tuesday, October 1, 2019. The payslips will be available for viewing on Phoenix by Thursday, Septem-ber 26th. You can view your payslip on or off campus by accessing your Pioneer Portal, My Info, and Payslip information. To print your payslip, choose the printer friendly link in the upper right hand corner of your por-tal. As this is the first payroll for new TWU employees and will reflect the new assignments and benefit changes for returning employees, we encourage you to review your payslips online.

NEW! Adjunct Faculty Payroll Schedule: Effective September 1, 2019, adjunct faculty pay will be spread over 4.5 months for the fall semester and 4.5 months for the spring semester. Adjusting the dates will provide a more consistent monthly gross pay and comply with Teacher Retirement System require-ments. Benefits and other payroll deductions will also be deducted over 4.5 months rather than 4 months. Pay dates will remain the first business day of each month. Below is an example of an adjunct faculty fall and spring semester payment schedule using the 4.5 pay-ment spread. (Example Only)

Total Semester

Salary

Earnings Month

Pay Date Gross Pay Amount

1836.00 September 10/1/2019 408.00

October 11/1/2019 408.00

November 12/2/2019 408.00

December 1/2/2020 408.00

3672.00 January 2/3/2020 612.00

February 3/2/2020 816.00

March 4/1/2020 816.00

April 5/1/2020 816.00

May 6/1/2020 816.00

5508.00 5508.00

NEW! Timecard Leave Types Effective 9/1/19, new Oracle timecard leave types will be im-plemented for exempt and nonexempt employees. Below is a chart reflecting the new leave types and their description. The new leave types will comply with state leave categorization requirements including multiple closure types as required by the state. We will notify of the type of leave to use in the event of a closure. You will begin using the new leave types on your September 2019 timecard.

Leave Types Description

Workplace Wellbeing Example: Extra 30 minutes at lunch to workout

Compensatory Leave Compensatory Hours Used

University Sponsored Wellbeing

Leave used during University Spon-sored Fitness events

University Closure All other University Closure

Emergency Other All other emergency leave

Funeral Leave Bereavement leave

Holiday Leave Campus closure for Approved Uni-versity Holiday

Holiday Worked Hours worked during Approved Uni-versity Holiday

Jury Duty Jury Duty Leave

Leave Without Pay Leave Without Pay hours

Military Leave Military leave hours taken

Recognition Leave Leave used after approval of Recognition Leave form

Sick Leave Sick Leave Hours

Sick Leave Pool Approved sick pool hours used

Building Closure Closure of buildings (i.e. A/C out-age)

Vacation Leave Vacation Leave Hours

Weather Closure Closure due to inclement weather

Overtime Leave Overtime Hours Used

Regular Hours Worked Work Hours

Lunch Lunch Hours Used

On Call Pay On call pay

Class Time Leave used for Class Time Timecard Reminders:

Non-exempt employees should enter lunch hours taken.

Non-exempt employees working overtime, please record total hours worked as “Regular Hours Worked” and your overtime hours will be calculated accordingly.

Exempt employees submitting a blank timecard: If you do not have any time off to report, please se-lect “Vacation Leave” and enter a 0 in the first day.

Please check your TWU Employee Self-Service for outstanding timecards not submitted, rejected or not yet approved and submit as soon as possible.

Jane Sewald Sr. HR Generalist (940) 898-3561 jsewald@twu.edu

Carla Fortenberry Sr. HR Generalist (940) 898-3551 cfortenberry@twu.edu

Amanda Noday Payroll Manager (940) 898-3562 anoday@twu.edu

10

Jane Sewald Sr. HR Generalist (940) 898-3561 jsewald@twu.edu

Carla Fortenberry Sr. HR Generalist (940) 898-3551 cfortenberry@twu.edu

Amanda Noday Payroll Manager (940) 898-3562 anoday@twu.edu

Upcoming Pay Dates: October 1, 2019

November 1, 2019 Payroll

Sign up for Direct Deposit! The TWU Payroll Department encourages you to sign up for direct deposit. This is an easy and convenient way to receive your payments. Sign up is easy! Just log-in to Phoenix through internet explorer from any on campus computer, and choose TWU Employee Self-Service and Direct Depos-it Information. Your submission is com-pletely electronic with no printed forms re-quired.

Direct Deposit Benefits: Peace of Mind: No worr ies about mail de-

lays and lost or stolen checks.

Prompt Payment: Deposits are credited on

payday.

Convenience: No special tr ips to pick up

and deposit checks.

Advantage: Ability to deposit pay to multi-

ple accounts.

Freedom: Payments are automatically de-

posited to your account, even if you are out

of town or ill. Manager Self-Service Manager Self-Service is a Phoenix re-sponsibility utilized when submitting person-nel transaction forms (PTFs). If you require training assistance on submitting PTFs, please contact Carla Fortenberry at cforten-berry@twu.edu or (940) 898-3551. Did you know? If you are an approver of PTF forms, you can set up a back-up approver when you are on vacation or grant someone worklist

access in your absence? We highly en-courage you to set up a back-up approver in case you are out of the office and unable to approve. TIP Vacation Rules-Redirect or auto-respond to notifications. TIP Worklist Access-Specify which users can view and act upon your notifications. To grant worklist access: click on the worklist access link, choose the “Grant Worklist Access” button, choose the em-ployee to approve in your absence in the “Name” field, add a start date, leave the end date open and click apply. To grant vacation access: click on the worklist access link, choose the “Create Rule” button, choose the employee to ap-prove in your absence in the “Name” field, add a start date, add an end date, type a message that will display on PTFs while you are out (i.e. I am currently out of the of-fice) and click apply. Employee Self-Service Need to update your address, W-4 or direct deposit? From any on campus computer, you may update your address, make a change to your current W-4 information and update your direct deposit information through TWU Employee Self-Service. You can also sign up to receive your W-2 elec-tronically, view a W-2 from prior years, or update your privacy settings.