UCLA Central Resource Unit

Friday, October 18, 2024, is the deadline to submit UCPath adjustment requests for overpayments that occurred between January 1 and October 1, 2024.

• The UCPath Center provides guidance on an annual basis for payroll adjustment requests that must be processed by the end of the current calendar year. 
• Please observe, the deadline for 2024 adjustments is approximately one month sooner than it was in 2023.
• Learn more in this article on our website.

An NDA requirement was introduced last year to protect sensitive information that is accessible to users with payroll data access. You may be accessing payroll data through your role in UCPath, or other downstream systems and reports.

The Payroll Data NDA was recently updated and, as a result, existing users must electronically sign the new version of the agreement by EOD Friday, September 27, 2024 in order to retain their access.

Read more about the NDA Requirement for Payroll Data.

The 2025 open enrollment period will begin Thursday, October 31, 2024 at 8:00 a.m. and end Friday, November 22, 2024 at 5:00 p.m. 

Get Prepared!

The UC Open Enrollment website will be available on the week of October 28. Start here to learn more about your Health and Benefit options, plan changes, and how to enroll.

Reminders

• Flexible Spending Accounts require annual enrollment.
• By October 30, review home address and dependent information to minimize any issues during the enrollment process.
• Employee Supplemental Life, Dependent Life and Voluntary Disability Plans are not available during open enrollment.
  • Prior to open enrollment, employees may enroll/update these plans on UCPath by navigating to Health and Welfare > Life Events / Benefit Changes. An evidence of insurability may be required.

BW 1: October 1, 5:00 p.m. – October 4, 6:00 a.m.
BW 2: October 15, 5:00 p.m. – October 18, 6:00 a.m.
MO: October 24, 5:00 p.m. – October 29, 6:00 a.m.

To avoid delays in payroll processing, the UCPath Center will limit system functionality on specific pages during the times listed above.  

Refer to the UCPath Production Processing Schedule for start and stop times of the Pay Confirm.

Resources

• Payroll Processing Countdown
• UCPath Job Aid: Processing Schedule

The UCPath Center recently updated the SCT / Direct Retro Processing Schedule. This schedule outlines when transactions must be approved in order to be picked up and posted to the Labor Ledger. It also identifies when you can expect to see the approved transactions in the Labor Ledger and, subsequently, in the General Ledger.

July 2024 through December 2024 dates are now available on Box.

UCPath recently alerted an issue impacting some work-study Salary Cost Transfer (SCT) reversal checks that resulted in uncredited balances to payees. The UCPath team is currently assessing location impact and developing a fix. 

As a precaution, UCPath has requested that work-study SCT transactions on reversal checks be paused through September 30, 2024. 

Work-Study SCT Reversal Check Pause Article

The following protocol is required for submitting off-cycle pay requests (E-078) near quarter-end (in this case, September) for monthly paid employees. This protocol ensures that wages are captured accurately in UCPath for off-cycle payroll periods that span two quarters. 

What’s happening?

When initiating off-cycle pay requests, the Pay End Date may erroneously populate with 9/27/24. This could cause a discrepancy in wages captured for the employee. If the Pay End Date shows September 1, 2024, you do not need to follow the protocol below and may proceed as usual. 

What’s the protocol?

• Enter 9/1/24 in the Earnings Begin field and 9/27/24 in the Earnings End field of the off-cycle request. You do not need to edit the Pay End Date, which should be 9/27/24. 
• If the employee had earnings beyond the Earnings Ends date (from 9/28-9/30), in the comments section, provide the total earnings for the pay period. Example: "Employee is due (insert hours) hours of pay for 09/01/24 to 09/30/24."
  • If the employee had no earnings from 9/28-9/30, you do not need to enter a comment

Example on Box

On August 6-7, 2024, the UCPath Center (UCPC) notified 1,222 active and 1,604 inactive UC employees regarding an error where Federal Insurance Contributions Act (FICA) taxes where not deducted from some previous paychecks. To remediate the error, UCPC adjusted federal payroll tax deductions for active employees in the August 28, 2024 biweekly paychecks and August 30, 2024 monthly paychecks.

What happened?

Due to a system error, UCPath did not deduct federally mandated payroll taxes for non-student employees when they transitioned from student employment to non-student employment positions. FICA taxes enhance future Social Security and Medicare benefits and appear as FED OASDI and FED MED on earning statements.

How to direct questions?

• UC’s communication to employees extended an apology for the error, explained the corrective actions, and explored the potential impact employees’ 2024 income taxes.
• If employees come to you with questions, please invite them to contact UCPath by logging in to UCPath and selecting Ask UCPath to submit an inquiry. They may also call UCPath to speak with an associate at (855) 982‐7284 from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (PT) Monday through Friday.

October 2 | Enroll today
October 9 | Enroll today
October 16 | Enroll today
October 23 | Enroll today

Tracker Administrator office hours are held every Wednesdays from 2:00 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. to provide users support with E-Verify, Form I-9, Tracker and more! 

Registration is required. A Zoom invitation will be sent to the email address provided on the registration form. Please register using your UCLA email address. 

Following the UCPath July Project Release, UCPath completed additional enhancements the former employee portal. On September 6, 2024, the following updates were launched: 

• The MFA options no longer include email
• Former employee welcome notifications are now being sent to email addresses listed as home or other

The changes will impact future separating employees and require existing former employees to create their own passwords on initial or return login to the portal. More information about the Former Employee Portal can be found on the UCPath Former Employee Portal Guide.

A recent UCOP statement informed the community about recent phishing emails that have targeted UC employees. UCOP shares that the attacks are typically very sophisticated, and use language and imagery that resembles the sites employees are used to. Please read the UCOP statement to learn more about how to remain alert. 

Read our website article to learn more about recent enhancements to UCPath and UCPath Online.

Gender Identity Enhancements

The next time employees sign into UCPath, they’ll be prompted to update their Self-Identification Details. 

Employees must provide responses for their Gender Identity, Sexual Orientation, and Pronouns (including decline to state, if desired) before they’re able to access UCPath’s self-service functions. 

Learn more about the recent Gender & Lived Name Enhancements. 

New Employee Case Assist / SOBO Form

The Employee Case Assist or Submit on Behalf of (SOBO) form has been redesigned. 

Key changes include:

• Enhanced employee search functionality
• Recent open/closed employee case dashboard 
• Improved submission process (including case escalation)
• Ability to self-close a case 

 Learn more about the recent changes to the Employee Case Assist / Submit on Behalf of (SOBO) form.

Former Employee Portal Changes

The UCPath Former Employee Portal has is now easier to access than ever! Key changes include: 

• Account setup automation: Former employees will have instructions sent to the email address on file with UCPath within 48 hours of their termination date. 
• Streamlined portal features: Former employees have streamlined access to the information they need, including previous earning statements and tax documents. They're also able to view/edit their personal contact information. 

Learn more about the recent changes to the UCPath Former Employee Portal.  

In June, we informed Tracker users about a policy update that requires a new I-9 Form to be completed for Emeriti that enter new appointments with pay. We recently received further guidance from University of California Office of the President (UCOP) and Office of the General Council (OGC) that new I-9 forms will also be required for Emeriti that were previously hired in appointments with pay.

Please register for Tracker Office Hours and review our web article to learn more.

In an effort to better align with the UCLA Gender Recognition and Lived Name Policy, some CRU case submission forms were updated. CRU case forms that are submitted on behalf of other individuals (for example, HR/Admin forms) have new Employee Preferred First Name and Employee Preferred Last Name fields. Requesters are still asked to provide the employee's legal first and last name on a few forms.

CRU Case Submission Forms Update Article

There are no holiday closures in October for your UCLA Payroll Partner office.

Review our event page for upcoming closures and other important events!

The next CRU Newsletter will be published in October 2024. During the month of September, we will: 

• Continue sending stand-alone communications to keep you informed of fiscal year-end developments and major breaking news. 
• Post all minor announcements to the news section of our website.