June 2010
Postdoc Administrator Update - June 2010
Postdoc Administrator Update – June 2010
(sent to supdssworkinggroup list on June 30, 2010)
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1. Mark Your Calendar: Quarterly Administrator Meeting, July 8, 10 am, Clark Center, S360
2. New Forms!!
a) Payroll Form (W-11) for Use with I-9 in Setting Up New Postdocs
b) Leave of Absence Request Form for Postdoctoral Scholars
3. Who’s Who in Postdoc Affairs: Updated Responsibilities and New Staff
4. Coming Up!
a) Stanford Policy on H1B Sponsorships for Postdocs
b) Postdoctoral Orientation Website
c) PeopleSoft Web Forms – Postdoc Appointment Actions Go Online
(Access this issue, archives of past issues and other important memoranda from Postdoc Affairs online at the Administrator Blog http://postdocs.stanford.edu/admin/blog/)
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1. Mark Your Calendar: Quarterly Administrator Meeting, Thursday, July 8, 10 am, Clark Center S360
This meeting is for all administrators campus-wide who implement the university’s policies and procedures regarding postdocs. The upcoming meeting next week will announce and answer your questions regarding procedures and policies-- including the process for H1B requests for scholars and two big projects underway at OPA: the online postdoc orientation and the PeopleSoft Postdoc Forms Web Project. We look forward to seeing you!
2. New Forms!! Payroll Form (W-11) for Use with I-9 in Setting Up New Postdocs
Recently enacted legislation, the Hiring Incentives to Restore Employment (HIRE) Act, provides two tax credits to employers who hire previously unemployed workers during the period of February 3, 2010 through January 1, 2011. For Stanford to claim the tax credit, each eligible new employee must complete a brief, voluntary affidavit. This includes postdoctoral scholars who are on university payroll (paid a salary through GFS), who are US citizens or permanent residents and who have not worked for anyone for more than 40 hours during the 60 day period prior to the postdoctoral appointment start date. If your new postdoc was attending school and not concurrently receiving wages while going to school prior to beginning the appointment at Stanford, the postdoc is eligible.
University Payroll sent a message to 40 eligible postdocs who were hired before the announcement was made about this new Act. Going forward, please include the W-11 form with the other forms that you require your new postdocs to complete upon arrival (I-9) if the postdoc is eligible. This form is voluntary. Send the completed form to Payroll. The W-11 is downloadable online at http://fingate.stanford.edu/docs/new_employee_affidavit_w11.pdf. .
Thank you in advance for providing this form to your new postdocs! If there are any questions, please submit a HelpSU ticket to Payroll at: http://remedy-prod.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/helpsu2?pcat=Payroll
New Forms!! Leave of Absence Request Form for Postdoctoral Scholars
Effective immediately, requests for unpaid leave of absence for postdocs must be made via the Leave of Absence Request Form available online at http://postdocs.stanford.edu/admin/pdf-forms/LOA%20Form%20v2%202.pdf. The form includes a summary of Stanford’s policy regarding unpaid leaves and must be completed by the scholar and completely signed by the individuals noted on the form before a request is made to OPA. We hope that this new form will clarify the policy regarding leaves and streamline the process. When submitting a leave form to OPA, email the completed PDF to postdocaffairs@stanford.edu and indicate in the subject heading: [LOA] or [Leave].
3. Who’s Who in Postdoc Affairs: Updated Responsibilities and New Staff
OPA has partnered with Administrative Systems for a major enhancement in the PeopleSoft system in order to better meet the business and postdoc/administrator needs, ensure university compliance with policy and regulations, and expedite the administrative processing of appointment actions. Due to this project, and other internal re-organization of responsibilities, Tammy J Wilson joined the OPA team last week on a long temporary assignment for the coming few months. The following list describes the current job responsibilities for all staff in OPA. All communication remains through the central office mailbox postdocaffairs@stanford.edu, but you may now hear from different people!
- Reappointments are now reviewed by Tammy Wilson. This includes all standard reappointment, exception requests and approval of DS-2019 extensions.
- New appointment processing in PeopleSoft (which creates the student ID number) is now done by Jaclyn Lam. This includes approval of initial DS-2019 requests as has been the case in the past. Jaclyn also now handles Termination of appointments.
- Ravina Thuraisingam, OPA’s fantastic student assistant, continues this summer. She is responsible for the printing of new appointment paperwork, checking it for completion and letting you know if we are missing documents that would stop the file from getting reviewed.
- You will hear from Al Murray if his review of initial appointment paperwork reveals policy or compliance issues (we hope to see fewer of those). Al will consult with the Assistant Dean as necessary. Al continues to handle postdoc transfers to other departments or to other statuses at Stanford, and his responsibilities continue as the School of Medicine’s GFS expert and PS Authority Grantor.
- Shannon Monahan continues to manage the postdoc insurance billing and her financial role expands to the post-award financial activities of the School of Medicine fellowships. In addition, Shannon will assume significant reporting and auditing responsibilities and systems analysis. Shannon no longer handles reappointments, terminations or other appointment actions for individual postdocs.
4. Coming Up!
- Stanford Policy on H1B Sponsorships for Postdocs
- Postdoctoral Orientation Website
- PeopleSoft Web Forms – Postdoc Appointment Actions Go Online
Attend Thursday’s meeting to learn more! Further email communication will follow after the meeting.
Happy 4th of July and have a good long weekend everyone!
Produced by the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs, Stanford University, 1215 Welch Rd., Stanford, CA 94305 | postdocs.stanford.edu | postdocaffairs@stanford.edu
Instructions on how to request a J Scholar Visa Request (DS-2019)
Bechtel International Center J Scholar Visa Requests
The J Scholar Visa Request form is available via the Axess portal at http://axess.stanford.edu
Click the login button
Enter your SUNet Id and password and click login
The J Scholar Visa Requests form is available on the Employee Information tab. If you do not automatically find yourself on this tab, you will first need to click the tab to navigate here.
Then click the J Scholar Visa Request link.
The main page for J Scholar Visa Requests opens, displaying a menu of available options. Select the transaction you need and click Continue.
Requesting Authorization to request visas or Managers’ view of transactions:
If you do not see the J Scholar Visa Requests tab, please fill out the form at
http://www.stanford.edu/dept/icenter/j-scholar.fb
Managers can also use the above form to request authority to view all transactions where they are listed as manager.
Confirming Guarantee Accounts for Postdoc Insurance Premiums
To: Postdoctoral BISNet Administrators
From: Shannon Monahan, Reporting & Finance Analyst, Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
Date: June 17, 2010
Subject: [ACTION NEEDED] Confirming Guarantee Accts for Postdoc Insurance Premiums
Beginning this month with June Department Charges, the Office of Postdoctoral Affairs (OPA) will be confirming that Guarantee Accounts have been provided by all Departments and Divisions for postdoc insurance premiums. The BISNet system was originally set up to accept Guarantee Accounts for each department and division for cases in which a valid PTA was not provided. This is a standard payroll practice and is necessary in order to ensure the timely collection of payments.
Each month, nearly 600 distinct PTAs are billed for postdoc premiums. We are finding that an increasing number of incorrect or outdated PTAs are entered on a regular basis. As a result, OPA runs the risk of not meeting the University’s month end close deadline required for the charges to post in the period they are incurred. In light of this ongoing concern, when invalid PTAs are entered, OPA will charge the Department/Division Guarantee Account provided in BISNet. The monthly notification to you to update and review your BISNet records before the file is received will continue. However, due to time and volume constraints, OPA cannot follow-up with individual administrators to correct invalid PTAs after the monthly BISNet deadline.
Thus, the Guarantee PTA will be used in the following instances:
The department has entered the Benefits Pool PTA in BISNet/ClearBenefits, but the postdoc is not eligible for his or her benefits to be charged to the Pool
The department has not filled in a missing PTA in BISNet/ClearBenefits, and the postdoc is not eligible for his or her benefits to be charged to the Pool
Upon file upload, Oracle rejects the PTA entered due to incorrect entry or out-of-date PTAs
In order to avoid confusion, each department or division must select ONE Department Guarantee Account in BISNet to be used. To do this, please make sure to complete the following no later than THURSDAY, June 24, 2010:
Log into BISNet
Go to PTA Maintenance > PTA Number Maintenance
For each Department/Division you have access to, confirm that there is ONE Department Guarantee Account. You can see if one has been selected if there is a “Y” in the Guarantee Account column.
Edit the PTA name to “Guarantee Account” as well as the date, if necessary
Edit any other PTAs with a “Y” that will not be used to “N” (not a Guarantee Account)
Instructions for adding and editing PTAs are included in the attached BISNet Info Guide. The June deadline for entering all other PTAs on the Monthly PTA Maintenance Screen will be Wednesday, June 30, 2010.
It is imperative that each and every BISNet/ClearBenefits administrator log in every month and pay close attention to the PTAs entered in BISNet.
Note: OPA cannot reverse charges to accounts, and as is the case with the payroll process, departments will be responsible for the necessary journal transfers in the (hopefully) rare occasions that Guarantee Accounts are charged.
We appreciate your cooperation, and please let me know if you have any questions.
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Shannon Monahan
Reporting and Finance Analyst
Office of Postdoctoral Affairs
1215 Welch Road
Modular A, Room 85
MC: 5402
p:\650-723-6120
f:\650-725-6106
e:\smonahan@stanford.edu
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