Payroll News and Updates

January 30, 2012

On Friday, January 27, 2012 the University was officially closed at 12:00 p.m. due to extremely high winds. The closure occurred after it was determined that the wind speeds were excessive. This transmittal explains the timekeeping elements for the period of closure in accordance with prior campus closures. (Please note: This directive does not apply to employees at the Palm Desert Campus).

Non-Exempt Salaried Employees who worked: Those non-exempt employees who reported to work on January 27, 2012, and left campus as part of the closure at 12:00 p.m., should be granted paid administrative leave for the remainder of their work day. Please code "AL" in Section 7E of Form STD634 (Absence and Additional Time Worked Report, aka Time Sheet). A sample time sheet is attached for your convenience.

Non-Exempt Hourly Employees who were scheduled to work: Those hourly employees who were scheduled to work on January 27, 2012 between noon and end of day, please record applicable hours that would have been worked on Form STD634 (Time Sheets) as required for Salaried Non-Exempt Employees above.

Exempt Employees who worked: Those exempt employees who worked for part of the day on January 27, 2012, it is considered a regular "paid" day.

Employees directed to work during the closure: Those non-exempt employees who were directed to work during any part of the closure on January 27, 2012 (12:00 p.m. on), are entitled to compensation for each hour worked, according to their appropriate Collective Bargaining Agreement (Emergency Pay).

Employees already scheduled off on January 27, 2012: Those employees who were already scheduled off will still charge sick leave, vacation, personal holiday or CTO (Compensatory Time Off) for the campus closure (the applicable time-reporting code), unless in conflict with a Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) or CSU policy. This applies to both non-exempt and exempt employees.

Exception: As a result of arbitration, Bargaining Unit 4 (Academic Professionals of California) employees already scheduled off, or who called off on January 27, 2012, do not charge time during the period of a campus closure due to an emergency.

(Please do not confuse this CBA with Unit 3, California Faculty Association, representing faculty).

Employees on non-pay status on January 27, 2012: Those employees who were absent on January 27, 2012 because they were in a non-pay status (leave of absence without pay, disciplinary suspension, etc.) may not be granted paid administrative leave for the campus closure.

Student Assistants who were scheduled to work during the period of the campus closure are to be paid only for the hours they were scheduled to work.

Work Study students are not to be paid for hours during the campus closure unless they actually worked.

Sample Emergency Campus Closure Timesheet

CSUSB Payroll Department

January 25, 2012

Payroll has noticed that the State Controller's Office seems to have begun adjusting employees' social security withholdings that were over-withheld during the December 2011 pay period (issue-dated 01/01/12). We are unable to verify whose pay has or has not been adjusted, however, if you notice an increase in your pay due to your social security contribution changes, then you most likely have received your adjustment. If you normally do not contribute to social security (not contributing to CalPERS) then this message does not pertain to you.

"The Internal Revenue Service Notice IR-2011-124 requires employers to make any offsetting adjustments in the employees' pay for any Social Security tax that was over-withheld during January 2012 by no later than March 31, 2012. For the majority of employees, the State Controller's Office (SCO) will issue the adjustments within the January 2012 master payrolls (issue-dated February 1, 2012). All other employees will receive their adjustment, if applicable, via a separate payment. The adjustment payments should all be issued by February 29, 2012."

More information on the "Temporary Social Security Employee Tax Reduction" is provided in the Frequently Asked Questions section of the SCO Payroll Letter #11-023.

CSUSB Payroll Department

January 24, 2012

• The Form W-2 reflects wages paid by warrants/direct deposit payments that were issued during the tax year 2011, regardless of the pay period in which the wages were earned.
• The Form W-2 includes warrants/payments issue dated January 1st through December 31st of each calendar year. It contains all wages and tax information for an employee regardless of the number of State agencies/campuses for which he or she worked during the tax year. (Only one (1) W-2 is issued for each employee).
• All W-2 forms will be mailed by no later than January 31st, directly from the State Controller's Office (SCO) in Sacramento, to the employee's mailing address on file with the Payroll Office as of the November pay period of the calendar year 2011. The SCO's office has communicated that it will begin mailing W-2's on January 20, 2012.
• W-2s that are undeliverable by the United States Postal Service should be returned to our campus Payroll Office (Sierra Hall, room 103), based on our campus' return address on each W-2 form. Payroll will notify active/current employees' departments when undeliverable W-2s have been returned to us.
• Departments will notify their employees to contact Payroll to retrieve their returned W-2's. Please bring your picture identification with you.
• Employees, who do not receive their W-2's within a couple of weeks from when the SCO mailed them, may request that Payroll order a duplicate W-2 on their behalf (no fee required), providing the written request is received by Payroll prior to February 17, 2012
• Employees who do not receive their W-2's by February 17, 2012, and did not request that Payroll order duplicate W-2's on their behalf, will be required to request duplicate W-2 forms directly from the State Controller's Office W-2 Unit at a cost of $8.50. Normally, during tax time, the SCO estimates a 2 – 3 week turn-around period. The sooner the request is mailed to the SCO's W-2 Unit, the quicker you will receive your duplicate. Payroll cannot request duplicate W-2's on behalf of employees after March 1, 2012.
• Prior to requesting a duplicate W-2, please contact your local Post Office to see if your W-2 may be there.
• Procedures for requesting duplicate W-2s can be found on the Payroll web site.
• For more information concerning the Form W-2, please visit the CSUSB Payroll web site to find General Information concerning your W-2 Wage and Tax Statement.

CSUSB Payroll Department

January 3, 2012

Happy New Year!

As we begin a new calendar year (2012), Payroll would like to remind you of the importance of keeping your paycheck stubs and/or Direct Deposit advices for your personal financial records. The State Controller's Office is our campus paying agent and issues our only 'official' pay records that are available. Payroll does not receive copies of paycheck stubs or Direct Deposit advices.

Our campus is a member of the Work Number employment and income verification program. This is an excellent tool that employees can use to request their personal information. The Work Number provides non-confidential employment and income information to verifiers (banks, lenders, rental companies, etc.) and alleviates this workload from human resources offices. Through the Work Number program an employee can provide a verifier with employment verification or employment/income verification. The Work Number program assures that only approved verifiers can utilize the program. The employment and income information that is provided through the Work Number program is obtained from the State Controller's Office employment history database and updated biweekly.

CSUSB state employees that participate in the Work Number program can request a free employment data report once a year. The employment data report is a copy of the information the Work Number provides to verifiers. Employees can obtain the Employee Data Request Form at The Work Number Web Site and mail or fax the request to the mailing address or fax number on the form. The Work Number program will mail the employee(s) a copy of her/his verification information within fifteen days of receipt of the request. There is no cost to the campus or employees to participate in the Work Number program.

CSUSB Payroll Department