Employee and Retiree Service Center (ERSC): Timekeepers

8/28/2008

IMPORTANT INFORMATION ON TIME REPORTING FOR THE PAY PERIOD OF 8/16-8/29/2008:

Reminder:

PACS Attendance for the Pay Period 8/16-8/29/08 will be collected on Friday, August 29, 2008 by 4:00 pm. Please be sure your payroll has been posted and released by then. This is due to the accelerated payroll which we will be processing this weekend in order to pay our employees on September 5, 2008.

This information can be found on the 2008-2009 Schedule of Pay Periods and Pay Dates which was sent to all locations at the beginning of the fiscal year. This can also be found on our Employee and Retiree Service Center Web site.

The following information is some of the questions/answers and general information regarding transactions, time and attendance, voucher corrections, special check requests, etc that are in effect for the next several days.

Employees NOT ON PACS attendance screens:

Review your PACS attendance screen through Wednesday afternoon, 8/27/2008. If the employee is not on the screen please contact your staffer in the Office of Human Resources

Continue to check PACS attendance screen until 12:00 noon on Friday, 8/29/2008. If the employee is not on the screen by that time, RELEASE your payroll.

Professional, Supporting Services, Short Term Substitutes and Long Term substitutes- prepare a voucher correction for the hours to be reported and paid; forward it to ERSC. If a special check is to be requested, please attach a memorandum directed to Larry Bowers, Chief Operating Officer, attach it to the voucher correction and forward it to CESC, Room 149 to be reviewed for payment disposition.

Temporary Part Time, Summer Supplemental Employment, Extracurricular Activities and Workshops should be posted as PRIOR PAY PERIOD corrections during the pay period (8/30-9/12/2008)

Employees ON PACS attendance screens and are NO LONGER at the location:

Continue to check your PACS attendance screen until 12:00 noon on Friday, 8/29/2008. If the employee is still showing on the screen, report the hours scheduled as NPR (No Pay Reported) and RELEASE your payroll. It is imperative that these employees attendance be reported as NPR or they will be overpaid and owe MCPS a repayment of monies.

Employees with FTE changes for the same position:

Continue to check your PACS attendance screen until 12:00 noon on Friday, 8/29/2008. If the employee's FTE has not changed report the hours to be paid as follows:

1. FTE INCREASE

Professional Staff: Complete a voucher correction and forward it to ERSC for payment

Supporting Services Staff: Report the additional hours as OTR (Overtime Regular Rate)

2. FTE DECREASE

Professional and Supporting Services Staff: Report the number of hours not to be paid as NPR (No Pay Reported)

Employees who have TRANSFERRED locations:

If the employee has transferred from your location to a new location, report the hours as NPR (No Pay Reported)

DO NOT REPORT HOURS FOR THIS EMPLOYEE FOR TIME THAT WAS WORKED AT THEIR NEW LOCATION

If the employee is new to your location due to a transfer and they are not showing on your PACS attendance screen, follow the instructions as directed under "Employees NOT on PACS attendance screens:"

Employees With 2nd positions NOT ON PACS attendance screens:

DO NOT REPORT these hours on any other position. DO NOT REPORT these hours as OTR (Overtime Regular Rate) on their other position.

Follow the instructions as directed under "Employees NOT on PACS attendance screens"

Important Information To Remember:

Timekeeper Reporting Instructions for 10- and 11-month professional employees for the pay period 8/16-8/29/2008:

Timekeepers will NOT be able to select the No Pre-Fill option for the first pay period of the school year. All 10- and 11-month professional employees will have 1/10th of their scheduled biweekly hours pre-filled for each day of the pay period.

Continuing educators hired prior to 8/19/2008 can be paid for 9 days of their scheduled biweekly hours. The PACS attendance will be pre-screened as 9 days REG and 1 day NPS. Report the hours as No Pay Reported (NPR) if the employee did not work their full schedule.

New educators with a hire date of 8/19/2008 can be paid for 9 days of their scheduled biweekly hours. The PACS attendance will be pre-screened as 9 days REG and 1 day NPS. Report the hours as No Pay Reported (NPR) if the employee did not work their full schedule.

11-month employees are eligible to be paid for 9 days of their scheduled biweekly hours. The PACS attendance will be pre-screened as 9 days REG and 1 day NPS. Report the hours as No Pay Reported (NPR) if the employee did not work their full schedule.

If you continue to have questions that are not answered within this e-mail, please direct your inquiries by calling ERSC at (301) 517-8100. Please remember when calling ERSC that due to the high volume of calls staff wait time may increase.

8/15/2008

Timesheets for the pay period 8/16-8/29/08 will not be sent to locations until the middle of next week. This change is to allow our office to get as many of the new hires, transfers, and FTE changes into the system so that when the timesheets are printed, they will reflect the new changes.

If, when you receive your timesheets, you find that you have some employees who do not have a preprinted timesheet, please do not call our office. Instead, please have the employee(s) fill out blank timesheets. These can be found on the MCPS website.

We thank you for your patience during this very busy time.

8/12/2008

The Athletics Unit and the Employee and Retiree Service Center, both of the Office of the Chief Operating Officer, are pleased to announce the on-line version of the Extracurricular Activities (ECA) Handbook. The ECA Handbook can be found on the Staff tab of the MCPS web site (Tools and Resources). The handbook is a PDF document and is fully searchable. The ECA handbook will no longer be printed and delivered to schools. The forms related to the extracurricular activities have also been revised to assist school staff in tracking their total hours and to improve the approval process for supporting service employees. Please note that all old forms that may be in your building should be destroyed. The old forms will no longer take advantage of the supporting service approval process.

The revised forms have a new section for supporting service employees employed in Class 1 and/or Class 3 activities. The principal must complete this section and attest to the following:

the school sought teacher-level applicants;

the employee volunteered to take the assignment and;

The employee is full-time but the stipend requires work in another capacity than his/her normal work. The Fair Labor Standards Act considers anything instructional to be similar work. Therefore, the regular work of an employee must not be instructionally related. In general, significant contact with students is considered to be instructionally related. Employees in such positions as paraeducators, media assistants, and career information coordinators are considered instructional under this limitation and may not work in a stipended activity if it would require work beyond 8 hours a day on 40 hours a week.

You are no longer required to obtain permission from the Chief Operating Officer to employ the supporting service staff once the above section has been completed.

In the next few weeks the handbook will also be deployed to a SharePoint site providing you even more flexibility. We will keep you informed as these changes occur.

The revised forms for the ECA activities are listed below. Please take a look. We believe you’ll like what you see. If you have questions please call the Employee and Retiree Service Center on 301-517-8100.

430-54 Extracurricular Activities Annual Plan—Class 1
430-57 High School Extracurricular Activities Annual Plan
430-58 Change to Annual Plan for Extracurricular Activities
430-60 Middle School Extracurricular Activities Annual Plan
430-84 Elementary School Extracurricular Activities Annual Plan

7/2/2008

The holiday hours would be reported on the PACS attendance screen using the pay code HLN (Holiday Pay Non-Accruable). The hours for the holiday will not fill automatically in the PACS system.

Questions regarding holiday pay should be directed to ERSC at 301 517-8100 or via E-mail to ERSC@mcpsmd.org. Examples of substantially similar positions are as follows:

Substantially similar:
Ten month school secretary/summer school secretary
Bus driver/temporary bus driver
Security assistant/ summer school security assistant
Ten month school secretary/clerical assistant
Fiscal assistant/clerical assistant
Special ed paraeducator/paraeducator
Media assistant/clerical assistant
Cafeteria manager/cafeteria worker

Not substantially similar:
Bus driver/bus attendant
Security assistant/warehouse helper
Paraeducator/clerical assistant
Media assistant/paraeducator

Please share this information with the individual(s) in your school and office responsible for reporting time and attendance.

Important Information:

For those of you that report workshops using the Professional Workshop screen:

For the split pay period 06/21/08 – 07/04/08, it is very important to correctly enter the workshop dates in order for the workshop to be expensed to the proper fiscal year. If the workshop was held prior to July 1 and/or is to be expensed to FY08, be sure that the workshop dates reflect this and the workshop end date is prior to July 1, 2008. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk. Thank you.

6/25/2008

REMINDER:

The PACS attendance screens for pay period June 21-July 4, 2008 will be available for posting on Monday, June 30, 2008.

The PACS attendance for pay period June 21-July 4, 2008 will be collected on Thursday, July 3, 2008 at 4:00 p.m. Please make arrangements to have your locations attendance posted and released by 4:00 p.m. on Thursday, July 3, 2008.

6/6/2008

Please note the following posting information for the emergency closing on Thursday, June 5th:

All schools were closed, but administrative offices were open.

All 10- and 11-month employees have been prefilled with Emergency Leave (EMR) for June 5^th.

All 12-month employees were required to report to work. If they did not report to work, then they will need to be charged leave. The only exception to this would be if a 12-month employee reported to work and was instructed by their principal/director/supervisor to go home or was told not to come in, then that employee may be posted as Emergency Leave (EMR). If this is the case, the timekeeper will need to post the EMR manually.

Emergency Leave (EMR) may also be reported for Long-term substitute teachers and Temporary part-time lunch hour aides. This too needs to be posted manually.

4/2/2008

The PACS Attendance screens for the pay period 3/29-4/11/08 will not be open for posting until Monday, April 7, 2008, due to a significant update and maintenance on HRIS.

We will notify you when the screens are available. Thank you for your patience.

3/20/2008

Due to a payroll issue, the PACS Attendance screens for the pay period 3/15-3/28/08 will not be available for posting until the payroll process has been completed. Once completed, we will notify you that the screens are available.

Because of this unforeseen delay, PACS Attendance screens for the pay period ending 3/28/08 has been extended an additional day for posting and will be collected at 4:00 pm on Tuesday, April 1.

If you posted time yesterday (3/19/08) to the PACS Attendance screens for the pay period 3/15-3/28/08, you will need to re-post the time when the screens become available. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

3/14/2008

TIMEKEEPER INFORMATION FOR THE PAY PERIOD 3/15-3/28/08

Starting the pay period ending 3/28/08, there will be position code changes made to a number of employees. This change applies only to locations that are NOT school-based and not necessarily to all employees at non school-based locations.

Due to this change, you may notice a difference in the position code on employees’ timesheets compared to the position code that is on your location’s PACS Attendance screens for the pay period 3/15-3/28/08. This is because the timesheets were printed prior to the change taking place in the system.

Please note that the PACS Attendance screens for the pay period 3/15/08-3/28/08 will be available for posting on Wednesday, March 19. We will be collecting attendance on Monday, March 31^st at 4:00 pm.

9/28/07

The following message was posted on the Timekeeper/Payroll, Admin Secretaries and Financial Assistants Folders in Outlook:

Please note that PACS Attendance Collection for the pay period ending 9/28/07 will be collected on Monday, October 1.

The MCPS Comprehensive Calendar is showing two different dates (Friday, September 28 and October 1). The correct date is Monday, October 1.

You may also refer to the 2007/2008 Pay Schedule that was sent to you at the beginning of the fiscal year.

8/28/07

Reminder:

PACS Attendance for the Pay Period 8/18-8/31/07 will be collected on Friday, August 31, 2007 by 4:00 pm. Please be sure your payroll has been posted and released by then. This is due to the accelerated payroll which we will be processing this weekend in order to pay our employees on September 7, 2007.

This information can be found on the 2007-2008 Schedule of Pay Periods and Pay Dates which was sent to all locations at the beginning of the fiscal year. This can also be found on our Employee and Retiree Service Center Web site.

Employees NOT ON PACS attendance screens:

Review your PACS attendance screen through Wednesday morning, 8/29/2007. If the employee is not on the screen please contact your staffer in the Office of Human Resources

Continue to check PACS attendance screen until 12:00 noon on Friday, 8/31/2007. If the employee is not on the screen by that time, RELEASE your payroll.

Temporary Part Time, Summer Supplemental Employment, Extracurricular Activities and Workshops should be posted as PRIOR PAY PERIOD corrections during the pay period (9/1-9/14/2007)

Employees ON PACS attendance screens and are NO LONGER at the location:

Continue to check your PACS attendance screen until 12:00 noon on Friday, 8/31/2007. If the employee is still showing on the screen, report the hours scheduled as NPR (No Pay Reported) and RELEASE your payroll. It is imperative that these employees attendance be reported as NPR or they will be overpaid and owe MCPS a repayment of monies.

Employees with FTE changes for the same position:

Continue to check your PACS attendance screen until 12:00 noon on Friday, 8/31/2007. If the employee's FTE has not changed report the hours to be paid as follows:

1. FTE INCREASE

Professional Staff: Complete a voucher correction and forward it to ERSC for payment
Supporting Services Staff: Report the additional hours as OTR (Overtime Regular Rate)

2. FTE DECREASE

Professional and Supporting Services Staff: Report the number of hours not to be paid as NPR (No Pay Reported)

Employees who have TRANSFERRED locations:

If the employee has transferred from your location to a new location, report the hours as NPR (No Pay Reported)
DO NOT REPORT HOURS FOR THIS EMPLOYEE FOR TIME THAT WAS WORKED AT THEIR NEW LOCATION
If the employee is new to your location due to a transfer and they are not showing on your PACS attendance screen, follow the instructions as directed under "Employees NOT on PACS attendance screens:"

Employees With 2nd positions NOT ON PACS attendance screens:

DO NOT REPORT these hours on any other position. DO NOT REPORT these hours as OTR (Overtime Regular Rate) on their other position.
Follow the instructions as directed under "Employees NOT on PACS attendance screens"

Important Information To Remember:

Timekeeper Reporting Instructions for 10- and 11-month professional employees for the pay period 8/18-8/31/2007:

Timekeepers will be able to select the No Pre-Fill option for the first pay period of the school year. All 10- and 11-month professional employees will have 1/10th of their scheduled biweekly hours pre-filled for each day of the pay period.

Continuing educators hired prior to 8/20/2007 can be paid for the full 10 days of their scheduled biweekly hours. Report the hours as No Pay Reported (NPR) if the employee did not work their full schedule.

New educators with a hire date of 8/20/2007 can be paid for the full 10 days of their scheduled biweekly hours. Report the hours as No Pay Reported (NPR) if the employee did not work their full schedule.

11-month employees are eligible to be paid for the full 10 days of their scheduled biweekly hours. Report the hours as No Pay Reported (NPR) if the employee did not work their full schedule.

6/18/07

Questions frequently asked about reporting of holiday pay for July 4^th for 9 and 10 month supporting services employees. The agreement between the Board of Education and SEIU Local 500 states in Article 32, Section G:

All 9- or 10-month unit members who perform work during the summer that is the same or substantially the same as the work performed during the regular school year have the following contractual rights and obligations:

Holiday pay if works his/her scheduled duty day immediately before and his/her scheduled duty day after the holiday in the summer assignment, so long as those scheduled duty days fall within the pay period of the holiday and/or the week immediately before or after the pay period of the holiday.

An employee whose last day of work is in June on the last day of school and who is not scheduled to work again until after July 4 would not be eligible for this paid holiday.

In order to qualify for the July 4, 2007, holiday pay, the employee must:

be working in a position that is substantially similar to the position held by the employee during the regular school year; and
be scheduled to work in the summer job on or after June 16, 2007; and
be scheduled to work in the summer job after July 4, 2007, and on or before July 13, 2007.

The holiday hours would be reported on the PACS attendance screen using the pay code HLN (Holiday Pay Non-Accruable). The hours for the holiday will not fill automatically in the PACS system.

Questions regarding holiday pay should be directed to the Employee and Retiree Service Center (ERSC) at 301 517-8100 or via E-mail to ERSC@mcpsmd.org. Examples of substantially similar positions are as follows:

Substantially similar:
       Ten month school secretary/summer school secretary
       Bus driver/temporary bus driver
       Security assistant/ summer school security assistant
       Ten month school secretary/clerical assistant
       Fiscal assistant/clerical assistant
       Special ed paraeducator/paraeducator
       Media assistant/clerical assistant
       Cafeteria manager/cafeteria worker

Not substantially similar:
        Bus driver/bus attendant
        Security assistant/warehouse helper
        Paraeducator/clerical assistant
      Media assistant/paraeducator

Please share this information with the individual(s) in your school and office responsible for reporting time and attendance.

2/8/07

On March 2, 2007, MCPS will no longer produce paper pay advices for employees that participate in direct deposit. Please direct employees to visit the ERSC Web site to access their ePaystub advice online. We realize that you receive many timekeeping questions, and ERSC will continue to provide assistance.

It is important to encourage staff to refer to ePaystub, but we remain available to answer any questions during the introduction and transition of employees to ePaystub. ePaystub has detailed information and can address many common questions received regarding reported time, workshop payments, etc. Employees will use their unique Outlook user ID, password and employee ID to access ePaystub and can view their pay stub electronically three days prior to payday. Staff can review workshop training, overtime, changing FTE's, and multiple position information online. All staff, including temporaries and subs have access to Outlook and will be able to view their payment information online.

If the employee does not have an Outlook user ID and Outlook password, has trouble logging in, or has misplaced their login or password, please contact the Help Desk at 301-517-5800. General questions about ePaystub can be directed to the Employee and Retiree Service Center at 301-517-8100 or via email at ERSC@mcpsmd.org.

For the split pay period 06/24/06 – 07/07/06, it is very important to correctly enter the workshop dates in order for the workshop to be expensed to the proper fiscal year. If the workshop was held prior to July 1 and/or is to be expensed to the 06 fiscal year, be sure that the workshop dates reflect this and the workshop end date is prior to July 1, 2006. If you have any questions, please contact the Help Desk. Thank you.

Attention Timekeepers: The Payment Verification Form for Supervising Teachers of Student Teachers/Interns is due to the Office of Human Resources on May 1, 2006.

These forms are for those teachers who supervised a student teacher during the spring semester of 2006. (Fall semester forms were due on December 1, 2005.)

Payment is made only for the student teaching internship period. Send forms to the Director, Department of Recruitment and Staffing, OHR, Metro Park North, Suite 401.

Forms can be accessed on the Web site as follows:

Go to the MCPS web page.
Click on the “Home” tab.
Click on “Jobs: Work With Us,” which is the second item under short cuts. That will take you to the main OHR Web page.
In the left column you will see a bar for “Student Teachers.” Click on that bar and it will take you to the Student Teacher Information page.

The third column is designated for Timekeepers. This provides payment information and payment forms for supervising teachers of student teachers/interns.

If you have any questions, you may contact Martha Wilson at 301-279-3278 or
Carla Toomey at 301-279-3305.

3/20/06

PACS attendance collection has been extended to Tuesday, March 21, 2006, at 4:00 p.m. due to the unavailability of the PACS attendance screens.

8/31/05

REMINDER
PACS Attendance for the pay period 8/20-9/2/2005 must be posted and released no later than 4:00 p.m., this Friday, September 2, 2005. This information can be found on the 2005-2006 Pay Schedule that was distributed to your location at the beginning of the school year.

Please Note:
If you have questions regarding your PACS Attendance screens, please refer to the notice that was posted August 18th, on the Payroll/Timekeeper, Administrative Secretaries and Financial Assistants' folders on First Class and on the ERSC Web site. The posting contains pertinent information on how your payroll should be posted for the pay period ending 9/2/05.

12/23/04

Effective January 7, 2005, the procedure to pick up paychecks at the ERSC on payday when payroll has not been posted or released has been suspended for the next several months while we reassess this process.

It is our hope that during this time, there will not be an increase in locations failing to meet posting/releasing deadlines. If the numbers should increase over the next several months, we will have to once again consider implementing procedures to lower the numbers.

Thank you for your assistance in keeping the PACS deadlines. It is greatly appreciated!