Leave reporting and essential personnel considerations in anticipation of UF closure

As announced yesterday, due to Tropical Storm Nicole and out of an abundance of caution, the university campus in Gainesville will close Nov. 10, and other UF areas throughout the state will have had similar closings in keeping with their county government guidelines. The university expects to resume holiday campus operations on Friday, Nov. 11. However, the university will remain closed for business and classes on Friday in honor of Veterans Day. Clinical personnel and all UF Health staff in Gainesville should follow their prescribed procedures.

Please be sure to monitor UF’s Severe Weather Updates website for the latest university updates and information related to the storm. The UF GATORSAFE mobile app may also be downloaded from Google Play or the Apple App Store. Updates from the UF Weather Center are available on the Florida Storms website. For more information on how to stay safe, please visit the UF Emergency Management website.

Payroll deadlines have not changed. All time to be reported through Thursday, Nov. 10, should be projected in employees’ timesheets no later than the end of day on Wednesday, Nov. 9. Supervisors should approve time no later than 10 a.m. on Thursday, Nov. 10; however, UF Payroll Services strongly recommends all time be entered and approved by end of day today prior to the closing tomorrow.

To help facilitate entry and approval, UFIT is running time admins at 2 p.m., 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. so supervisors may approve any time and leave entered before the end of the day today. The nightly time admin will run tonight and then again tomorrow morning at 8:30 a.m. As of 10 a.m. tomorrow, all payroll processes will be paused until the actual closing processes begin early Friday morning. Any adjustments to timesheets after 8:30 a.m. tomorrow morning will not be included in the Nov. 18 paycheck.

Reporting Administrative Leave

All USPS employees and hourly (non-exempt) TEAMS employees: Report the number of hours you were scheduled to work during the closing via Weekly Elapsed Screen using the 900-Administrative Leave-EMC” time reporting code.

Exempt TEAMS and faculty employees: You do not need to record this time through the Weekly Elapsed Screen. However, if you have entered the “900-Administrative Leave-EMC” time reporting code, it does not need to be removed. Graduate assistants and postdoctoral associates will be paid as normal without any modifications.

Already taking time off? If you have already planned to be on approved paid leave during the time period in which the university is closed, please note that you are not eligible for administrative leave and you should leave your time reporting as is.

Managers are also reminded to please work with your hourly OPS employees to allow them to make up any missed work time.

Special Considerations for Essential Personnel

Employees designated as “on-campus essential” should speak with their supervisor about whether they will need to report to work during the closing period. Employees designated as “remote essential” may work remotely if directed by their supervisor.

All USPS employees and hourly (non-exempt) TEAMS employees who are required to work during their work unit’s closing period will need to record both the time they worked during the closing as well as the administrative leave in order to accrue special compensatory leave appropriately in addition to their normal pay. If the compensatory leave is not used by the employee within six months following its accrual, the employee will be paid for the leave. For further guidance on essential personnel, please visit the Essential Employees policy.

TEAMS exempt employees who are required to work during the emergency closing are also eligible for compensatory leave at the discretion of their supervisor — although this compensatory leave is handled at the department level and not reported via myUFL. Faculty and graduate assistants are not eligible for compensatory leave under the Essential Employees policy.

Hourly (non-exempt) OPS employees who work during the closing should enter their time as they normally would. Managers are reminded to please work with your OPS employees to allow them to make up any missed work time.

If you have questions or need further assistance, please contact University Benefits at (352) 392-2477 or email central-leave@ufl.edu or Payroll-services@ufl.edu.