Home State and Local State Departments Human Resources Human Resources Forums Transaction Supervisors' Forum Transaction Supervisors Forum - August 2020

Transaction Supervisors Forum - August 2020

California Department of Human Resources

Affordable Care Act & Dependent Re-verification - Elda Ortiz

• Service & Seniority is Teleworking, some staff are in the office a few days of the week, remind your staff when submitting requests via email do not include SSN#. Provide a phone number, and we will contact you for the SSN#. Also please have staff when sending in requests with substantiation please only copy one side.
• S&S email box address: Service&Seniority@calhr.ca.gov
• Link for forms: http://www.calhr.ca.gov/Pages/forms.aspx
• Service & Seniority Mailing Address: 1515 S Street, North Building, Suite 500  Sacramento, CA 95811
• Contact Phone Numbers: Main Line - 916-324-9381
• CALHR-007 Prior Exempt Service Questionnaire-Departments are to keep these filed in the employee's official personnel file
• CALHR-690 Requesting a state service calculation for the reasons specified or any other you may write the reason if it is not noted on the election form
• CALHR-039 Employee's looking to get additional state credit for Exempt time worked. (Provide a copy of the substantiation acceptable for Exempt entities) Please keep a copy of all your items you forward we will only email the final calculation sheet
• ***Only include history that you are unable to see on PIMs that the employee is stating they worked.
• Reminders: Please do not have your staff print the PIMs History we use our own print-outs.

FlexElect – Chiara Galloway

• CalHR distributed a HR Announcement regarding FlexElect policy changes under the National Emergency Relief for Employee Benefit Plans.
  • Extends claims filing deadline for the 2019 plan year, no extension to grace period.
  • Allows a one-time election change without a permitting event for the 2020 plan year.
  • COBRA timeline extensions for notifying qualified beneficiaries, qualified beneficiaries to elect and qualified beneficiaries to pay premiums.
• SEIU FlexElect/CoBen Suspension Reminder – SCO processed mass cancellations for these employees; however, departments are responsible for monitoring and submitting paperwork for those that were not automatically cancelled.
• FlexElect/CoBen Appeals Status – Approximately 90 outstanding appeals with the latest worked date as of March 2020.
• There will be updates to the COBRA notices forthcoming. CalHR will send out communications once made available.

Dental – Parwana Mohabbat

• The Mailbox is up to date, turnaround time for appeals is 30 days. Please do not submit duplicate requests.
• HR offices have 10 business days to submit additional information requested by CalHR; the appeal will be closed by the end of the day on 10th day. HR offices must submit new appeal and it will be processed in the order it was received.
• Friendly reminder, please make sure that the Std. 692 forms submitted to SCO and or CalHR are complete for faster processing.
• Please communicate open enrolment dates with your employees and submit all change request forms in timely manner. Please double check and verify the following with your employee before submitting the form to SCO, the name of the dental plan, names of dependents, also make sure that the form is completed.
• Remember if you've sent your STD. 692's to SCO, and you want a status update. Do not contact CalHR, regarding the status. You will need to contact SCO.

Vision – Lisa Hatten

• Friendly reminder, please direct employees to VSP for open enrollment changes via phone at 1-800-877-7195 or stateofcaemployee.vspforme.com.
• There is no enrollment form for OE.
• Please assist active employees going into retirement. If there is an issue with their enrollment, HR offices should be assisting active employees.
• The vision appeal backlog is back to March 1, 2020. Appeals are worked on daily amongst the other workload.

Open Enrollment – Lisa Hatten

• If your department is interested in obtaining materials from the carriers, please reach out to them directly.
• Some of the carriers are producing virtual information. We hope to have an update from each as to what that will look like for open enrollment. If available, the OE Newsletter will include this information.

Benefits Division – Health Unit - Wendy Yang

• Affordable Care Act (ACA)
  • Monthly ACA Errors Trends
  • CalHR Quarterly Compliance Review
  • Detailed Safe Harbor Corrections
  • ACA SharePoint
  • Departmental ACA

• Dependent Reverification:
  • DRV Packets
  • Employees unable to get in touch with Personnel Offices
  • DRV Resources on CalHR's website
  • DRV Toolkit
  • Links and Resources
  • FAQs
  • Dependent Enrollment Tracking
  • Sample Letters
  • HR Manual 1424:  Dependent Re-verification
• Contact:
  • ACA:
    • ACA.Policy@calhr.ca.gov
    • Elaine.Smith@calhr.ca.gov, (916) 445-9801
    • Wendy.Yang@calhr.ca.gov, (916) 324-0866
  • DRV:
    • DependentRe-verficiationProgram@calhr.ca.gov
    • Wendy.Yang@calhr.ca.gov, (916) 324-0866

State Controller's Office – Personnel and Payroll Services Division

Customer Relations Survey

How would you like to receive information from us during this time?  Please send suggestions to our HR Suggestions Inbox at PPSDHRSuggestions@sco.ca.gov.

COVID-19 Update

• The Personnel and Payroll Services Division (PPSD) is monitoring the COVID-19 pandemic closely. At this time, PPSD is open for business as usual.  PPSD will continue to stay on top of the latest COVID-19 information and update departments of any changes that may impact services to our customers. PPSD is updating the State Controller's Office (SCO) State Human Resources and State Employees webpages with service information as it becomes available. These webpages will be updated regularly, as necessary.
• SCO has developed streamlined processes to expedite financial transactions and to report.
  • PPSD will accept electronic signatures. Please follow your electronic signature protocol.
• Updates have been made to the COVID-19 Emergency Family Medical Leave Act (E-FLMA) calculator. Please be sure to use the most up to date version of the calculator.
• The State Controller's Office (SCO) has made a permanent decision to no longer impose restrictions identified in the Personnel and Payroll Services Division's (PPSD) Decentralized Security Program Manual and Decentralized Security Guidelines below:
  • Access and use of SCO's Human Resource Management Systems shall only be initiated from workstations that are owned or leased by the state agency and that are physically located within a facility that is owned or leased by the state agency.
  • Access and use of SCO's systems shall only be initiated from workstations that are owned or leased by the state agency and that are physically located within a facility that is owned or leased by the state agency and;
  • Instead, agencies and campuses should review and adhere to the following policies and procedures for remote access to information systems.
    • State Administrative Manual (SAM) 5305.5
    • State Administrative Manual (SAM) 5360.1  
    • Statewide Information Management Manual (SIMM) 5360-A
  • Updates to PPSD's Decentralized Security Program Manual and Decentralized Security Guidelines to reflect this change in policy will be made as soon as practical.     
• For more information, please access our COVID-19 FAQs.

Email Subscription Service

• To ensure you're receiving important PPSD notifications, please subscribe to our email subscriptions listed below. Also, we invite you to share this information with anyone who would be interested in PPSD notifications.
  • California Leave Accounting System (CLAS) Letters
  • State Controller's Office Letters (Personnel / Payroll Operations)

Personnel and Payroll Operations Bureau (PPOB)

Statewide Customer Contact Center (SCCC) - Callie Fields

• The temporary operations email box (ppsdtempps@sco.ca.gov) experienced a storage capacity complication resulting in some auto-replies to a small number of agencies saying "the email box is full." We worked vigorously with our IT department and programs to clear and expand the storage capacity of the email box, and storage was restored by early Wednesday morning. 
• If you are an agency that received this generated auto-reply, we apologize for any inconvenience. Please resend your document if you have not already, and we will assist with processing it.

Statewide Direct Deposit Program- Jill Souza

• In October 2019, the State Controller's Office launched an initiative to increase Statewide participation in Direct Deposit. At that time, participation was at 76.9% statewide. The goal is to achieve 85%
• As of August 2020, Statewide Direct Deposit participation is 82.08%.SCO targeted ten state departments with a significant total number of employees that currently receive paper warrants.
• As of 08/25/2020, we have received over 5,333 responses.  We will begin to analyze the data in September and determine our next steps.
• Department-specific enrollment data is available and can be requested by email to jsouza@sco.ca.gov.

Statewide Position Control Program- Karin Johnson-Anderson

• We are accepting email documents via PPSDTempOps@sco.ca.gov with Position Control in the subject line.
• Questions:
  • Is the direct deposit enrollment forms up to date at SCO?
    • Answer: Yes.
  • What is the current processing dates for direct deposit? We have employees that enrolled in March & April that are still on paper warrants.
    • Answer: We aren't behind; there must be a misunderstanding. Email me for further detail. We will take a look at it.
  • Are we accepting electronic signatures? If direct deposit forms can be submitted electronically, do we have to call in before submitting? (Referring to cancellations)
    • Answer: Yes, we as SCO are accepting direct deposit forms submitted electronically, and yes calling makes the process faster.
  • The revision date on the direct deposit? Are we using 10 2019 on the revision date?
    • Answer: Yes.

Statewide Disability Program- Karin Johnson-Anderson

• We are accepting email documents via PPSDTempOps@sco.ca.gov with Disability in the subject line.

Statewide Civil Service Benefits - Bryce Miller

• Open Enrollment (September 21-October 16, 2020)
• Civil Service Benefits has established an email box for agencies to send open enrollment documents to OpenEnrollment@sco.ca.gov.
• Open Enrollment changes will be effective January 1, 2021
• Workload restructuring-will see weekly processing dates updated.

Statewide Civil Service Payroll - Renee McClain

• Processing Emergency Paid Sick Leave Act (EPSLA)/Emergency Family Medical Leave Act (EFMLA) with Personal Leave Program (PLP):
  • At this time, Departments that have employees on EPSLA/EFMLA with PLP are advised to either key a 603 PIP transaction to reduce the employee’s time if the employee is not entitled to receive a full master at the reduced PLP rate for the pay period, or allow the master to issue at the reduced salary rate; both of which will require   submitting a Std. 674 to SCO requesting the adjustment of the salary rate for benefit hours to be paid at the unreduced salary rate. If possible, please submit your Std. 674s during the first green cycle. SCO will be processing the Std. 674 documents as a priority during the green cycles to ensure employees are made whole by payday.
  • Before submitting your Std. 674 documents, please ensure that all employees utilizing the EPSLA/EFMLA benefit have a 215 transaction code keyed on employment history.  This will be SCO's first step in verifying the information on the Std. 674.
  • In the remarks section of the Std. 674, please indicate the  total number of hours the employee is using for each benefit, and the total hours they are supplementing for the pay period.
  • As a reminder, the PLP/Furlough hours for the pay period will be prorated based on the hours paid that are not EPSLA/EFMLA using the intermittent charts per the bargaining units found on CalHR's website.
  • SCO has established the PPSDepslaefmlaadj@sco.ca.gov email box which will be used for departments to submit these 674s.674s, Civil Service Payroll is developing sample Std. 674s to assist with how to document the time and salary for EPSLA/EFMLA payroll adjustments.  The samples will be included in the PLP Fact sheet that is currently on the SCO webpage.
• The PLP Fact sheet is a living document subject to revision as additional updates to PLP and Furlough are released through CalHR communication and SCO Personnel/Payroll letters.
• Also, the EFMLA Calculator for monthly paid employees has been updated to incorporate the two salary rates to assist agencies with benefit and supplementation calculations.  To assist with calculations for hourly paid employees a manual worksheet will also be forthcoming and communicated.
• Questions:
  • What needs to be placed in the Std. 674 remarks for the EPSLA?
    • Answer: In the remarks you need to indicate the  total hours of each benefit being used and the total hours they are supplementing for the pay period.

Program Management Analysist Bureau (PMAB)

Program Analysis and Systems Coordination Section – Arlene Bailey

• Review of $260 Automatic payment process and selection criteria.
• Questions:
  • Will the one dollar be removed for the employees on the flex cash (the admin fee)?
    • Answer: Yes. Employees will receive a dollar credit from previous month.
  • Does SCO have a MIRS or View direct report that will give us the info for employees that were missed when the SEIU Flex cash had been deleted for the 260 payment issued?
    • Answer: We will have to reach out to our MIRS area to find out if they could possibly create some type of report where they can display this information. We have yet to create anything of this sort.
  • Many employees are not showing up with the $260 on their account is there a problem?
    • Answer: This relates to the timing of keying, making sure it captures active employees for the month of July.
  • Will there be written instructions on what you were discussing on the Flex cash and cancelling?
    • Answer: Yes, a pay letter  and email blasts that went out with instructions.
  • Do LREs receive the $260 stipend?
    • Answer: Yes.

Statewide Personnel and Payroll Training - Michael Berlanda

• Training modules created for Just-in-Time Training
  • FOPAY (Series)
  • State Disability Insurance (SDI) (Series)
  • Nonindustrial Disability Insurance (NDI) (Series)
• Training modules coming soon:
  • PAR Doc
  • CA
  • Garnishments
  • ISD
• Needs Assessment
  • Actual v. Pencil Whipping
• Questions:
  • Is there a plan to begin providing personal specialist with virtual training?
    • Answer: We have to get trainers trained on how to deliver things like that because this is unprecedented for just about all of the trainers in statewide training. So the answer to that question is yes but it will take some time to get the trainings organized.
  •  How to sign up for these training modules?
    • Answer: You don't have to, the links for them are posted on the public website (In the E Learning section of the training page). All of the ones we have active right now are housed in that E learning link.
  • What's the ETA on the virtual training?
    • Answer: We cannot give an ETA right now, we have internal who is delivering first with the virtual training-we don't have a date on that yet. Two of the trainers are a part of that virtual training just to help facilitate and audit so they can get some ideas on how it's done.
  • When filling out the needs assessment there are issues getting staff enrolled. The people who do the needs assessment should be pushed to the front verses those who don't.
    • Answer: That's something we've considered in the past. The logistics of something like that of working on a first come first serve basis is the biggest issue right now-is how we tackle this. There's no good way to determine who gets training, have yet to develop a solution for this.

Cal Employee Connect (CEC)

 CEC and the Our Promise Campaign – Stephan Higginbotham

• The state is partnering with United Way to implement a more secure process for making donations during the Our Promise campaign.
• State employees interested in donating during the campaign will use CEC to securely start the registration process with United Way.
• Please see the announcement in the "What's New" section of CEC.
• Questions:
  • Is the CEC going to continue beyond this time period where everyone is teleworking?
    • Answer: Yes, we were developing CEC long before the pandemic. This is a long-term portal for state employees.
  • Did CEC fix the issues with allowing semi-monthly employees to see what their pay is before payday?
    • Answer: We haven't resolved that yet. The payday calendar is somewhat in flux, so we're still trying to find the right logic.

Contact

• Statewide Customer Contact Center (916) 372-7200,
• HR Suggestions Email  (All HR Staff) PPSDHRSuggestions@sco.ca.gov,
• CS Escalation Email (HR Supervisors and Managers)  PPSDOps@sco.ca.gov