Payroll and Appointments Policy Manual - C

Calculating Pay for a Partial Month	Check Distribution	Cost Sharing
Campus Box Numbers	City Earnings Tax	Cost Transfers, Payroll (PCT)
Cash Advances	Clinical Title
Cashier Holds - Medical School	Clinician Track Appointments
Change of Track at the Medical School	Consultants/Contractors

Calculating Pay for a Partial Month

On the calendar, count the number of days the employee worked during the month. Multiple this figure by the monthly salary. Divide the product by the total number of working days (including holidays) in the month.

Example: Employee worked 16 days in a month that contains 21 working days and monthly salary is $1500.00

16 working days x $1500 / 21 working days in month =$1,142.86

Campus Box Numbers

Campus Box Numbers must be maintained to insure that faculty and staff receive University mail. When an employee changes his/her work location, the box number must be changed. In the case of an employee transfer, this is a two step process because the system will not allow the person entering the reappointment to change the box number at that time. The reappointment must be approved/processed before the campus box number may be changed. It is the responsibility of the prime school/department to ensure that the campus box number is correct.

Cash Advances

It is the policy of the University not to make cash advances to its employees.

Any exception to this policy will be made only in cases of extreme hardship that cannot normally and reasonably be solved through normal banking channels. For example, a visiting professor from a foreign country whose government does not permit its citizens to leave their country with sufficient funds, and must sustain themselves until they have earned a month's salary would be considered an exception.

Any requests for a "hardship" advance should be made through administrative channels to the Payroll Manager at Campus Box 1000.

Cashier Holds - Medical School

A cashier hold is placed on an employee's paycheck when he/she has defaulted on a check(s) cashed at the cashier's office. The employee is contacted by letter regarding restitution. If this effort fails, a cashier hold is placed on the next and subsequent paychecks if necessary, until the debt is paid. The paycheck is delivered to the Cashier's Office. A note is sent to the employee stating that he/she may pick up the paycheck after 2:00 PM on payday. The Cashier’s Office will cash the check and collect the monies owed to the university.

Change of Track at the Medical School

At the Medical School, faculty may, on occasion, change track. The Executive Faculty must approve all changes of track at the rank of Assistant Professor and above.

Check Distribution

Monthly payroll checks are distributed the last working day of the month. Biweekly payroll checks are distributed every other Friday. Checks for schools/departments located on the Danforth Campus are sent through campus mail. At the West Campus and the Medical School, departments must pick-up their checks at the Payroll Shared Services office and the Medical School Human Resources Office respectively. Authorized department staff, with picture ID (Washington University ID or Driver's License), can pick up checks after 9:00 AM on the appropriate payday. If an individual fails to present a picture ID, checks will not be released, even if the staff member knows the individual.

The Business Manager must send a letter to the appropriate office with a listing of all individuals who may pick up payroll checks. For control purposes, the employees listed cannot have payroll authorization. If an individual is not listed, he/she will not be allowed to pick up checks. There will be no exceptions to this policy. The list of individuals authorized for check pickup should be updated on a regular basis. This will ensure that terminated employees no longer have authorization for pickup. It is the responsibility of the department to keep this list updated.

City Earnings Tax

Employees who either work or live within the city limits of St. Louis must have St. Louis City earnings tax withheld from their paychecks. Whether an employee lives within the city limits is defined by the employee’s home address in the Payroll system. Whether an employee works within the city limits is defined by the prime department number and/or building location.

Some employees are assigned prime department numbers that are city taxable but actually work at a location outside the city (for example, a Medical School employee may be defined as city taxable by their prime department number but may actually be providing services in the county). Employees in these circumstances, as long as they do not live in the city, may file a Partial Exemption from City Tax form with the Payroll Office. City taxes will not be withheld from the percentage of wages they state are earned outside the city. Forms are available in the Payroll Office and must be renewed annually.

It is important that accurate home addresses are entered on the Personnel screen to ensure that individuals are not avoiding city tax. University addresses (e.g. department names or campus boxes) may not be used. Street addresses should be utilized whenever possible instead of post office boxes. Employees whose records do not reflect a proper local address will receive a letter from the Payroll Office requesting a proper address. If a proper local address is not received prior to next processing deadline, direct deposit will be discontinued and the employee’s check will be held at the Payroll Office. Departments not able to provide a proper local address for an employee (i.e. employee is on temporary assignment outside the area) should contact the Payroll Manager with an explanation.

Clinical Title

The Bylaws of Barnes-Jewish Hospital and St. Louis Children’s Hospital require all physicians with hospital privileges at Barnes-Jewish North, Barnes-Jewish South and/or St. Louis Children’s Hospital to have an appointment at the Medical School. These private physicians, who do not receive salary or benefits from the University, should be appointed using a courtesy (08) appointment and "Clinical" in their title. The Clinician Track should be used for those individuals who receive salary. Please see the section on Clinician Track Appointments for additional information.

Clinician Track Appointments

Appointment or promotion to the Clinician Track is based primarily on clinical contributions. Excellence in teaching is essential to the mission of the School of Medicine and is a critical consideration in all faculty appointments.

The following procedures must be followed regarding clinician track appointments.
Clinician Track appointments must be reviewed and recommended to the Executive Faculty by a committee appointed by the Dean (except for Clinician Track appointments at the Instructor level).

Draft Clinician Track contracts can be obtained from the Appointments Office. Appointment lengths vary by professorial rank and length of service. The desired type of contract must therefore be specified from the following list:

Instructor (Annually renewable contract)

Assistant Professor (Annually renewable contract)
Associate Professor (4-Year annually renewable contract)
Full Professor (5-year annually renewable contract)

Full Professor with >10 years of service at that rank (6-year annually renewable contract)

Draft contracts may be reviewed and discussed with potential Clinician Track faculty but should not be signed until the appointment has been presented to the Executive Faculty and approved.

Following Executive Faculty approval, the Appointments Office will prepare a final contract for signature by the candidate, the Department Head and the Dean on behalf of the University. The contract will specify the dates of appointment, professorial rank and initial annual salary. This will coincide with the Appointment Letter.

Extensions of a Clinician Track appointment and any increase in salary for subsequent years will be reflected in the annual reappointment letter. A new Clinician Track contract is necessary only upon the faculty member's promotion to a higher rank.

The prime department is responsible for the clinician contract. The Executive Faculty should approve joint appointments at the same time as the prime appointment.

Notice of Non-renewal for Faculty on the Clinician Track

Regardless of the stated term or other provisions of any appointments, written notice that an appointment for a probationary period is not to be renewed shall be given to the faculty member in advance of the expiration of his/her appointment, as follows:
· Not later than March 1 of the first academic year of service, if the appointment expires at the end of that year;
· Not later than December 15 of the second academic year of service, if the appointment expires at the end of that year; or if an initial two-year appointment terminates during an academic year, at least six months in advance of its termination;
· At least twelve months before the expiration of an appointment after two or more years of service at the University. The University normally shall notify faculty members of the terms and conditions of their renewals by March 31, but in no case shall such information be given later than April 15.

Associate Professors must be given notice at least three (3) academic years in advance of the expiration of their appointment. Four (4) academic years of advance notice is required for full professors on the Clinician Track holding five-year appointments. Five (5) academic years of advance notice is required for full professors on the Clinician Track holding six-year appointments.

Consultants/Contractors

Employees of the University may not, under any circumstances, also be paid as independent consultants or contractors by the University while they are in an active status or on an approved leave of absence.

Questions concerning consultant/contractor status should be discussed with the Human Resources Department. You should also review the "Employee Status" section of this manual for additional information.

To determine a worker's employment status, the federal employment tax laws rely in large part on the common law rule. Under this rule, an individual is considered an employee if an employer has the right to control what will be done and how it is to be accomplished. If an individual is free from such control he or she generally is considered an independent contractor. Independent contractors:
· usually receive their income in profits rather than wages;
· have little supervision; and
· generally set their own working conditions.

Customarily, independent contractors are associated with exercising initiative and decision-making authority. The determination of independent contractor status is made by the Internal Revenue Service, which ensures that companies are not misclassifying employees to avoid paying employment taxes. The IRS achieves this by carefully monitoring the tax returns filed by independent contractors and the employers that hire them. The IRS bases its decision on court precedents, agency rulings, and established practices within a particular industry. In its examination, the IRS also applies statutory and common-law tests to determine a worker's employment status.

The following factors are used in determining a worker's employment status:



EMPLOYEE VS. INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR
Employee	Independent Contractor
Must comply with employer’s instructions about when, where, and how to work	Determines place and sequence of work
Trained by employer	Train on their own
Services are part of business operations	Services may not be related to employer’s business
Work done personally	Others can do the work if contract is completed
Has assistants hired by the employer	Employs own assistants
Has continuous relationship with employer	Works by the job
Work hours set by employer	Sets own work hours
Works full-time for one employer	Services offered to the public
Work done on employer’s premises or designated site	Generally works off-site
Must follow set order of work	Can set own schedule
Submits regular reports	Files report when job ends; interim reports possible
Paid by the hour or salary	Paid by the job
Business and travel expenses paid by employer	Pays own business and travel expenses; part of cost of job
Tools and equipment provided by employer	Furnishes own tools and equipment
Has no investment in facilities used	Has significant investment in facilities used
No profit or loss incurred	Can make a profit or suffer a loss
Works for one firm at a time	Works for several companies at one time
Services are not generally available	Makes services available to general public
Can be fired at any time	Cannot be fired if results satisfy contract
Can quit at any time without liability	Must complete job according to contract specifications

Hiring a Previous WU Employee as a Contractor/Consultant

Individuals who previously worked for the University may be hired as a contractor or consultant if he/she meets the above stated requirements. However, in no case, should a person be hired as a contractor/consultant in the same capacity and with the same job responsibilities they had while in an employee status.

An individual cannot be paid as both an employee and an independent contractor in the same calendar year. Issuing an individual a W-2 as well as a 1099 is considered inappropriate.

Please note that an employer may be required to pay employment tax liabilities that were not withheld as a result of having misclassified common law employees as independent contractors. The employer may not attempt to recover the tax from the employee nor may the employer deduct such amount from future compensation. Failure to withhold taxes due to an intentional disregard of the withholding requirement -- rather than good-faith misclassification of the worker -- may result in additional penalties.

Additional information regarding the use of contractors or consultants can be obtained from the Tax Manager or the Human Resources Department.

Cost Sharing

Cost Sharing occurs when a sponsoring agency does not fully reimburse the University for all allowable costs associated with the specific project to be funded. In such cases, the University must share or participate in the cost of the project.

When the University (department) contributes funds to a specific project, formal identification of these costs is required. A cost sharing account must be established in order to apply the appropriate charges. This mechanism allows for correct tracking of the shared costs as well as proper identification of organized research expenditures. (The Cost Sharing Account uses the same 5-digit fund number as the grant or contract account).

There are two types of cost sharing:

1. Mandatory ("X" Fund).

Mandatory or statutory ("X" Fund) cost sharing is normally an agency requirement that the University contribute funds to the project in order for an award to be made. The most common use is related to the Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) salary cap which limits the amount of salary that can be paid to an individual on a grant or contract. Salary over this cap is considered mandatory cost sharing.

2. Voluntary ("V" Fund)

Voluntary cost sharing is a choice made by the University (department) to contribute funds to a project based on a commitment in a proposal budget or text, or during an active project when a non-agency source absorbs costs which directly benefit that project.

Regardless of whether cost sharing is mandatory or voluntary, it is a federal government requirement that the costs be tracked.

Medical School Procedure to Establish a Cost Sharing Account

To establish a cost sharing account, the department submits a Cost Sharing Account Request Form to Gifts, Grants and Contracts.

This form is used to request that a "V" and/or "X" account be set up. The key piece of information that must be supplied is the debit account that is the account that actually funds the expenditure. The debit account is most often a Ledger Class (LC) 12 departmental account, but could also be an unrestricted gift account.

Once the "X" and/or "V" account is established, the department applies the cost sharing portion of payroll to the "X" and/or "V" account(s). The department may prepare a budget adjustment (BA) on the debit account to restrict the cost sharing funds in a budget code 50. At month end, a computer-generated cost-sharing journal is run which debits budget 50 on the debit account for the amount of expenditures incurred on the "X" and/or "V" account. An off setting credit is also applied to a 50 budget on the "X" and/or "V". The result of which is a zero grant to date in the "X" and/or "V" account. The "X" and/or "V" account(s) is used as a tracking mechanism only.

Cost Sharing Edit within the Payroll System

There is an edit in the payroll system related to the NIH salary cap and mandatory cost sharing. The system edits whether the individual’s base salary exceeds the DHHS salary cap. If the base salary exceeds the DHHS salary cap, the system will require that a portion of the salary be sourced as mandatory cost sharing on an "X" account. The system will calculate the split, but the department must have requested the establishment of the "X" account through GG&C.

If you encounter a cost sharing edit which will not allow you to finish your payroll document please check the following to ensure you have completed the procedures and document properly.

1) Have you completed a Cost Sharing Account Request Form and sent it to Gifts, Grants and Contracts to set up the appropriate account? If you have not done so, complete the form and forward to Gifts, Grants and Contracts.

2) Have you computed the cost sharing percentage correctly and indicated this amount on the payroll document? The system calculates to the penny. If you round your figures the system may not accept the amount. The amount must be equal to or greater than the amount indicated by the edit message.

3) Have you calculated cost sharing for the grant indicated in the edit? For example, you may have calculated cost sharing for one grant but another grant also requires cost sharing.

4) Is the month and year the current month and year? If not, correct.

5) Do the "from" and "to" dates match for the grant and cost sharing account in question? You must indicate the same "from" and "to" dates on both the grant and cost sharing account or the system cannot match up the two accounts. If the grant is set up for May and June, the cost sharing account must be set up for May and June. NOTE: Grants may extend beyond the current fiscal year, however the cost sharing account may be extended only through the end date of the debit account.

6) Are the account numbers the same on the department and/or fund number or connected in the profile? If not, the system will not be able to match up the two accounts. Or, has the prime (or joint) department entered their portion of the salary? The system is set up to search for the corresponding account in another department. In this case the cost sharing portion must be on-line before the system will be able to find the offsetting amount.

7) Have you deleted the working grant source matching the one that you have added? If there was a working source and you did not delete this source before adding the revised grant and cost-sharing source, the system will calculate the percentage on the new grant source plus the working source to get a percentage. To correct, place a "D" on the working source and finish the document.

Cost Sharing Overrides are no longer allowed. Cost sharing must be completed as per the system edits due to government audits of our system.

If you have any other questions or problems contact the Systems Helpdesk on the Danforth Campus to resolve the problem.

Additional information is available from Gifts, Grants and Contracts regarding cost sharing instructions and in the Payroll/Personnel Manual regarding budget adjustments.

Cost Transfers, Payroll (PCT)

Payroll Cost Transfers are journals used to adjust expenses previously charged in error as well as to transfer funds for accrued vacation when employees transfer between departments at the University. All requests for cost transfers must be supported by a full explanation of how the error occurred or how the vacation accrual amount was figured.

Please note the following:

All debits (charges) and credits should net to zero.

Accounts cannot be credited unless a debit (charge) was originally made to that account.

When transferring equal amounts over multiple months, the total amount of the transfer can as entered on one line (indicate the months affected on same line). When transferring unequal amounts over multiple months, use separate lines for each month

If payroll cost transfers involve more than one PAR period, separate the amounts for each period and insert on different lines.

If a PAR has already been completed for the time period covered by the cost transfer, a corrected PAR must be submitted.

Detailed information regarding cost transfers can be found in Chapters 61, 62, and 63 of the Payroll/Personnel Manual and the Accounting Services Manual which are available from Systems and Procedures.

Instructions pertaining to payroll cost transfers for accrued vacation time are located in the section entitled Vacation. See Appendix B for additional information regarding on-line payroll cost transfers and a general outline/instructions.