Annual Short Work Break Processing in HRS

Overview

Every year, employees assigned to an academic year, 9-month appointment must be placed on leave for the summer. The HRS term for these leaves of absence is "Short Work Break." The employee's insurance eligibility will continue to depend on the job on leave. Employees that accept a Summer Service and/or Summer Session appointment require a separate job (Empl Rcd) for the summer appointment. The employee's insurance eligibility will not be affected by this active summer job. This document describes the process followed each year to place academic year, 9-month employees on Short Work Break (SBK) at the end of the academic year, and return them from break (RBK) in the fall. Institutional HR representatives and Service Center staff each are responsible for critical steps in this process.

Process Considerations:

This only applies to employees assigned to an academic year appointment. These employees are also referred to as 9-month, or C-basis employees.
UW Shared Services utilizes the Mass Update Process to place 9-month employees on Short Work Break each spring and to return them in the fall.

You may click on the links below to navigate directly to a section:

A. Short Work Break

When: This process is run once annually. It is typically scheduled for the Saturday following confirmation of the May (5M) payroll. The scheduled processing date will be published each year.
Who: All Active jobs (Empl Records) with an academic pay basis
NOTE: Employees hired after this mass process is completed in May need to have a Short Work Break (SBK) Job Data row added manually by their HR office.
What: The following data elements will be changed on the Job Data page:
Effective Date: the last day of the institution's academic year + 1 day
Action: SBK - Short Work Break
Reason: 001 - End of Academic Year
HR Status: remains Active
Employee Payroll Status: changes to Leave of Absence

No other data elements are changed, such as Position Number, Pay Group, Compensation Rate, EJED, Benefits Primary, Absence eligibility, etc. The status change to Leave of Absence triggers the appropriate earnings and absence updates. The employee continues to be covered under their enrolled insurances while on Short Work Break.

Output files that list every job record that was changed are reviewed by UW Shared Services. UWSS Support Team members will contact institutions to confirm results as necessary.

B. Return From Short Work Break

When: This process is run once annually. It is typically scheduled for the Saturday following successful complete of the August monthly EJED process and confirmation of the August monthly (8M) payroll. The scheduled processing date will be published each year.
Who: All jobs (Empl Rcds) that meet this criteria:
in Leave status
has a Short Work Break (SBK) action on Job Data with reason code 001 (End of Academic Year), that is effective after the last day of the institution's preceding academic year
What: The following data elements will be changed on the Job Data page:

Effective Date: the first day of the institution's academic year
Action: RBK - Return from Short Work Break
Reason: 001 - Start Academic Year
HR Status: remains Active
Employee Payroll Status: changes back to Active

Encumbrance data is also written to employee job records at this time to reflect the new fiscal year and the begin and end dates of the new academic year.

No other data elements are changed, such as Position Number, Pay Group, Compensation Rate, EJED, Benefits Primary, Absence eligibility, etc. The status change to Active triggers the appropriate earnings and absence changes.

Output files that list every job record that was changed are reviewed at the Service Center. SC Affinity Group team members will contact institutions to confirm results as necessary.

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Additional Resources

Related KBs:

Related Links:

Get Help

Click HERE to contact UW Shared Services - Service Operations Department or HERE for the UWSS IT HelpDesk if you have any issues with these instructions.

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