News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.
On Wednesday, October 12, at 4:00 p.m., Vice President for Financial Affairs Eric Barger will be hosting a faculty/staff town hall on University finances. This in-person event will be held at the Brian Doyle Auditorium in Dundon-Berchtold Hall. Eric will share preliminary results for fiscal year 2022 and the outlook for fiscal year 2023, as well as a summary of spending adjustments made in response to this year’s enrollment shortfall. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session.
University president Fr. Mark Poorman, C.S.C.. and interim VP for financial affairs Eric Barger have notified the UP community that, in the face of unprecedented financial shortfalls due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University would be pausing employer contributions to retirement plans. Consistent with these prior messages, the Office of Human Resources will have a notice about this change mailed to all employees. You can also access a pdf of this notice at this link: Notice About Change of University of Portland’s Employer Contribution Rate for Retirement Plan.
As well, it has been a difficult week with the wild fires in Oregon. If you need any type of support, please let us know in Human Resources so we can support you.
Support available to all employees
Campus Ministry – ministry@up.edu, (503) 943-7131
Employee Assistance Program (free and confidential) – www.up.edu/hr/benefits/eap, (800) 433-2320
Human Resources – hr@up.edu, (503) 943-8484
Sandy – chung@up.edu, (503) 943-8484 (office), (310) 779-2406 (cell phone)
The University of Portland will not be implementing the payroll tax deferment program announced three weeks ago by Presidential Memorandum, according to Eric Barger, interim VP of financial affairs. According to Barger, “The executive action gave employers the option to postpone for the remainder of the year the collection of payroll taxes such as an employee’s portion of Social Security taxes for individuals making up to $104,000 a year. However, individuals would be responsible for withholding and paying back these taxes before May 1, 2021, or be subject to interest and penalties.
“University of Portland will continue to collect payroll taxes on behalf of all employees in order to avoid potential confusion, undue hardships, or other complications that might otherwise emerge during the filing of taxes for 2020 by employees next year.”
For more information contact Barger at barger@up.edu.
Eric Barger, associate vice president for finance and controller, has been selected for the 2020-21 National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) Fellows Program, a one-year professional development opportunity for a small group of promising higher education leaders in business and finance.
Barger earned a bachelor’s degree in health care management with a minor in communication studies as well as a bachelor’s degree in marketing in 1990, and a master’s degree in business administration in 1994, all here on The Bluff. He has served as controller since October 2008.
Sixteen promising higher education professionals from colleges and universities across the country have been selected for this year’s program. Over the next year, NACUBO Fellows will work with higher education presidents, provosts, chief business officers (CBOs), and other experts as they expand their management, communications, and leadership skills and learn from the experiences of others.
NACUBO, founded in 1962, is a nonprofit professional organization representing chief administrative and financial officers at more than 1,900 colleges and universities across the country. NACUBO works to advance the economic vitality, business practices, and support of higher education institutions in pursuit of their missions.
For more information contact Barger at barger@up.edu or NACUBO at KMcCreary@nacubo.org.
The controller’s office is pleased to introduce paperless P-card statement submissions to Wells Fargo beginning this month. Starting Monday, March 18, the feature will be available to all cardholders. Submission can be done from any computer, phone (Android or Apple) or mobile device (Android or Apple).
Using the new receipt-imaging feature means no more lost receipts. Cardholders will be able to easily keep track of receipts by attaching them to their statements from either a desktop or a mobile device. The process of reviewing receipts will be streamlined, which means that cardholders and approvers will not have to deal with submitting paper receipts, documentation or envelopes. Receipt imaging goes far beyond just making life easier. Going paperless will reduce business expenses and it advances the University’s efforts toward sustainability.
In the next week the controller’s office will be sending out more information on training materials to upload documentation from a computer or mobile device via the Wells Fargo CEO app, what users should attach as proper documentation, and a receipt imaging implementation timeline.
If you have any questions please contact Theresa Knott, Lori Watson, or Eric Barger at pcard@up.edu.
To facilitate easier transaction coding and to improve financial controls, the controller’s office has asked Barnes & Noble to discontinue having open departmental accounts at the University bookstore, according to Eric Barger, controller. Department purchases should instead be made with a University-issued P-card. The business purpose of purchases should be documented in the P-card reconciliation. Barnes & Noble will still provide the usual faculty/staff discounts on qualifying purchases.
Given the possibility of an inclement weather-related campus shutdown this week, Eric Barger from the Office of the Controller would like to remind University employees of the payroll policy that applies to such days. Hourly employees must record holiday time for any closure days for which they are usually scheduled and record regular time for time during which they work. When the two overlap, you are paid for both the holiday and the time worked – effectively double-time. Note that if you pick up an extra shift and work on a holiday or shutdown day for which you not regularly scheduled, you should record both regular and holiday (you’ve been added to the schedule that day, so it becomes a “scheduled shift”). The details are below. Another way to think about this is that the “shutdown” days are now treated just the same as holidays have been treated all along. We will no longer use the “floating holiday bank” system for shutdown days.
Those who have accumulated Floating Holiday Bank Hours need to use them by the regular deadline of November 15.
Payroll Policies for Holidays and Shutdown Days
Note: This creates double-time pay for hours worked (regular + holiday pay) during a closure day.
University holidays & shutdown days are as follows:
Note: Except for Good Friday, which starts at 4 p.m. on Holy Thursday and runs through midnight at the end of Good Friday, holidays and shutdown days run from midnight to midnight on the calendar day, consistent with the University’s payroll calendar. University Administration will determine the start and stop time for any partial day closures.
Exceptions and Clarifications
Employees should not work during holidays or shutdown days except at the direction of their managers. Employees who work on these days without such direction forfeit their holiday pay for hours worked, but will still receive regular pay for those hours (i.e. no double-time).
The University may designate an alternate day for the Independence Day holiday when July 4 falls on a weekend. If this happens, employees who actually work on July 4 record holiday pay in addition to regular time for hours actually worked. The alternate day is also a holiday in this case.
Employees who have pre-scheduled vacation or sick time before the University declares a non-regular shutdown day (due to inclement weather or other similar reason) use sick or vacation pay for the pre-scheduled sick or vacation time and not record any holiday pay.
An employee expected to work on a shutdown day, but who cannot work due to illness should record sick pay rather than holiday pay for the hours missed due to illness.
Student employees, non-benefited employees, and adjunct faculty do not receive holiday pay.
For more information contact Barger at barger@up.edu.
For many years, the University has been able to sell Tri-Met bus and light rail passes through the Office of Public Safety, including subsidized monthly passes. Unfortunately, due to the imposition of new federal taxes on transportation discounts and changes in Tri-Met administrative processes, we can no longer offer this benefit to our students, faculty, or staff. There is a limited inventory of books of 10 individual tickets that public safety will sell until they are gone.
Tri-Met passes and tickets are still available at a variety of locations for those who wish to purchase them, and Tri-Met’s new Hop Fastpass system may be of interest to our community members (links below). Questions about this change may be directed to Eric Barger, controller’s office, at barger@up.edu.
With the holidays rapidly approaching, the controller’s office would like to make the campus community aware of the following:
If you have any questions or need assistance with any of the above, please contact the controller’s office at x7337 or controller_up@up.edu.
Beginning in July of this year, the State of Oregon is levying a 0.1% state-wide transit tax on all salaries and wages. UP employees will see a new deduction code, “SWT” (for state-wide transit) on paychecks beginning July 20. The July 5 and 10 paychecks are payments for work performed in June and are, therefore, not subject to this tax.
For more information contact Eric Barger, controller, at barger@up.edu.