19.40 Terminating Employees

last updated: 6/30/04

University Handbook for Appointed Personnel
Classified Staff Human Resources Policy Manual

Overview

1. An eligible employee who resigns, retires, or is discharged shall be paid for accumulated vacation hours not to exceed the amount earned in one year prorated to the employee's FTE. The vacation hours and/or comp time balances will be a Lump Sum payment.
   
   
2. When an employee terminates employment from the university (by resignation, retirement, or layoff), the department must complete a Termination Report. The Termination Report is located at FSO/Information Services Web. The ISW Termination Report creates the termination report, wage position for the terminal vacation and/or comp time balances and the Termination POPR (Payroll Online Payment Request).
   
   
3. A termination reason should be provided on the termination report for individuals severing employment with the University. The termination reasons are as follows:
   
   
   1. Resignation – select one of the following options for employee leaving the University voluntarily.
      1. Seeking other employment (01)
      2. Has secured other employment (02)
      3. To secure additional education (03)
      4. Relocating (05)
      5. Dissatisfied (06)
      6. Personal (07)
      7. Other (08)
      8. Medical (10)
         
         
   2. Retirement – this status requires that the individual meet the requirements for Official University Retirement Benefits as defined in the Classified Staff Policy Manual or University Handbook for Appointed Personnel (UHAP).
      1. Retired (04)
         
         
   3. Discharge - This is an action initiated by the employer to terminate an employee. Arizona Revised Statutes 23-353 requires that all monies owed to discharged employees be paid within three business days.
      1. Job Performance (14)
      2. Misconduct (15)
      3. Attendance (16)
      4. Other (17)
         
         
   4. Layoff - This is an action initiated by the employer to terminate an employee due to temporary or permanent lack of work, lack of funds, or reorganization.
      1. Reorganization (11)
      2. Job Completed (12)
      3. Lack of Funds (13)
      4. Administrative Layoff (31)
         
         
   5. Death
      1. Deceased (18)
         
         
   6. Non-Renewal - This is an action initiated by the employer to terminate an employee on contract who is not recommended for reappointment.
      1. Contract Non Renewal (19)
         
         
   7. Termination from Unpaid Leave- employment termination initiated by the employee or by the employer when an employee is unable, for health reasons, to continue to work.
      
      
   8. Temporary Job Completed- This is the termination of employment by the employer when an ancillary employee has completed their job assignment. However, if an ancillary is resigning or is discharged for reasons other than their completion of their assignment then check the appropriate termination type.
      
      
4. Eligible employees who terminate their employment will receive a final check that may include payment for all unpaid salary and all unused vacation and/or comp time balance accrued up to the date of termination. All employees terminating for categories other than discharge must be paid no later than the next regularly scheduled payday.
   
   
5. Employees may only receive a lump sum payment as a hand-drawn check for the following reason:
   
   
   
   
   1. Employee or Probationary Employee is discharged and must be paid within 3 working days of discharge date. Note: Arizona Revised Statutes states that if an employee is discharged, he/she must be paid all monies due within 72 hours or by the next pay day, whichever is sooner.
      
      
   2. Employee has terminated and is leaving the country.
      
      
   3. Employee dies and payment is made to the estate of the employee, spouse, or personal representative of the employee.
      
      
6. If an employee terminates from the University prior to the end of their probation and has received payment for sick or vacation hours during their probation period, the sick and/or vacation hours paid must be recovered from the employee’s final payment.
   
   
7. The employee's name will continue to appear on the time roster through the "term effective date" indicated on the termination document. Hours through the "term effective date" must be reported on the time roster to ensure that required benefit deductions occur through this date.
   
   
8. Accrued sick leave is not paid upon termination.
   
   
9. If an employee is retiring and has a balance of 500 hours or greater, he or she may be eligible for the Retiree Accumulated Sick Leave (RASL) Program. Operations will zero out the sick balance for retirees 30 days from date the RASL Certification form was submitted to Human Resources for routing to the State of Arizona.

Termination Report.

10. The Payroll Representative must complete a Termination Report when an employee terminates employment.
    
    
11. The Termination Report is available in the Information Services Web.
    
    
    
    1. Log into the FSO Information Services Web with User Id and password.
       
       
    2. Click on the Main Menu icon. Scroll down and click on Termination Report. Based on the security file, the person’s name creating the termination report, main security department number and name will appear. If you have access to more than one department scroll down and select the department number for the employee you are wishing to report time for, otherwise your next prompt will be to select an employee.
       
       
    3. The list of all employees who work for the department selected will appear. Scroll down and select the employee who is to be terminated from The University.
       
       
    4. The employee’s current address information will appear. Record the mailing address to which the employee wants all future correspondence sent.
       
       
    5. Select the type of termination
       1. Termination (Voluntary)
       2. Termination (Involuntary for cause)
       3. Temporary Job Completed
       4. Termination (Layoff)
       5. Deceased
       6. Retirement
       7. Termination from Unpaid Leave
          
          
    6. Select the reason for termination based on type of termination.
       
       
    7. Enter the employee’s last day worked. This date is the last day duties were performed or last day of a paid leave prior to termination.
       
       
    8. Enter the employee’s term effective date: Record the date the termination is effective. This date should reflect the specific date the employee or employer indicated employment would cease (become effective). This date may be the last day physically worked or the date a period of approved leave (paid or unpaid) ends. Vacation and sick leave accruals will end as of this date. The employee will continue to print on the time roster up to this date. If the employee has been paid their accrued vacation or comp time in a lump sum payment, the Payroll Representative is responsible for zeroing-out the pre-printed hours on the Roster.
       
       
    9. The employee’s accrued vacation and/or comp time balances as of the last accrual reporting period will appear.
       
       
    10. Vacation/Comp Hours Adjustments: Enter any adjustments in these fields if the adjustments to vacation/comp do not reflect in the vacation/sick/comp leave accrual report. Enter decreases to balances as a negative number i.e., -5.00.
        
        
    11. Total Hours: Enter the total number of hours that will be reported on the time roster through the termination effective date inclusive of regular and any paid leave hours. Indicate how many of those hours will be vacation and/or comp time.
        
        
    12. Account/Dist: Enter the accounts and the percent that should be paid from each account. The distribution percentage must total 100.
        
        
    13. Special Instructions/Explanation: self explanatory, i.e., instruction to assign to a certain specialist may appear in this box.
        
        
    14. Click on Create POPR, a Review POPR screen will appear. Review the POPR information and if okay, click on Submit POPR for Approval. This screen will display the following information:
        
        
        
        1. Employee’s Hire/Rehire/ or Adjust Hire date.
        2. Last day and termination effective date,
        3. Position Wage information start and end date.
        4. Vacation and/or comp time balances, adjustments, any vacation/comp hours to be reported through term effective on time roster, accruals based on the hours through term effective date and total number of hours to be paid.
        5. The POPR also breaks down the hours according to the pay period end dates.
    
    
12. Once the information is verified, print; obtain employee’s signature (if available), department and college authorizations (if required) Print and make copy for departmental files. Originals should be forwarded as follows:
    
    
    
    1. Appointed Personnel
       1. ) Terminations for appointed personnel from main campus should be routed to Systems Control.
       2. Terminations for appointed personnel from AHSC should be routed to AHSC Human Resources. AHSC Human Resources will forward to Systems Control
          
          
    2. Graduate Assistants/Associates:
       1. Terminations for graduates should be routed to the Graduate College along with a letter of resignation. Graduate College will forward to Systems Control.
          
          
    3. All other employees:
       1. Systems Control
    
    
13. Systems Control will use the ISW termination report to terminate the employee from PSOS and will route the Termination POPR to Payroll.
    
    
14. The employee's name and hours will appear on the Time Roster through the termination effective date, or the day prior to being placed on layoff. This date is the date indicated on the termination document. For the last pay period in which the employee works, record the actual hours worked or leave taken on the time roster.

Terminations – Students

15. Students can be terminated on a Termination Report or a Personnel Action Form (PAF).
    
    
16. The student's PAF is maintained by the department in which the highest percentage of work (FTE) is performed. If the PAF is maintained in another department, contact the Payroll Representative of that department and relay the termination information.
    
    
17. Review lines B1 - B4 of the PAF to determine if the student holds multiple positions. If the student holds more than one position, determine if the individual is terminating from one or all positions.
    
    
    1. If the student holds only one position or is terminating from one but not all positions, indicate in the "Comments" section of the PAF that the student is "ending employment in 'position #', effective 'date'."
       
       
    2. If the student is terminating multiple positions, place a "T" in the Status Code box, line A-5. Indicate in the "Comments" section the student is "terminating from position #s xxxxxx, xxxxxx and xxxxxx."
       
       
18. Forward completed PAFs to Systems Control. If the student has multiple positions and does not completely terminate, Systems Control may reassign a home department number based on the student's FTE. If applicable, the PAF will be forwarded to the new home department.
    
    

Terminations - All Employees

Collection of Sick Leave Advances to Probationary Employees | Lump Sum Final Payment

Collection of Sick Leave Advances to Probationary Employees

19. When an employee has received sick and/or vacation pay and then terminates either voluntary or involuntary from the University prior to the end of their probation, the sick and/or vacation hours paid must be deducted from the hours owed when requesting final payment. Refer to the POPA850C - Vacation & Sick Leave Exception Report in ISW to verify the amount of sick leave the employee used while on probation. When preparing the Termination Report:
    
    
    1. Select the type of Termination and reason for termination
       
       
    2. Enter the last day worked and termination effective date (generally will be the same).
       
       
    3. Enter the number and type of hours due the employee through the termination effective date
       
       
    4. Enter the number of sick and/or vacation hours the employee was paid during probation. This will display as negative hours on the termination POPR and will be deducted from the hours owed.
       
       
20. Forward the Termination Report to Systems Control.
    
    
21. Zero out hours from the time roster. The employee will drop off the time roster after the termination effective date.
    
    
22. Payroll will process the adjustment to the employee’s vacation and sick leave balance at the time they process final payment for the employee.
    

Lump Sum Final Payment

23. Request payment of accrued vacation and comp time. Vacation pay is limited to a maximum of 1 year accrued vacation prorated according to the employee's FTE. All Comp time balance accrued is payable upon termination. Accrued sick leave balances will not be paid, but retiring employees may be eligible for the Retiree Accumulated Sick Leave Program.
    

Deceased Employees

24. Under Arizona statues ARS 14-3971 (A) there are two separate persons who potentially are eligible to receive final payments for deceased persons:
    
    
    1. Surviving spouse: The surviving spouse will be issued a check for unpaid wages, vacation and comp time, up to a maximum of $5,000. If the final payment exceeds $5,000, the excess will be issued in a separate check to the deceased's estate in care of the court appointed representative within 30 days of notification of death.
       
       
    2. Court Appointed Representative: If there is no surviving spouse, the check will be made payable to deceased's estate for the full amount and given to the court appointed representative within 30 days of notification of death. If there is a surviving spouse, the first $5,000 will be issued to the surviving spouse and any excess will be issued to the deceased's estate in care of the court appointed representative.
       
       
25. All accrued vacation and comp time balance is payable to the deceased employee’s spouse or personal representative.
    
    
26. When the check is payable to:
    
    
    1. Surviving spouse - Attach a notarized Affidavit of Death to the State of Arizona. Affidavit of Death to State of Arizona. To obtain a copy of this form, contact Operations.
       
       
    2. Court appointed representative - Attach certified Letters of Administration issued by the court.
       
       
27. The department Payroll Representative should prepare a Termination Report. When preparing the Termination Report:
    
    1. Select “Deceased” as type of Termination
       
       
    2. Enter the last day worked and termination effective date (enter date of death as termination effective date).
       
       
    3. Enter the number and type of hours due the employee through the termination effective date
       
       
28. Forward the Termination Report to Systems Control.
    
    
29. Zero out hours from the time roster. The employee will drop off the time roster after the termination effective date.
    
    
30. Payroll will process the adjustment to the employee’s vacation and sick leave balance at the time they process final payment for the employee.
    
    
31. Final payment of wages to the estate of the deceased employee to the authorized affiant as covered by Arizona Revised Statutes will be released after presentation of the proper affiant documentation and photo identification.
    
    
32. For reporting purposes, the deceased employee's Form W-2 or 1099 will be mailed by January 31 of the following calendar year to their last known address. A letter of earnings, if requested by the affiant, will be provided to the estate of the deceased employee within 30 days after issuance of the final check.
    

Retiring Employees Continuing Employment

Overview:

Eligible appointed personnel and career staff employees may retire and start receiving retirement benefits without having to quit work. To determine eligibility contact Human Resources or refer to the ASRS web site, including the ASRS Member Handbook or the ASRS brochure entitled "Working After Retirement".

Procedures

33. The Payroll Representative must prepare a Termination Report.
    
    
    1. Select “Retirement” as type of Termination
       
       
    2. Complete the retirement dates as follows:
       
       
       1. Last day at work: Record the last day physically at work when the employee would have been recognized as "performing his or her regular duties for the department."
       2. Termination effective date: Record the date the termination is effective. This date should reflect the specific date the employee or employer expressed employment would cease (become effective). This date may be the last day physically worked o r the date a period of approved leave (paid or unpaid) ends. Vacation and sick leave accrual will end as of this date.
          
34. Submit the Termination Report to Systems Control.
    
35. To continue employment, process a Personnel Action Form (PAF) and PCF (Position Control Form) and obtain the appropriate signatures and submit to Systems Control.

maintained by: Jenny Ruiz
last reviewed: 6/30/04