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Proposed Pay Cycle Standardization

DEANS, DIRECTORS, DEPARTMENT CHAIRS & ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICERS

Re: Proposed Pay Cycle Standardization

The University of California has embarked on a plan to deploy a single payroll and HRIS system across all 10 campuses and five medical centers. The UCPath Initiative is among the highest priorities for UC as part of the “Working Smarter” Initiative, allowing UC to pay all employees from a single university-wide payroll system that meets the core needs of each location while capturing the efficiencies, improved data, and cost savings associated with a unified system.

The project implementation will be executed in several “waves.” UCLA along with UCOP, UC Merced, and UC Santa Cruz have been selected as early adopter/first wave implementers of the new system with a targeted “go live” date of January, 2013. One of the guiding principles of the UCPath Initiative is to achieve sustainable long-term cost savings by standardizing and simplifying common business processes system-wide. One key business process that has been identified is standardized pay cycles.
 

The following pay cycles are proposed:

 

Pay Cycle Employees Paid
MonthlyAcademic Appointees, Exempt Staff (Campus), By-Agreement, Post-Doctoral Scholars
BiweeklyNon-exempt Staff (Campus), Health System staff, Per Diem Employees, Temporary Employees

Many UCLA employees are already on the above schedules and will continue to be paid on their current pay cycle. For example, academic appointees and exempt staff will remain on monthly pay schedules. Additionally, most employees in the UCLA Health System are already paid on a biweekly schedule and will remain on that schedule. However, campus-based non-exempt employees who are currently paid on a monthly schedule will be transitioned to a biweekly pay schedule. The biweekly pay cycle is specifically designed to track hours worked and overtime for non-exempt employees based on actual hours worked. Overtime payments will be timely, and vacation and sick leave balances will be current.

There are only two times a year when the biweekly and monthly pay cycles align–April and November. The timing of the biweekly conversion is important in regard to advance preparation for implementation of the new Payroll/Personnel replacement system. Our goal is to convert monthly paid non-exempt employees to the biweekly pay cycle effective April 1, 2012. For non-exempt employees, the last monthly payday will be March 29, 2012, and the first biweekly payday will be April 25, 2012.

Please notify policy-covered (non-represented) employees in your organization of the proposed changes that will affect them, for example, non-exempt employees who are currently on a monthly pay schedule and will change to biweekly, to ensure that they have sufficient time to plan for this change. For exclusively represented employees, unions are being notified of the proposed changes, which are subject to requirements of the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA).

There will be upcoming information sessions so that employees included in this proposed change can plan ahead and review their personal budget needs. Details on the new schedule, deductions, accruals, and automatic withdrawals from paychecks will be covered in these sessions. In addition, an online payroll calculator that determines biweekly earnings will be available soon. The Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) in Related Information contain helpful information for employees. Instructions will also be provided to EDB preparers.

If you have any questions please contact Manager Irma Arellano, Payroll Services at iarellan@finance.ucla.edu.

Thank you for your support. This conversion is critical to the success of the overall system effort.

Sincerely,

 

Allison Baird-James
Associate Vice Chancellor/Controller
Corporate Financial Services
Lubbe Levin
Associate Vice Chancellor
Campus Human Resources

Mark Speare
Chief Human Resources Officer
Health Science

 

Payroll Services
Phone: (310) 794-8728 | Fax: (310) 794-8751 | Mail Code: 141648

Address

10920 Wilshire Boulevard, Suite 620
Los Angeles, CA 90024-6504

Office Hours

Monday – Friday 8 a. m. to 5 p. m.
Saturday and Sunday Closed