Bonus report, recognition leave, deferment options
Employee bonus report in VCU Reporting Center
A report called “Classified Projected Bonus Amounts” that lists classified employees who are eligible for the March bonus is now in the VCU Reporting Center in the Personnel Administrators folder. The report contains the list of eligible employees based on their hire date, along with their salary as of June 30, 2016 and the projected bonus amount for March. If you have any questions regarding the information in this report, please contact your HR Consultant.
As you know, employee bonuses (scheduled to be distributed March 31) are merit-based and contingent upon the 2015-16 performance evaluations that were due in October. For employees with currently missing evaluations, this report will be updated once evaluations are submitted. Missing evaluations must be completed and submitted to Human Resources no later than February 10, 2017. VCU Human Resources must have completed evaluations on file in order to process merit bonuses in March. If you have any questions regarding missing performance evaluations, please contact Employee Relations at (804) 828-1510.
Recognition leave
Managers may choose to recognize classified employees (those who have met the $2,000 monetary bonus maximum for this fiscal year) with up to 40 hours/5 days of recognition leave. In last month’s communication, we explained that any recognition leave that has already been given will offset the amount of leave an employee may receive as part of the March bonus. While monetary bonuses are calculated on a fiscal year, recognition leave is calculated on a “leave” year (January 10-January 9). So while March bonus money will be offset by any bonus money received this fiscal year (since July 1), March bonus recognition leave will only be offset by any leave given this leave year (since January 10, 2017). Furthermore, just as in-band and off-cycle salary adjustments have been suspended until the March bonuses are awarded, so have recognition leave requests.
Any bonus recognition leave given as part of the March bonus will offset any recognition leave for the remainder of the leave year (until January 2018), while as any monetary bonus given as part of the March bonus will offset any further bonuses given for the remainder of the fiscal year (until June 30, 2017). The cap on recognition leave an employee may receive in a leave year is 40 hours/5 days.
Departments who wish to compensate eligible employees with Recognition Leave should complete the Recognition Award Action Form and submit the form to HR by February 24, 2017 to be processed by March 10, 2017.
Deferment options
Employees receiving a university bonus on the March 31 pay date may wish to defer a larger amount than usual to either the VCU 403(b)/TDA or the Commonwealth of Virginia 457(b)/DCP plan. Special lump sum deferral forms are available for this purpose.
For the VCU 403(b)/TDA, use the Lump Sum Salary Reduction Agreement. Indicate the one-time amount for the March 31 pay date, and the regular deferral amount to return to for the April 16 pay date and onward. VCU Payroll must receive this form no later than March 20, 2017 in order to process a lump sum deferral for the March 31 pay date.
For the Commonwealth of Virginia 457(b)/DCP, use the DCP One-Time Deferral Form. The DCP requires that one-time deferral elections be made in the month prior to the deferral. VCU Payroll must receive this form no later than February 28, 2017 in order to process a lump sum deferral for the March 31 pay date.
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