Benefits
- Change in my family status
- Leave Without Pay (LWOP)
Change in status – What do I do?
Changes must be submitted to HR within 30 days of the qualifying event.
For State Health coverage, go to www.dch.georgia.gov.
Click on SHBP > SHBP Forms > Eligibility Forms
Scroll down to Enroll or Update Coverage section
Select Change and Miscellaneous Update Form
For Flexible Benefits, go to www.team.georgia.gov.
Click on the GaBreeze tab
LWOP – What do I do?
Employees who are on a Leave Without Pay have the option of continuing their existing Flexible Benefits and State Health coverage throughout their leave by sending in monthly payments via personal check. HR will send a leave package to the employee prior to or soon after their leave date. The package contains a letter authorizing the leave, an explanation of the benefit options and the forms necessary for continuing benefit coverage. If the forms are not completed and returned within the time frame detailed in the letter or on the form then coverage will be terminated until the employee returns.
HR
- Form I-9
- Work eligibility
Form I-9 – Requirements and responsibility?
You must complete a Form I-9 for each person you hire. For the purposes of the I-9 rules, a person is “hired” when s/he begins to perform labor or services in return for wages or other remuneration. Remuneration is anything of value given in exchange for labor or services rendered by an employee, including food and lodging.
An employee must document their eligibility by presenting the ORIGINAL of one or more of the acceptable documents listed on the instructions for the Form I-9. The exception is the birth certificate which can be a certified copy.
The document(s) must be presented within three (3) business days of beginning employment. You can terminate an employee who fails to produce the required document(s) or a receipt for a replacement document(s) in the case of lost, stolen or destroyed documents. If an employee presents a receipt for a replacement document(s), s/he must produce the actual document(s) within ninety (90) days of the date employment began. You must apply these practices uniformly to all employees.
You must examine the document(s) and, if they reasonably appear to be genuine and to relate to the person presenting them, you must accept them. Failure to do so could be an unfair immigration related employment practice. If however, a document(s) does NOT reasonably appear to be genuine and/or relate to the person presenting it, you must not accept the document(s). You may contact your local INS office for assistance.
If you properly complete the Form I-9 process and the INS discovers that the employee is not actually authorized to work, you cannot be charged with a verification violation. However, you cannot knowingly continue to employee the individual. You will have a good faith defense against the imposition of employer sanctions/penalties for knowingly hiring an unauthorized alien unless the government can prove you had actual knowledge of the unauthorized status of the employee.
Payroll
- 401(k) Employer contributions
- Alternate work schedules
- Deductions
- Employee Self Service
- FICA
- Leave
- My Check
- Time sheet(s)
401(k)
The employer contributions are included in the distribution you receive
Alternate work schedules – What are they?
Alternate work schedules allow the employee to work “40 hours a week” without necessarily working 5 days a week. The apply only to full-time employees. There are 3 types of alternate schedules.
Click here to see compile explanations.
Deductions
- After Tax – an amount which does NOT reduce gross pay before taxes are calculated.
- Before Tax – an amount which IS subtracted from gross pay BEFORE taxes are calculated.
- P/Tax Benefit – a before tax amount usually associated with the employer’s portion of retirement; for information only and does NOT impact the pay check.
- Taxable Benefit – the amount represents the value of a benefit which is paid for by the agency. You are NOT due the amount, but by law it is taxable income to you. The amount is added to your taxable gross for the purpose of calculating your tax withholding for the pay period and is then subtracted as a deduction so that it is not included in your net pay. The amount usually is identified as Imputed Income.
NOTE: The taxable gross calculation is:
Gross pay – amounts which are NOT taxable + taxable amounts (but not paid).
This calculation is different from the one used to calculate net pay:
Gross – taxes – deduction (excluding Employer).
Employee Self Service
The location, access process and the password reset directions are found on the Payroll Services page.
FICA – What is it?
FICA is the acronym for the Federal Insurance Contributions Act, better known as Social Security. The associated tax is paid by both the employee and the employer. The total tax rate, set by the Federal government, is 15.30%, but this is split equally so that 7.65% is paid by (withheld from) the employee and 7.65% is paid by the employer. The 7.65% rate is made up of two components:
OASDI (6.20%) and
Medicare (1.45%)
These are shown in the tax section of the pay stub:
Employee’s portion as OASD/IEE and Med/EE
Employer’s portion as OASDI/ER and MED/ER
The employer’s portion is detailed as information only and does NOT affect net pay. The employee’s portion is part of the total Federal tax withheld and therefore, does affect net pay.
Employees participating in the Teacher’s Retirement Plan (TRS) are NOT subject to the OASDI portion, but they are subject to the Medicare portion.
Leave – Types and how to report?
There are several types of leave plans. Click on the plan name to open information about the plan
Report leave on your Time Sheet (see Time Sheets – which one & when) AND through PeopleSoft Self Service
- Self Service > Time Reporting > Report Time > Absence Request
The following links go to documents which provide complete information on the Self Service process and answers to frequently asked questions about the leave reporting process.
Note: For annual, sick and personal leave, you must have enough hours in your balance at the time the leave is taken to cover the time you are taking. Otherwise, the amount associated with hours taken that is in excess of you balance will be withheld from your next pay check.
My Check
How is it calculated?
How will my net pay be affected if I change my tax filing status/allowances and/or any of my deductions?
To answer both of these questions, click here: Calculate
My net pay changed – why?
one or more reasons can cause a change in your net pay:
- Your total deduction amount changed because:
- the amount of one or more of your Flexible Benefits changed because you changed/added/deleted one or more flexible benefits during Open Enrollment
- there was a change in your Health coverage premium due to a change in family status or through Open Enrollment
- you enrolled in or cancelled a non-benefit/non-health deduction (e.g., 401(k), Credit Union)
- you modified the deduction amount of an existing deduction (e.g., Credit Union)
- a garnishment was either opened or closed
- Your tax withholding changed because you modified your Federal and/or State tax filing status and/or allowances or the Federal and/or State tax filing status and/or allowances or the Federal and/or State tax withholding rates used to calculate withholding were changed.
- Your gross pay was reduced because
- the number of hours for which you were being paid in the pay period was reduced (e.g. furlough)
- you were overpaid in a previous pay period and the gross amount is subtracted from your current check to recover that overpayment
- Your gross pay was increased by a supplemental/additional payment.
Time sheet(s) – Which and when?
If you are an Hourly employee or a full time employee working either
- a standard 40 hour week (8 hours/5 days a week) or
- a compressed work week (10 hours/4 days a week)
use the Standard Work Week.
If you are a full time employee working the Alternate Work Schedule, use the Flexible Work Week.
Click here for examples of how to complete the time sheets.
Time sheets are due to your supervisor
- Hourly employees
- on the 16th for time between the 1st and 15th
- on the 1st of the following month for time between the 15th and the end of the previous month
- Full time employees, regardless of work week schedule, within 3 days after the end of the pay period.