HR Update - FY 19 Issue 02

Issue Date: October 16, 2018

In This Issue

• TrainAlaska Transition Updated Processes
  • How to Complete Online Courses in TrainAlaska
  • DOPLR Online Courses
  • Rapid Learning Courses
• New Employee Packets and Payroll Forms Process
  • Forms Requirement Status Explanation
  • Social Security Card Requirement
• Updated Union Notification

TrainAlaska Transition Updated Processes

By Training and Development

The transition to TrainAlaska officially took place back in August and since then TrainAlaska has been up and running for course enrollment. Many employees have successfully signed up for and attended training offered by the Division of Personnel and Labor Relations both in person and online. If you have had trouble signing up or are not sure how to use the new system I am hoping that this article will help clarify a few items as well as note some things to look out for.

To enroll in a class in TrainAlaska you will just need to login to the system, using your State LDAP and password, and find a class. Employee’s can search for scheduled courses by calendar, class, or specific dates. Once you find the specific schedule of a course you want to take you will need to click on the “View Details” link to the right-hand side. Then on the “Details” page for that schedule of the class there is a link to “Request Enrollment”.

Under the “Request Enrollment” page employee’s will want to make sure to check their “Student Information” to make sure it is correct, especially their Supervisor’s information. From this page you can “Change Supervisor” or “Update Student Info”. This is important because the displayed information is where the request will be emailed. Once the information is verified click on the “Request Enrollment” button.

This then sends an email to the supervisor that was listed requesting them to approve the enrollment. The supervisor will need to click on a link directly in the email to approve the enrollment. Once that is done the employee will either be enrolled or waitlisted in the course. If the supervisor is out of office and unable to approve the request please email doa.dop.doptraining@alaska.gov for assistance.

Once an employee is approved and enrolled in the course they are good to go to attend the class. Supervisor approval is only required for in person courses due to possible schedule conflicts with job duties; this same approval is not required for online courses.

DOPLR Online Courses

Currently most Division of Personnel and Labor Relations (DOPLR) Training classes are offered only via in person attendance, but there are a few that either have online prerequisites (AFSU) or exclusively offered online (ETHE). In these cases the class description will have a link to the DOPLR Online Course List, which is only available on the state network. Here employees can find links to the various modules that need to be completed to be considered complete.

Online courses are completed by self-certification; meaning, that the employee submits an online completion form self-certifying that they completed the required modules for the course. For courses that are part of a training track and have online prerequisite modules, such as the Academy for Supervisors (AFSU), the online modules should be completed prior to attending the class at avoid someone getting lost during in class discussion. Please note that, for any training tracks, both the online modules and in person class must be completed to have the entire training tracked marked as completed. This means that for the AFSU training track both the online modules and the AFSU class must be completed to be considered complete.

Anyone who attends the AFSU class without submitting a completion form for the online modules will be marked as “Not Complete” for their AFSU class status. For anyone marked as “Not Complete” they will need to complete the modules and submit the online completion form; DOPLR Training and Development will check the completion report once a month and mark any “Not Complete” students as “Complete” for the AFSU class.

Please note, that the modules do have quizzes that have to be completed before passing the module, however the score is not tracked. The quiz is simply there to help engage the student with what they learned to create better information recall for later. The modules are available to be repeated without enrolling in TrainAlaska, but you must enroll in TrainAlaska and submit the completion form if you want credit for the online module.

Rapid Learning Courses

In addition to the DOPLR Training Courses the RAPID Learning Online Courses provided by SU and CEA are being offered through TrainAlaska. Similarly to the DOPLR online course offerings the Rapid Learning courses are available in TrainAlaska, the link is available under the class description, and the courses are only available on the state network.

The big difference is that due to the number of courses and the limitations of staff RAPID Learning courses will not show as complete on an employee’s transcript. It is recommended that you still enroll in the course and complete the self-certification online form, but that will not mark the employee as complete in the system. Instead this information will be used to demonstrate the use of the RAPID Learning courses and help to refine the choices in course offerings.

Please note, that the Rapid Learning courses are available to be repeated even without enrolling in the course in TrainAlaska.

New Employee Packets and Payroll Forms Process

By EPIC / Payroll Services

The Division of Personnel and Labor Relations (DOPLR) has been evaluating our current forms submission process for personnel actions sent to Payroll Services and have made some changes to this process to alleviate some of the issues identified.

We created a new Employee Packet Checklist and website, which provides all necessary information about what forms must be submitted along with where and when they need to be submitted sorted by action type (such as appointment, separation, transfer, etc.). The checklist indicates whether the form is RP (required for pay), R (required but will not hold up pay), IA (if applicable), ER (if it is the employee’s responsibility to send) or O (optional). We believe this will clarify the process for all involved.

On the checklist we marked forms as Employee Responsibility (ER) that will no longer need to be submitted to Payroll Services but will be submitted directly to the agency responsible for processing. These forms include retirement and benefit forms and union forms.

To allow administrative staff to get all required personnel action forms submitted to Payroll Services in a timely fashion, the deadline for submission has been increased from 3 calendar days to 5 calendar days from the effective date of action. Allowing agencies this additional time results in less processing time for Payroll Services staff. This means that incomplete and untimely form packets (for all personnel actions for new and current employees) will not be processed for pay with the regular payroll processing, but instead will be paid with a supplemental pay warrant, which occurs after regular processing.

An incomplete packet is one in which all forms marked as required for pay (RP) on the Employee Packets Checklist have not been submitted. Packets will be marked complete once all required for pay documents have been received. An untimely form packet is one submitted more than 5 calendar days after the effective date and will not be processed with the regular payroll processing.

With this new process it is possible that admin staff will end up putting together two packets to send to payroll. One packet with just those forms required for pay and the other including any additional required forms. Please note these additional required documents must be submitted within 30 days of the effective date. It is recommended that admin staff try to get all forms submitted within the 5 calendar days, but this gives some flexibility to still get the employee paid if that is not feasible.

These changes were implemented on October 16, 2018. The Employee Packet Checklist can be found at http://doa.alaska.gov/dop/resources/employeePackets/. If you have questions about the forms that need to be submitted for personnel actions, please contact the Employee Call Center at employeecallcenter@alaska.gov or 907-465-3009.

Social Security Card Requirement

A copy of a new hires Social Security Card is listed as a document required for pay and must be submitted within the 5 calendar days. We are required by Federal law to maintain a record of each employee’s name and social security number (SSN) as they appear on their social security card. At the time of job offer, employees should be reminded of the need to bring their card in when they report to work and that it will be used for pay purposes only. (We cannot require specific documents for employment eligibility (I-9) purposes).

If the employee does not have a card to present, they have some options; if they are located in a community with a Social Security Administration Office (currently in Anchorage, Fairbanks, Juneau and Ketchikan) they can apply in person for a replacement card and submit that receipt with their paperwork. If the employee is not in one of these locations, and does not have an SSN card, DOPLR has implemented an SSN verification process that can be used in order to timely pay the employee. The employee will still be required to submit a copy of the card as soon as possible once received.

Updated Union Notification Form

By DOPLR

In response to the recent Supreme Court decision regarding Union dues it is no longer required for an employee to submit a form to payroll to verify that they contacted their appropriate Union. The contact information sheet is being provided to Employees so that they can contact their Union and it is recommended that they do so within 10 days of the appointment date, but Payroll Services no longer needs to be notified that the action took place.

Employees should, regardless of their decision about joining the Union, contact the Union because there might be additional information that they will need since the Union will still be representing them in employment matters.