s the Omicron variant increases the number of COVID-19 cases within our patients and staff, please remind yourself and your staff of how to properly use the time off banks available.

• COVID-19 Paid Time Off (COVID-19 PTO) is a one-time bank of up to 80 hours available for absences from work due to quarantine, isolation or family care needs related to COVID-19 exposure, illness or other COVID related issues that are approved. Additional criteria include:
• Employee must be hired on or before June 7, 2020
• Employees that took a voluntary furlough in 2020 are ineligible
• Part-time and temporary employees are eligible at a prorated amount
• See COVID-19 Time Reporting Resources for how to calculate an FTE for temps
• Use RPN (time reporting code) with PAN (tracking code) on the timesheet
• Once the bank is exhausted, employees should use their PTO for any time off needs
• COVID-19 Special Use Bank is up to 120 hours of paid time off available for all staff, regardless of hire date if they contracted COVID-19 by providing care to a COVID positive patient or PUI. Criteria for use include:
• Part-time and temporary employees are eligible at a prorated amount
• See COVID-19 Time Reporting Resources for how to calculate an FTE for temps
• A worker’s compensation case must be filed and approved to use this bank
• If not approved, PTO should be reported until the case is approved
• Use PCP (time reporting code) on the timesheet

Please Review Additional Resources:

COVID-19 Time Reporting Resources

HR COVID-19 FAQ

Questions about use of COVID-19 time off banks can be directed to: MMHR-COVID19@med.umich.edu

Questions about time reporting can be directed to: HR-Payroll@med.umich.edu

If an employee covered by the MNA/UMPNC contract tests positive for COVID-19 and is unable to work the process for recording time off should be applied in the following order:

1. If they qualify and have time left in the COVID-19 PTO bank (up to 80 hours), they can utilize that time first.
1. Reminder: This PTO bank is only available for employees hired on or before June 7, 2020.
2. Alternatively: If the employee contracted COVID-19 in the course of providing care for COVID-19 patients (or those suspected of having COVID-19), they can utilize time available in the supplemental COVID-19 bank (up to 120 hours) available to employees working directly with COVID-19 patients. 
2. If they no longer have time in the COVID-19 PTO bank or if the COVID-19 120-hour bank is inapplicable or depleted, they will need to use accrued PTO time to cover time away.
3. If they do not have any PTO accrued and do not have any COVID-19 time banks available, then MOU 639 will be applied.

MOU 639 can only be used when an employee has exhausted their accrued PTO bank and do not have PTO available to cover any time away from work.

If MOU 639 must be used, it will cover regular, straight-time pay for 40 hours per week, or a prorated amount for part-time employees. The RPN time reporting code, in combination with the PAN tracking code, should be used when filling out timesheets to pay the standard hours in accordance with MOU 639. 

Below are common situations to help calculate remaining balances and employment statuses for COVID-19 PTO hours.

• Employee changing FTE: new FTE / old FTE x remaining balance = new balance

Example: FTE Change 1.0 to .8 with balance of 80 COVID PTO hours

1.0 / .8 x 80 = 64 new balance

• Employee status regular to temporary: First, calculate the temp FTE for prior 8 weeks (average hours worked/40 = temp FTE). Then, calculate the new balance: temp effort / reg effort x remaining balance = new balance

Example: Employee goes temp to regular, has temp FTE of .6 and moves to regular position of .8 FTE with a balance of 80 COVID-19 PTO hours

.6 / .8 x 80 = 60 new balance

• Employees who changed status from temp to regular: if the employee did not use COVID-19 PTO hours as a temp and was hired as a regular employee on or before June 7, 2020, COVID-19 PTO bank will be based on regular appointment FTE
• Employees who used hours as a temp and then was hired as a regular on or before June 7, 2020
• Regular FTE / Temp FTE x remaining balance = new balance

(Temp FTE is the prior established temp FTE when they first used the bank)

Example: Temp to Regular with .9 Temp FTE and 1.0 Regular FTE with 72 hrs COVID-19 PTO balance

1.0 / .9 x 72 = 80  new COVID PTO balance

There is a rule in M-pathways that will flip HWT (holiday worked 1.5) reported on either the actual Christmas Day holiday or the U-M observed Christmas Day holiday to HWD (holiday worked 2.0) for all staff that are eligible for double pay for hours worked on the Christmas Day holiday. The correlating shift premium codes ESB (afternoons at 1.5) or NSB (nights at 1.5) also get flipped to the corresponding double pay shift premium codes (WED, WND) if reported on a weekend.

There was an issue with the rule that caused ESB and NSB reported on the non-observed Christmas Day holiday to flip to the double shift premium rates when it should not have for the 12/30/21 paycheck. There were about 100 employees affected.

The rule has been corrected and any inaccuracies will be adjusted on the next paycheck for each affected employee.

ONLY the shift premiums were affected on the one day. Hours where the hourly rate is applied were not affected. So the adjustments to paychecks will be small amounts.

We recommend that employees submit Sell Back Request Forms to their department timekeeper or supervisor between January 1st and 10th. This provides plenty of time to input all the requests into employee timesheets for the pay period 1/9/22-1/22/22, paying on 1/28/22.

We realize the UMHS PTO Policy and contracts have a due date of the 15th of the month for form submission so forms should be accepted up until those dates. 

Please be sure to review links below for full detail regarding eligibility and program details based on employee type.

Sell Back Process & Procedure

Sell Back Request

Adding “Payroll-Cutoffs-Due-Dates” to your Outlook calendars allows you to easily see important payroll dates. This calendar replaces the Finance-Payroll calendar. If you haven’t already added the “Payroll-Cutoffs-Due-Dates” to your Outlook calendar, see the instructions below.

How to add the Payroll-Cutoffs-Due-Dates calendar:

1. Open Outlook Calendar.
2. In the top ribbon, go to Manage Calendars, click “Open Calendar” and select “From Address Book.”
3. In the Search field enter “Payroll.”
4. Select “Payroll-Cutoff-Due-Dates” from the list and click the “Calendar” button at the bottom of the box, and then click “OK.”
5. The calendar will now display as a viewable Outlook calendar

If you have questions about the calendar, please contact Kim Wehrmeister (kmeistr@med.umich.edu)

If you’re not certain who your pay analyst or HR business partner is, you can visit the Timekeepers’ HR Business Unit Contact tool to find out. To use the tool, select the drop-down menu and type a 6-digit department ID number and the appropriate HR contacts will appear.

Please look up your department ID/s and make sure we have the correct contact information for the Timekeeper and the Backup Timekeeper. If an update is needed please send deptIDs and updated information to Kim Wehrmeister (kmeistr@med.umich.edu). 

If you have further questions, please reach out to your pay analyst directly. If you do not know who your pay analyst is, please check here.