CAPPS Notes for March 20, 2002

I. Welcome

Cliff offered the normal greetings and the standard emergency evacuation procedures.

II. 2002 Pay Legislation

Cliff discussed the implementation of 2002 Pay Legislation changes specifically PL 107-107.

A. The changes to the Bi-Weekly and Annual Limitation on Premium Pay as referenced in CPM 2002-01 dated January 28, 2002, will be implemented in PP-09 (May 9, 2002). This law changes the LEO bi-weekly max on premium pay and permits payment of GS-15/10 Locality rates above EX Level V. (The GS-15/10 rates are greater than the EX-V rates in Boston, Chicago, Denver, Detroit, Hartford, Houston, Los Angeles, New York, and San Francisco).

B. Hostile Fire Pay is still pending an IRS decision on tax determination on this type of pay. It is different from hostile fire pay granted to DOD's military personnel. AD-343's are on hold until this decision is made.

III. W-5 Changes

Cliff discussed the implementation of the W-5, Earned Income Credit and distributed a handout. The formula changes were implemented in PP-01, 2002. In PP-06, NFC will implement the changes to EPIC, PRES, PINE, SINQ and PAYE to allow entry of the new form. However, in EPIC, changes to the new field names and the drop down list will not be made until the new client changes are made. (Currently this is scheduled for PP-08.)

Mary Arnold (DOC) - When will Employee Express implement changes? George attended the Employee Express meeting yesterday and it was not brought up. He will find out and share with the group.

IV. DC Tax withholding change

Cliff discussed the D.C. tax withholding rate decrease issued in PP-26. DC rescinded this tax cut and in PP-04, NFC reinstated the 2001 D.C. tax withholding formula.

V. Financial Allotments

Cliff discussed the increase in financial allotment capabilities from 2 to 16 which is to be effective in PP-06. The IRIS 110 screen will also be changed in PP-06 to enable scrolling through multiple screens to see the additional allotments. This will be implemented in SPPS (NFC version) in PP-07. The 4 TSP loans were implemented previously.

VI. W-2 Status

Cliff read Margaret Prell's e-mail regarding the W-2 and W-2C's which was issued just prior to the meeting. That e-mail stated:

"We appreciated your patience with the National Finance Center as we worked to clear up the W-2 issues. We apologize for the inconvenience this caused to you, your agency and your customers. I'm happy to report that the W-2's have been cleared. All revised W-2's and W-2C's have been issued.

To prevent a situation like this from happening again, a Payroll Tax Team has been established. The team is composed of Requirements Analysts, Programmers, Accountants and Quality Control Analysts.

Our W-2 Customer Service Help Desk will remain open Monday through Friday 7:30 a.m. - 4:45 p.m. Central Time until close of business April 15, 2002. The telephone number for the help desk is (504) 255-5360.

Again, please accept our apology for this extreme inconvenience. Let me know if you have any questions or if I can do anything to assist you.

Sincerely, Margaret"

VII. Benefits

A. Jody distributed copies of OPM's Long Term Care postcards and BAL 02-904 on the Long Term Care issues. OPM is currently offering early-enrollment directly with the carrier, no option to use payroll deductions will be offered until October. On or after March 25, 2002, interested parties may log into the LTC web site to find the rates for this coverage. The web site is http://www.opm.gov/insure/ltc. Cheryl Ruf (USDA) inquired if the early enrollment could be handled via discretionary allotment. Any employee may set up an allotment to cover this cost as they would any other item they elect to pay with an allotment; however, NFC will be doing no programming on this initiative to meet early enrollment. We will be ready for the regular enrollment in the fall.

B. Jody discussed NFC's plans for implementation of the FEHB Child Equity Act (i.e. Court Ordered FEHB Coverage). In PP-10 NFC plans to implement a new NOA for starting and stopping an employee's mandatory placement in this program. Vickie Cline (TR) is interested in documentation for the database change. Helps for the front-end users and FOCUS reporting. Jody will be submitting information shortly.

C. Jody informed the group that OPM has postponed the January 1, 2003 deadline for implementation of the FEHB premiums withholding/payment on a calendar year versus payroll year basis. A new deadline has not been set and the hope is this issue will not resurface any time soon.

D. Jody informed the group that the Personnel Benefit Statements mail outs will begin today. Cheryl Ruf (USDA) inquired as to the cut-off date for data contained in this year's benefit statement. Jody informed her that data entered as of the close of PP-25 was used as the base-line. Note: The data entered is as of pp 26, not pp 25.

VIII. HR Briefing Update

Jody distributed and discussed the agenda for the HR Briefing in New Orleans scheduled for April 16-18. The schedule is for all day Tuesday and Wednesday and finishing up around lunch time on Thursday. The following comments were made on the agenda:

A. Jody has requested that the CLER demo be moved to Wednesday.

B. Wanda Vaughan (DOJ) is interested in scheduling an EPIC meeting during that week. Maybe during the Wednesday demo period. If need be it should run into Thursday. Some of the discussions in the last week have affected some of the proposed changes in the new client release. This process of implementing new software in DOJ is very difficult. They must re-certify every release.

C. Mary Arnold (DOC) is interested in a discussion of PKI in the Reporting Center session. She has some concerns over sensitive data being available without the PKI. It would be helpful if they addressed this issue. The timing would be

D. Jody reminded everyone that the deadline for the room reservations is Friday, March 22nd.

E. Cliff pointed out that even though the database expansion project is not on the agenda at this time, it will either be added to the CAPPS meeting or as a separate item.

IX. Training for 4th Quarter:

Cliff distributed a hand-out for 4th quarter. Wanda Vaughan (DOJ) had some concerns about the EPIC HCUP training that is on that schedule. If possible she would like to see a sample of what will be in that class before she recommends it to DOJ employees. Other EPIC clients agreed that they'd like to critique this newly developed course.

Note: It was announced in the March EPIC User Group meeting that a session of the EPIC HCUP Training will be set up for anyone in the user group who wishes to attend. This session is planned for a time prior to the first regular training session. The materials will also be provided to the user group for review.

X. Military Leave

A. Jo inquired as to how many agencies have made the decision to pay for the employee's share of the FEHB premiums when placed on LWOP-US. At present, USDA and GAO have made the decision to do this. Please do not submit AD-343's for this at this time. Jody and Cliff are having a teleconference tomorrow with NFC staff to discuss some of the options for handling this process. For those that don't know what their agency plans are, please try to get this information to Jody as soon as possible. This will enable us to know how large our target audience will be.

B. Jo informed the group that timekeepers may submit T&A's for individuals who are on LWOP-US to allocate paid time at the employee's request. However, if the paid time does not account for the employee's full tour, the remaining must be allocated to LWOP. The timekeeper must notify the HR office so that the LWOP counters are kept TINQed to avoid a delay in a WGI. Maria Vargues (GAO) indicated that they cannot process an NOA 473-LWOP-US. However, this is a table issue since they have an agency key required in their programming. Maria will send a request to Tables so that they may be added.

Note: The request for a prefix to the LWOP code (TC-71) that would permit edit routines to by-pass the counter routines is currently on hold until after the database change.

XI. GLC for Laurel, Maryland

George discussed the changes that are about to be implemented for Laurel, Maryland's Geographic Location Codes (GLCs). Apparently, Laurel geographically covers Prince George's, Anne Arundel, Howard, and Montgomery counties, based upon resident perceptions. An individual in a new housing development in Laurel attempted to claim one county, but that county did not include the Laurel city code. Steve Goldstein at OPM was contacted regarding a possible problem with the GLC. U.S. Geological Survey was contacted since they have jurisdiction in this area. Legally Prince George's County is the only county in which Laurel resides for the purpose of GLC. Because of this, OPM has determined that the Laurel codes for Howard and Anne Arundel will not be effective after June 2002. There are quite a few issues that need to be addressed in this area - primarily converting current residents and the tax implications. George will send an e-mail detailing all of the information he has to date. As stated above this may have tax implications. What is the MD State tax authority reviewing? Cheryl Ruf (USDA) pointed out that the NFC, as the payroll office, has the responsibility for determining for which table - GLC or USPS - is utilized by the MD State Taxing Authority.

Note: The USPS has it's own set of city/ county codes and does permit the split of Laurel into the three counties.

XII. User & Work Group Updates

A. Awards - Jo indicated that the Awards Work Group is meeting once a month to discuss current issues in the awards area. The next meeting is scheduled for April 10th.

Effective in PP-04, NFC implemented the three new award codes for use with the 840/841 V3F and 9KE. This bulletin is expected to be posted within the next week. These three codes permit the documentation and reporting of non-monetary awards (i.e., gift certificates, savings bonds, slot machines, etc.) that an agency gives to an employee.

B. EPIC - Jody discussed last week's testing of the new client. DOC and DOJ participated in the testing. Implementation is scheduled for April 28th. There is no update on the sun-set of PACT/PRES. Lynda is doing presentations for individuals who are interested in switching.

Cliff discussed some of the problems with EPIC HCUP. Originally these were attributed to the PINE edits; however a review revealed that most were not due to PINE. Larry Barreca did an analysis of the new HCUP versus EPIC HCUP. Many problems were determined to be a result of lack of PMSO data, salary record, date fields, etc. in the EPIC history database. It doesn't involve every record but is hit or miss. They've written programs to identify missing data in records and we are asking that for the next two weeks please only process those essential cases (EEO, etc.) until these issues are resolved.

I. Wanda would like to know which problems they can avoid. Most users feel their cases are important and many do involve pay issues. Cliff will try to get a list.

II. Mary received a couple of weird PINE/PEPL error messages. She'll send them to Cliff to review.

C. FESI - There were no representatives present to provide an update on FESI user group activities.

D. Leave Share – Jo reported that work on the Leave Share requirements package is progressing. The work group hopes to be able to present the package to CAPPS at the May 2002 meeting. She thanked those agencies who had representatives actively participating in the work group. We recognize that it has taken much longer than expected to prepare the package, but we feel that the benefits will be worth it.

E. RIF - Mary Arnold indicated that the RIF Work Group should have all comments on the package by now. If you still have some to provide, please contact her or Debby Berry immediately. The work group plans to sort through the comments and finalize the requirements at the next meeting and then send the package on to NFC.

F. T&A - Jo announced that the T&A User Group meetings have been reduced to once a month based upon current needs. The next meeting is scheduled for April 22nd. She indicated that as of PP-04 119,748 employees were being paid via STAR submitted T&A's.

Vickie Cline is interested in seeing a % of PC-TARE, STAR, and other systems. Other clients are also interested. Jo will pull those numbers for them.

XIII. Potpourri

A. Gwendolyn Holmes (USCS) reported that the FEHB override code C for the "092" error in an EPIC HCUP action is not working. Mary Arnold (DOC) has also reported it. The issue was reported to Lynda and programmers. They're has been a problem for at least a month and it is becoming a serious issue.

B. Jo distributed CPDF error reports that had been erroneously included in USDA's report last fall. She apologized for the delay in providing them, but they were mailed during the Anthrax scare when all mail was being re-routed, nuked, and then distributed - explains the yellow paper.

C. Jody distributed copies of a resume from a Smithsonian employee with an HR background that is looking for a job. She was on the "private" side and lost her job in the new reorganization. If anyone is looking for an HR type, please feel free to contact her.

D. Jody discussed a TSP problem where the employee's TSP deduction exceeds the maximum allowable by the law. DOJ had an employee with 17% deduction. For some individuals there are two records on the IRIS 118, instead of overlaying the first record the system. After discussing the issue with the NFC programmers a report was run and there are approximately 80 employees across all three CV's that are affected. She distributed a list of the affected individuals to the reps. GAO has 1, HUD has 1, DOC has 1, DOJ has 8 including the one that is fixed, USDA has 9, and TR has the rest. Do NOT do anything to the employee. Jody is still working with the programmers on this issue. She just wants the clients to be aware of this issue. They have not been able to determine what caused the problem.

E. Kay Fields (DOJ) reported a recent problem with on an employee with nothing on the first IRIS 118 but the correct info was on the second IRIS 118 screen. Jody requested the SSN so that she can research this individual. Jody checked this out and found the employee had separated (via NOAC 352) from OSC (agency 06) but has an annual leave error which is causing the record to remain active. Jody alerted DOJ to contact OSC for appropriate action.

F. Rhonda Hickey (SBA) is interested on what other agencies are doing with benefits with an individual is on DOL's OWCP roles, but is back to work part-time. They have put him on a part-time TOD however that has caused his share of the FEHB premiums to escalate. While nobody recalled how this particular case should be handled, Jo recommended that they convert the employee back to full-time and place him/her on LWOP for the time that is being paid by OWCP. The agency will need to monitor the LWOP counters each pay period to ensure that the counters are zeroed out so that there is no SCD or WGI impact. Other clients concurred with this recommendation.

G. Maria Vargues (GAO) inquired if anyone else had implemented the repayment of student loans. They plan on having about 500 cases submitted this fall. No other representatives knew of upcoming plans to implement this option. Funding seems to be a key factor for the other agencies.

H. LaShawn Stone (Peace Corps) reported a carry over for physician's comparability problem. She'll send the SSN to Jody. NFC (x4630) told them to keep track of it and pay it manually.

I. Denise Kent (USPTO) is requesting that a message be placed in Employee Express indicating that the user file a new state tax form if s/he files a change of address that changes the residence state. They've encountered problems with employees who move from Virginia to Maryland and do not do another state tax form. If the individual's duty station is DC, is not changing, and thus waived, the system will not provide a suspense message alerting the HR office. The reps recognize that this is an employee responsibility, but since it does have an impact on HR and NFC manual pay workload, it would be beneficial.

J. Mike Mire (TR) requested more information on the NOA in PP-08 for the Child Equity Coverage so that necessary changes can be made in FESI. Jody indicated that the office will receive a court order for covering an individual. The employee will have 30 days to elect a plan. If a plan is not elected, the law requires that BC/BS basic (code 112) be automatically provided to the employee. FEHBA coverage code value becomes a "C" which will prevent a user from changing his/her coverage via Employee Express or some other mechanism. There will be a new NOA 916 with authority of BIG (beginning) the child equity coverage and 916 END (ending) the child equity coverage with two remarks FE1 and FE2. NFC/DAB is working on a draft bulletin. More information will follow.