Finance and HR Guidelines re: Employment and Service (1/21/21)
Dear All,
Due to increased processing time related to UCPath and new purchasing guidelines, we are
asking for all faculty and staff to inquire with their departments at least 60 days prior to the
beginning of work for any person external to the campus. This is necessary to allow for enough
time to verify that they are able to be a vendor or employee for the university.
Purchase Orders
Over the past 2 years, procurement has been including more regulatory compliance in their
process of approving Purchase Orders (PO’s) for services provided by vendors. These are in
response to Federal and State laws, and to Regental, and Office of the President
recommendations. These regulations, new tax laws, and our interpretations of them have
increased processing time and reduced our ability to process some purchase orders.
More specifically, some of the newer rules regarding service contractors are:
• As part of the onboarding process UCI procurement performs a check to see if the
person was an employee within the last 2 years and, if so, they cannot be a vendor. This
has affected some cases where our faculty have engaged recent Ph.D. graduates (who
had previously worked as TA’s or GSR’s) to do work for them.
• We also have a conflict-of-interest review that has been added to the process. So far,
only one minor conflict of interest was identified, but conflicts of interest can be grounds
for refusal of onboarding.
• To comply with the Affordable Care Act, HR reviews all service PO’s to determine if it is
a vendor or employee relationship. If it is an employee relationship it is denied and then
routes to Mindy to see if the person can be employed.
Our common humanities services secured through a purchase order are:
• Translation
• Transcription
• Editing
• Proofreading
• Indexing
• Graphic Design/Layout
• Photography
• Videography
HR Hiring Processes
AP and HR have recently implemented tighter controls and processes related to hiring. My
office is here to provide support to all faculty so that they can thrive in their research,
collaborative work with other colleagues across the campus and other higher education
institutions, as well as any special projects that are current and time sensitive.
Academic Appointment: To hire a visiting professor, postdoc, lecturer, academic coordinator,
researcher or specialist, the Academic Personnel Office requires a recruitment to be conducted.
To ensure that your academic appointment can start work on time, you need to engage your
manager and SOH HR at least 3 months or a quarter prior to the desired start date.
Basic timeline:
• Recruitment:
o Full recruitment: minimum of 2 months
o Recruitment Waivers and Exceptions: minimum of 2 – 4 weeks
• Appointment File prep, review and approval: 2 – 4 weeks
• Onboarding and UCPath: 2 – 4 weeks
Staff Employment: There is one significant change in managing staff recruitment since the
COVID-19 for all career, contract and limited staff appointments. We have seen many of our
faculty members hiring a recent graduate or undergraduate students to help with their research
projects. To hire them to work on any project, we are now required to submit a completed Staff
Position Request Form along with a job description to the central HR Position Management
Review Committee. If you are interested in hiring someone on a staff title for your projects,
please engage your manager and SOH HR at least 2 months prior to having them start the
work.
Basic timeline:
• Job Description and Staff Position Request Form to PMRC: minimum of 2 – 4
weeks
• Recruitment: minimum of 2 – 4 weeks
• Onboarding and UCPath: 2 – 4 weeks
All workers must be onboarded, complete the I-9 Work Authorization verification, and entered
into UCPath prior to beginning work. Only a future hire date is permissible in UCPath. There is
no back-dating the start date - it’s not allowed.
Summary
With these new procedures in mind, be sure to reach out to your department 60-90 days prior to
any work being delivered by an external individual or entity. This lead time will ensure that we
are able to issue payment. We are aware of the challenges these steps pose to operations and
will continue to advocate at the campus level for improvements.
Best,
John Bodenschatz
Mindy Han
Due to increased processing time related to UCPath and new purchasing guidelines, we are
asking for all faculty and staff to inquire with their departments at least 60 days prior to the
beginning of work for any person external to the campus. This is necessary to allow for enough
time to verify that they are able to be a vendor or employee for the university.
Purchase Orders
Over the past 2 years, procurement has been including more regulatory compliance in their
process of approving Purchase Orders (PO’s) for services provided by vendors. These are in
response to Federal and State laws, and to Regental, and Office of the President
recommendations. These regulations, new tax laws, and our interpretations of them have
increased processing time and reduced our ability to process some purchase orders.
More specifically, some of the newer rules regarding service contractors are:
• As part of the onboarding process UCI procurement performs a check to see if the
person was an employee within the last 2 years and, if so, they cannot be a vendor. This
has affected some cases where our faculty have engaged recent Ph.D. graduates (who
had previously worked as TA’s or GSR’s) to do work for them.
• We also have a conflict-of-interest review that has been added to the process. So far,
only one minor conflict of interest was identified, but conflicts of interest can be grounds
for refusal of onboarding.
• To comply with the Affordable Care Act, HR reviews all service PO’s to determine if it is
a vendor or employee relationship. If it is an employee relationship it is denied and then
routes to Mindy to see if the person can be employed.
Our common humanities services secured through a purchase order are:
• Translation
• Transcription
• Editing
• Proofreading
• Indexing
• Graphic Design/Layout
• Photography
• Videography
HR Hiring Processes
AP and HR have recently implemented tighter controls and processes related to hiring. My
office is here to provide support to all faculty so that they can thrive in their research,
collaborative work with other colleagues across the campus and other higher education
institutions, as well as any special projects that are current and time sensitive.
Academic Appointment: To hire a visiting professor, postdoc, lecturer, academic coordinator,
researcher or specialist, the Academic Personnel Office requires a recruitment to be conducted.
To ensure that your academic appointment can start work on time, you need to engage your
manager and SOH HR at least 3 months or a quarter prior to the desired start date.
Basic timeline:
• Recruitment:
o Full recruitment: minimum of 2 months
o Recruitment Waivers and Exceptions: minimum of 2 – 4 weeks
• Appointment File prep, review and approval: 2 – 4 weeks
• Onboarding and UCPath: 2 – 4 weeks
Staff Employment: There is one significant change in managing staff recruitment since the
COVID-19 for all career, contract and limited staff appointments. We have seen many of our
faculty members hiring a recent graduate or undergraduate students to help with their research
projects. To hire them to work on any project, we are now required to submit a completed Staff
Position Request Form along with a job description to the central HR Position Management
Review Committee. If you are interested in hiring someone on a staff title for your projects,
please engage your manager and SOH HR at least 2 months prior to having them start the
work.
Basic timeline:
• Job Description and Staff Position Request Form to PMRC: minimum of 2 – 4
weeks
• Recruitment: minimum of 2 – 4 weeks
• Onboarding and UCPath: 2 – 4 weeks
All workers must be onboarded, complete the I-9 Work Authorization verification, and entered
into UCPath prior to beginning work. Only a future hire date is permissible in UCPath. There is
no back-dating the start date - it’s not allowed.
Summary
With these new procedures in mind, be sure to reach out to your department 60-90 days prior to
any work being delivered by an external individual or entity. This lead time will ensure that we
are able to issue payment. We are aware of the challenges these steps pose to operations and
will continue to advocate at the campus level for improvements.
Best,
John Bodenschatz
Mindy Han
