CAPPS Notes - October 20, 2004

I. Welcome (Cliff Lee) -

Cliff Lee covered the logistics for evacuation in the event of an emergency evacuation and/or "Shelter-in-Place" crisis. Participants were asked to sign in on the 'sign-in' sheet.

II. SPPS Web Update -

Sharon Giovengo distributed a handout which identified dates for discontinuing the old methods of doing business since SSPS web went into production in February 2004. She has a handout available a guide for those who have not had the SPPS web training yet. (An electronic copy will be provided to Jody who will forward it to the CAPPS reps.) The last SPPS training class for this calendar year, will be in December in NOLA. Mose will also cover SPPS web during the Ops training in Los Angeles. Interested parties should contact Sharon Giovengo.

A. PTSA - When agencies pick-up employees from another NFC agency, there agency has experienced problems processing SPPS documents. (In PP-19 picked up an employee from DOJ). A: Sheila Tabb just forwarded this issue to her this morning and Sharon has not been able to research it yet. Is the employee on the database now with your agency? R: Yes.

B. FCC - Are there any openings for December training. A: Yes, on Friday, December 10th. In addition, Mose still also has openings in the LA Ops session.

C. TR - According to the schedule the SPPS training is 2/7-9. A: That was the original schedule, but the classes has already been extended to incorporate Friday. The new dates are 12/7-10. If need be, Monday, December 6th, can also be opened-up.

D. TR - Is there a charge for the training? A: Yes.

III. Pay & Leave Issues

A. PAYE accelerated for PP-25 - Penny Forbes discussed the proposed payroll schedule for PP-25 that PPSPS e-mailed to the CAPPS reps on October 8th. New Year's day is on a Saturday this year which means the official holiday will be on Friday, December 31st. This holiday falls during the normal PAYE processing week. NFC is currently planning to run the first schedule of PAYE on Wednesday, December 29, 2004 and the second schedule of PAYE on Thursday, December 30, 2004. Agencies are requested to submit their T&As as early as December 22, 2004, but no later than close of business on December 27, 2004. Also, as with any PAYE process, agencies will have to have someone available as a T&A point of contact on December 28-30, 2004 to answer any questions concerning T&A processing problems. Responses to this proposal were due today. Any nay's? No issues were raised. Mose stressed that it is very important for agencies to have staff available to assist with any T&A issues within the agency.

B. Expansion of Locality Areas - Cliff Lee discussed Federal Register volume 69 which OPM published on September 22, 2004. Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSA's) were changed by OPM last year to reflect OMB boundaries and thus there will be 27 changes within the current locality pay areas which will affect 15,000 employees (from RUS to a locality area). The changes will be primarily table updates to include/exclude geographic areas. This is really important if an agency has developed new pay plans or requirements in case this information impacts those original decisions. Please keep this in mind when NFC sends its routine call for pay raise criteria in December.

C. S.129 - Cliff indicated that there is a bill before the President that includes several modifications to current HR processes. Changes would cover such topics as compensatory time benefits for official travel; recruitment, retention, and relocation bonuses; change SES leave accruals to 8 hours regardless of SCD; new hires may be entitled to accelerated leave rates; etc. Again this legislation is up for signature to President and typically calls for implementation over a 6 month period although some sections may be implemented earlier. NFC will keep the CAPPS representatives posted on when it is signed and how implementation will progress.

D. Retro 2005 - Cliff discussed the article in the Government Executive daily briefing for September 21, 2004. In that article Steny Hoyer is quoted as saying "Federal employees are likely to get the same 3.5 percent pay raise as military personnel in 2005, but congressional wrangling may keep workers from seeing a bigger pay check until the spring". In summary, congress is expecting another Pay Raise Retro! A complete copy of this article can be found at Government Executive's website http://www.govexec.com/dailyfed/0904/092104g1.htm.

E. Butterbaugh v DOJ - Jo Bonner discussed that guidance that OPM issued on October 13th regarding the Butterbaugh v Department of Justice decision which was rendered on July 24, 2003. This decision allows the employee file a claim for restored annual leave if their military orders show that they were activated for military duty over a weekend or holiday period prior to December 21, 2001. The time frame is for six years from the date of filing up to December 21, 2001. Any claims submitted on or after July 24, 2003, should be honored for the applicable period, thus the most comprehensive claims would run from July 24, 1997 through December 20, 2001.

POST MEETING UPDATE: To assist agencies in the employee notification process, the following message has been posted on the Employee Personnel Page and will remain there approximately six months. "Attention: If you used military leave between July 25, 1997, and December 21, 2000; you may be entitled to restoration of some annual leave for that period. To read more on this subject, please go to www.opm.gov/oca/compmemo/2004/2004-19.asp."

F. Union Time Codes - Randy Gonzales discussed OPM's initiative to report the time employees are spending performing union related activities. OPM has asking payroll providers if they can record time spent for union activities. NFC has had transaction codes available in the system to track time spent performing union duties for several years now. However, we are not sure if agencies are utilizing them. If NFC is asked to run the report they will run the report against PAYTA and will pull time reported against these transaction codes. The codes are in the transaction code tables for STAR. However, clients who are not using the NFC developed T&A systems need to make sure that their T&A system can submit this data. The transaction code values can be found in Chapter 7, Section 1 of NFC's Payroll/Personnel Manual. Agencies can read more about the union initiative on OPM's website at http://www.opm.gov/cplmr/OfficialTimeMemo.asp.

1. USDA - We have asked that a union report be placed on the reporting center. The staff has been testing the report and is having problems obtaining a departmental level report. Is NFC going to work to resolve this issue? A: Steve Cunningham indicated that NFC is working on resolving that issue.

2. FCC - Commented that they have been compiling this type of report manually. This will be the first year that they plan to obtain the data through the electronic data.

G. Transaction Code Descriptors - Jo reminded clients that agencies who are interested in obtaining automated reports on Telework, Family & Medical Leave Act (FMLA), Family Care-General (FCG), Family Care-Extended (FCE), etc. need to start using the transaction code descriptors on the T&A records. These codes are to be used in addition to the regular transaction code, suffix, and prefix. The codes are already in STAR 4.0. Information on the values and the x-mit record layout were distributed to interested agencies in an earlier CAPPS meeting and via the T&A User Group. The code values are also in Chapter 7, Sections 1 and 5.

H. Split T&A's & PP-19 Issues - Jo briefly discussed the payroll problems that some agencies experienced in PP-19. There were several rumors among the clients on the problems, but not everyone had heard what the problems were or knew if they were affected. Jo assured agencies that if they had employees impacted by the issues, that she or someone on Mose's staff would have contacted them directly. If a client has not heard from NFC on this issue, they did NOT have a problem. Agencies affected by both issues received separate e-mails with the list of affected employees.

1. The largest problem was a problem with the tax calculation program for employee's with TSP Catch-up if the T&A was split. There was a quirk in the program and the employee's regular TSP contribution was deducted from the gross salary before taxes were calculated. As a result, the employees' were taxed at a higher rate. There were only twelve agencies impacted.

a. FCC - We did not receive our follow-up e-mail with the list of affected employees. A: Jo will resend it.

2. There was also a problem that resulted in an under deduction of FEGLI deductions. If the employee had AUO and a split T&A the FEGLI coverage was erroneously reduced on the 2nd half. Eight agencies were affected by this issue. The module has been corrected.

a. Q: When will the bill be issued? A: Mose - Whenever, he can get them out.

3. DOC - We had employee's with FlexFund accounts that also appeared to have problems. A: Mose requested that they fax him a list of individuals and his office will research it.

POST MEETING UPDATE: No list was provided to Mose as a follow-up on this possible problem. Issue closed.

IV. Benefits Updates (Jody Nyers)

A. FEGLI Open Season - ended, any problems encountered? No issues raised

1. PTSA - Actions in EPIC future. If the employee has a HCUP package before the effective date, will it impact the FEGLI document that is on incomplete? NOLA: Do not know. They will check on this and may have to test it.

POST MEETING UPDATE: This will be an issue if an agency is processing a HCUP package. The agency will have to delete the FEGLI document, allow the HCUP package to apply and then re-enter the FEGLI document. NFC will be testing this out in hopes of not having to do this process when the 2005 Retro Pay Adjustment occurs. NFC will keep the clients updated on the test findings.

B. FEHB -

1. The revised SF-2809 has been issued and a copy was distributed at the meeting. NFC is in the processing of incorporating the changes into the EPIC , FESI, and EPP/ESS systems. It is our understanding that EEX has also updated their system to incorporate the changes affected by the revised SF-2809.

2. OPM is considering expanding the FEHB enrollment code field to seven characters in January 2006.

C. Benefit Alphabet Soup - During the OPM conference in September, OPM discussed all of the new acronyms, but the discussion generated more questions than answers. Jody requested that OPM issue a BAL, but their response was that there "was not one in the works" even though others indicated that it was needed.

POST MEETING UPDATE: OPM held a Benefit Officers meeting on 11/1/04 and a PowerPoint slide presentation discussed the new Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and High Deductible Health Plans (HDHPs). The presentation is attached to this e-mail.

D. Long-term Care (LTC) - Jody distributed a hand-out covering LTC as it relates to employee transfers within the Federal government. She suggested that agencies ask if employee has LTC coverage when obtaining SF-75 information to prevent overed employees from "slip through the cracks".

1. TR - If the employee is activated for military and doesn't notify Long-Term Care, s/he will receive a bill in the mail. A: Yes. LTC Partners will attempt to reach the employee for payment/collection.

E. Health Savings Account (HSA) - Jody reminded agencies that if an employee participates in the HSA program, s/he CANNOT participate in Flexible Spending Account (FSA).

1. NOLA inquired how NFC/agencies will know if the employee has an HSA since the employee does this on an individual basis. Jody pointed out that NOLA cannot edit for this unless NFC is handling both accounts.

POST MEETING UPDATE: Jody discussed this with OPM and was advised that on the FSA website, there is a question if the employee has elected participation in an HSA and if the employee indicates positively (ie., YES), they will not be able to continue with their FSA election.

F. TSP Open Season: 10/15 - 12/31/04 - The contribution percentages have increased again - 15% for FERS employees and 10% for CSRS employees. In addition, the Election Deferral Limit has increased to $14,000 for 2005. The employee can initiate his/her TSP contributions via NFC's Employee Self Serve (ESS). The TSP Catch-up option will only appear for an employee if s/he meets the age requirement. The TSP Open Season pamphlet was included in PP-18's E&L statement.

1. DOJ - Will the TSP Catch-up start in PP-25 or PP-26? A: Jody responded with PP-25.

G. Flexible Spending Account (FSA) - Jody reminded agencies that employees must re-enroll in FSA each year and referenced BAL-04-803.

V. Changes to EPIC/FESI for SF-2809 Changes -

Larry Barreca informed the agencies that the database record layout changes for the revised SF-2809 become effective November 8th. The new format was mailed to FESI users a few weeks ago. The latest EPIC client (v 2.07) has been pulled due to an issue that was discovered. NFC is currently re-testing the software and hope to have the client available again this afternoon. NFC will add a suffix "a" so that you can distinguish the new v2.07 from the old one.

A. Q: Will an e-mail be issued when the revised version is released? A: Yes, followed by the bulletin.

VI. Classification Issues (George Morris)

A. FLSA Issue - George explained that a number of individual cases have arisen on FLSA with regard to the edits. FLSA coverage determinations have become more liquid over the last few years as a result of various court decisions. NFC cannot globally modify the edits for these very small, specific coverage anomolies. If you have any of these situations, please provide all supporting documentation for NFC (e.g., the decision, affected positions, numbers, etc.) so that necessary programming changes may be made to accommodate your agency's unique situations. There may be a charge for these modifications, depending on circumstances.

B. 0334 Deadline - January 1, 2005 is the deadline for paying the 0334's based upon the 2210's special IT tables. George reminded agencies that the new 2210 standard to which these 0334's should have been converted was issued 2-3 years ago. He strongly recommended that the classification staffs in the affected agencies clean this up ASAP. George distributed reports identifying those employees who are still in the 0334 series. Across all 3 CV's there were a total of 800 employee's impacted.

1. Q: TR-BPD - Can you e-mail the report to us?. A: George - No, I only have a hard copy; FOCUS reports can be run by the individual POIs.

VII. Employee Express Update -

George provided a brief update of the EEX meeting on Tuesday, October 19th. Several clients have pulled out and EEX is re-grouping. CFC processing is still in pending due to reporting requirements and a lack of cooperation within the various campaign areas. EEX representatives have approached the Air Force for their EOD package and are working on meshing it into EEX with a projected possible direct feed to the future E-OPF. There was a lengthy dialog on this subject and possible impacts of HRLOB and E-payroll. However, the EOD package would offer several unique items for their new clients. EEX is also exploring a proxy for employees who cannot make their own elections (e.g., those stationed overseas without phones and where computers are inaccessible).

VIII. User & Work Group Updates

A. Awards - Jo reminded clients that the next definite meeting is scheduled for December 8th from 9:30 to 11:30 in the Lincoln 3 conference room. The first meeting in four months was last week and there were no big issues to discuss. As a result the group discussed meeting on a bi-monthly and/or ad-hoc basis, but will go bimonthly first. Jo will issue an e-mail in late October to see if agencies have a need for a November. Unless there is a critical issue during the "off months", they will be skipped.

B. EPIC - Penny informed CAPPS that the ERG will be cancelled for tomorrow, October 21, because Mark is out of town. It will be reschedule for a later date.

C. FESI - Glenda was unavailable for an updated. Jo indicated that the FESI test schedule for CY 2005 was mailed on August 26th.

D. ICAMS - (Glenda Dorsey) - no report

E. PMSO - George indicated that he will try to get this project back on track, and will be contacting those who have volunteered thusfar; formal group meeting may have to wait til after the holidays (January), because some contributors have already expressed conflicts in scheduling.

F. T&A - Jo indicated that the next User Group meeting may be scheduled for November 10th, although this is still up in the air. Jo has sent an e-mail to see if the group feels a November meeting is necessary. If held, it will be from 9:30 to 11:30 in the Resource room. The Requirements Work Group is scheduled for Thursday, November 4th and the next version of STAR will be the topic of discussion. FYI - The STAR web address is changing. Any employees that have STAR book marked in the browser will need to save the new website to that book mark.

1. Q: Am I correct that there is only one vote but can you bring an extra bureau representative? A: Yes but only one vote. FQ: What time? A: An E-mail will be forthcoming with the time.

2. Q: Changes were made to STAR 4.0 based upon complaints to the Customer Service Representatives. Why were these changes were implemented with out the clients being notified and made simply based on complaints? A: Jo apologized and explained that there are some clients who become very vocal and demand modifications immediately. This is not the normal mode of operation and in most situations we try to ensure that everyone can agree on the change. Jo indicated that she had sent a request that future changes not be accepted unless they are routed through the the user/work group first. Penny concurred that this is the new process. Agencies need to continue contacting CSR as appropriate, however, system changes must come to the T&A WG for a decision to be made.

G. ESS - One of the clients requested that NFC begin providing updates on ESS initiatives at the CAPPS meetings. Randy will alert Steve to begin attending to provide this feedback.

IX. FYI - Training

A. Payroll Orientation in NOLA - Nov 16-17

B. Payroll Operations w/ SPPS in LA - Dec 7-9

C. EPIC/HCUP in DC - DEC 7-10

D. SPPS web in DC - DEC 7-10

E. TINQ in NOLA - DEC 8-9

X. Potpourri

A. Q: DOJ - Inquired if NFC had received an updates on the standardization initiative for local taxes for areas with less than 500 employees. NFC had indicated in an earlier meeting that they would check into this with E-gov and get back to the CAPPS group. A: No answer at this time but may be to leave as is and use the discretionary allotment.

B. Q: FCC - Jo and I have exchanged e-mails on an identify theft issues. Over 30 employees within our agency were affected. FCC requested the masking of the SSN on T&A's, in STAR, on the SF-50, etc. Jo indicated that they must go to OPM to get the legal authorization and documentation and have GAO change their guidance for the T&A records. FC: Client - How was this found? A: FCC - Agency staff and federal investigators are still checking into it. FC: Smithsonian - The printed SF-50 should be safeguarded by the HR office and the employee. Q: FCC asked if there are other agencies interested in getting this exception from OPM? Q: Client - Would you do this across the board or by agencies? A: That is all up in the air at the moment. Until OPM grants authorization to modify the documentation on the SF-50 that cannot be done. Until GAO changes its T&A requirements, masking the SSN on the official T&A records is also not an option. The problem is that if you need a document with the SSN, then a partial SSN would not work. C: Client - This may sound like a good idea for identify theft but agencies need to look at all the issues. Recently ran in to an issue personally where I tried to use the E&L statement to qualify for a loan. Because the mailed copy did not have the complete SSN, it was not acceptable.

C. Q: TR - Question for the E-group - are there any agencies outside of Treasury that have bureaus using the SETS application? A: USDA - We have agencies that use it. FQ: Would you be able to share the agency list who are using this? FA: Sure.

D. Q: Court Services - What is the status of the project referenced a few months ago where an employee would be able to pull his/her SF-50's via the EPP? A: Randy indicated NFC was still working the requirements for this. TR submitted requirements and NFC is reviewing them. FQ: Before this is programmed, will agencies be allow to choose this option? A: Penny indicated that NFC would need to have this need as part of the requirements. Please submit the request to the NFC GESD mailbox and NFC will consider this in the development stage. FQ: Will CAPPS be notified before release? A: YES.

E. Q: FMCS - We converted to STAR this past pay period and we have a list of problems with the data. Where should it be sent? R: Jo - What kind of problems? FC: The system only converts the sick and annual leave data. R: Jo - This is not an error, the system is only importing those two balances at the moment. This should have been covered in your conversion training. FC: It was not. We had no idea that this or the accounting code issue was going to happen. R: Jo repeated that she believed this information was covered in the training. It is in the manuals. FQ: Is this going to be forever that they have to reenter the other leave balances? R: Jo indicated that NFC's ultimate goal is that all leave balances would feed from the mainframe. There were issues with pulling the data for the current versions, but NFC did not want to hold u p the entire system while this issue was resolved. The ultimate goal is one leave balance on the mainframe and STAR will pull from it. This is what was in the original requirements which were approved by CAPPS and submitted to NFC in March 2001. FC: We also experienced trouble receiving confirmation reports. NFC staff provided our training and when contacting CSR during our implementation I had to keep getting new issue numbers. She has 3 tickets open and kept getting conflicting reports. Some staff indicated that there were problems, some say not. Is this a traffic issue? FC: Clients - This sometimes happens on Monday afternoons. R: Jo indicated that there was a proposal that the confirmation report be available in STAR in lieu of submission to an NFC printer. She did not know if this will happen in the next version. FQ: This was not an issue in PC-TARE, why now in STAR? R: Jo was not sure. She did not understand why FMCS's confirmation process would have changed since the confirmation report is independent of STAR. FC: Clients - A few clients indicated that delays in the confirmation report are not unusual and have been happening for years. They felt that it is due to the volume of T&A's in the que. Jo pointed out that if that was the issue then, yes, this is not new. Sometimes the confirmation report prints almost immediately and at other times it takes overnight. It has operated this way since before even client STAR.

F. Q: DOJ - Question for other CAPPS clients - EEOC requires that agencies report data on the RNO codes. Is anyone reporting this data to EEOC yet? C: George reminded everyone that OPM is to set the requirements for this and NFC will not be programming it until this occurs. Q: Clients - If EEOC has already requested the info, should we release it? R: George replied that OPM controls the data. Until they release the requirements for implementation, there is nothing NFC can do at this point in time. Just because EEOC wants the data does not mean that they will get it. OPM owns the payroll/personnel data and thus has the final say in changes to its CPDF fields, data standards, and reporting requirements. If you release data, it will not be from the NFC system.

G. Q: DOJ - Regarding those PATCOB code changes proposed by EEOC, we are still waiting for OPM, correct? A: George replied yes. This also applies to the revised RNO codes.

XI. Representatives

A. In Person -

1. Client - AG, ARC, AOC, CFTC, CSOSA, DOC, DOJ, FCC, FMCS, GAO, HUD, Peace Corps, PTSA, Smithsonian, TR

2. NFC - Cliff, George, Jo & Jody

B. Via Teleconference -

1. Client - IBWC, TR-BPD

2. NFC - Larry Barreca, Penny Forbes, Sharon Giovengo, Randy Gonzales, Mose Lindsay,