MCHH00954_0000[1] The Traffic Cone

“Guiding you over and around the bumps of your payroll journey”

Provided by Syl Luhring – Payroll Supervisor, State Accounting (471-1460)

August 12, 2009

First off, I want to say THANK YOU for all the hard work and cooperation you have extended as we move closer to the Direct Deposit deadline.

Keep up the great work!

This memo will be a long one but is packed full of timely and pertinent information. Please take the time to read it completely and call me with any questions you may have as a result.

Contents

New ACH payment policy.
Direct Deposit – Employee.
Direct Deposit – HR/Payroll staff.
Revised Forms for Direct Deposit and AccelaPay sign up.
Who is getting a warrant – the list.
Warrant Update.
Expense Reimbursement report.

New ACH/Direct Deposit Payment Policy

This spring, the legislature approved LB 167 clearing the way for the State to require the use of electronic fund transfers (EFT/Direct Deposit) as the method of choice for issuing payments for payroll and expense reimbursements. Below is a copy of the new payment policy which will become effective September 14, 2009.

“Payments for State Employee Wages and Expense Reimbursements:

Payments for wages and expense reimbursements for all state employees will be by electronic funds transfer (EFT/Direct Deposit). Such EFT payments may be made to any financial institution of the employee’s choosing or to a state authorized debit card. State employees include all officers or employees of the state or any state agency and include duly appointed members of committees, boards and commissions.”

Direct Deposit – Employees

Your employees, who are currently receiving warrants, have been notified of the mandate and advised to sign up for direct deposit to an account in a financial institution of their choice or to the U S Bank AccelaPay Debit card by September 14th. Bi-weekly payees have received 4 inserts thus far advising them of the September 14^th switchover. Another three are queued up for the bi-weekly payroll and one more for the August monthly payroll on the 31^st. If no choice is made by September 14^th, the employee will be given a debit card to which all future payments will be applied. Attached is a copy of the last three notices employees will receive with their warrant prior to the September 14^th deadline.

Direct Deposit – HR

For you as HR/Payroll staff, this switch will require two things.

Continued contact and communication with those employees in your agency who are still receiving warrants for their payroll. Urge them to make their selection of the account for direct deposit and get started soon to avoid the last minute rush. Remember, anyone not making the selection by September 14^th will be enrolled onto the AccelaPay Debit card.
Expense reimbursements will be automatically deposited to an account as well. Review the Auto Deposit setup in NIS for anyone receiving expense reimbursements. Make sure that each recipient is set up for direct deposit of the expense reimbursements.

New Forms for Use

Both the Direct Deposit and the AccelaPay Debit Card sign-up form have been revised with copies of each included in this memo. They will be stored on the DAS Accounting web site under a new heading – Payroll Card – within the next week to 10 days. Please delete any of the older forms you have saved to your hard drives or systems and replace them with these new revised forms.

Who is getting a warrant – the list

You can obtain a list of employees in your agency who are still receiving the warrant by following the process below. Once the results are displayed, export them to Excel for sorting by the Home Business Unit or other parameters as desired.

· Go to the NIS menu > Human Resources/Payroll – Agencies > Inquiries/Reports > HR/P Inquiries > Payroll Inquiries > Paycheck Review and Void.

· On the QBE line (just above the title line) in the Payment/Item column enter “<80000000” (that is an 8 and 0x7). All warrants are issued with a starting number of 7 while direct deposits all start with an 8.

· In the Check date field enter >7/28 ( or a couple days prior to a pay date – 7/29 and 7/31 in this case) – if you have monthly employees, this would give you the list of those names as well.

· Click on FIND

Warrant Usage

At the end of July (after both monthly M7 and Bi-weekly BW15), the report shows that we used 1092 warrants for the two payrolls (951 for BW and 141 for M). The B16 payroll just completed, used 849 warrants. About half of these are being used for summer staff and will be ending in August. While we still have a long way to go, you are making great strides in switching your employees over to Direct Deposit accounts. Please continue the push for the switch to Direct Deposit as the deadline, September 14^th, is drawing closer every day.

Deposit setup for Expense Reimbursement

A report is being developed to identify those employees who do not have an account established on the AP side to handle expense reimbursements. This report will query for all active employees in NIS, check to see whether or not they are set up with direct deposit, if so, the account will be compared to the one on the payroll side for viability. The report will be designed to list those without an account and those with accounts that do not match the ones set up in payroll. HR personnel will need to take the list and contact each employee to tie expense reimbursements to a viable direct deposit account.

Copies of upcoming notices

Yellow Notice - to be distributed in the 8/12 payroll for BW employees

______________________________________________________

Orange Notice - to be distributed in the 7/31 payroll for Monthly and the 8/26 payroll for BW employees.

Time is running out !!!

Beginning September 14th, warrants will no longer be issued for payment. Instead, all payroll payments will be made through Auto Deposit to an account held in any financial institution of your choice or onto an AccelaPay payroll card (a prepaid Visa card) through US Bank. Please contact your agency’s payroll department and sign up for Auto Deposit either through the AccelaPay card or an account at any financial institution of your choice by September 14^th. If you fail to do so, you will be given an AccelaPay pay card for deposit of your earnings.

Pink Notice - to be distributed in the 8/31 payroll for Monthly and the 9/9 payroll for BW employees.

* * * * Final Notice * * * * *

This is the last payroll warrant you will be receiving. Effective September 14, 2009, the State of Nebraska will cease issuing paper warrants for payroll and will automatically deposit all payroll funds into a designated account of your choice. To date, you have not designated the account to which your earnings are to be deposited. Please contact your agency’s payroll department and sign up for Auto Deposit, either to an account at any financial institution of your choice or to the AccelaPay card, by September 14^th. If no designation is made, you will be given an AcellaPay payroll card onto which your earnings will be deposited.

Direct Deposit Information Form

Pursuant to State Accounting policy, payments for wages and expense reimbursements for all state employees will be made by electronic funds transfer (EFT/Direct Deposit) to your choice of a financial institution or to a state authorized debit card.

· Please complete the table below with the appropriate direct deposit information. If you are choosing the AccelaPay Debit card, complete the AccelaPay Debit Card Sign-up form, enter a “PC” in the PC column and leave the account information blank. An account number will be established for you.

· In the method code column, choose a method code by which your funds are to be deposited to the account. Note: Direct deposit on selections/amounts should be based a typical paycheck. If the net amount is less than the selections, the results may vary from what’s expected.

· If providing account information, please attach a voided check to this form for verification. .

*** Do not use Deposit Tickets as they sometimes display different numbers from the checking account. **

Begin (B), Change (C) or Stop (S)	Payroll Card (PC)	Account Information			Method Code [Enter $, %, R]	Dollar Amount or Percentage	F (Full Amount) or P (Partial Amount)
Begin (B), Change (C) or Stop (S)	Payroll Card (PC)	Routing Number	Account Number	Savings (S) or Checking C	Method Code [Enter $, %, R]	Dollar Amount or Percentage	F (Full Amount) or P (Partial Amount)

Method Code Selection

$ - Deposits a specific dollar amount to an account/payroll card

% - Deposits a percentage of your net pay to the account/payroll card .

R - You must choose one account to which the remainder of your net pay is deposited.

· If you are using multiple accounts, you may use a combination of the above.

· Your net pay can be divided among 6 accounts.

Expense Reimbursement - The following Expense Reimbursement information is separate from

your payroll information and must be completed to process the direct deposit of the reimbursement. Expense payments must be deposited into only one account or debit card .

Begin (B),

Change (C) or Stop (S)

Payroll Card (PC)

Account Information

Routing Number

Account Number

Savings (S)

Checking C

I have elected to have my payroll and expense funds deposited into the account(s)t designated above and have supplied the appropriate and correct information with which to set up the account(s).


Employee NIS #		Employee Name (Please Print)		Signature		Date

Remember to notify Human Resources if you close an account.

Rev: 072009

State of Nebraska

AccelaPay® Debit Card Sign-up Form

NIS Employee #

First Name Last Name

Street Address, Apt #, or P O Box

City State Zip Code +4

Please provide personal information (required by the bank for identification purposes):

Home Phone Number Business Phone Number

Mother’s Maiden Name

· You will receive monthly paper statements at the above address.

· You may also view the account online. The website to view the account will arrive with your card. ( In order to access your account information, you will need one of the following two browsers – Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later; or Netscape 4.72 or later; or AOL 5.0 or later.)

If you prefer not to receive the paper statement, check this box.

Sign and Submit this form to your HR/Payroll department

After completing and signing this form, please submit to your payroll department. Your AccelaPay Debit card will be mailed to the address provided above within 10 business days after this form has been submitted.

_______________________________________________ ________________________

Signature Date

PLEASE NOTE – Your AccelaPay Debit Card will be mailed to you

in a plain white envelope for security purposes.

Rev080409