Now Live: Expansion of Paid Sick Leave UC has now expanded access to paid sick leave for staff and academic personnel in alignment with the new systemwide policies APM-710 and PPSM 2.210 as of January 1, 2025.

• Policy Changes: The University of California’s leave policies for staff and academic personnel have been revised to: 
  • Expand eligibility for paid sick leave to include part-time employees
  • Expand the reasons for which employees may use paid sick leave
  • Provide “protection” for use up to 6 days (prorated by appointment) of paid sick leave for a qualifying reason
  • Extend reinstatement period for re-employment after separation
• Timekeeping Changes: Employees will now see the following paid protected sick leave options in their timekeeping systems:
  • Ecotime and TOPS: Sick Leave - Protected
  • Kronos: Protected Sick Leave

Register for the Expanded Paid Sick Leave Topic Based Zoom, which will be held on Wednesday, February 5, 2025 from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm to review the impacts of these new changes, followed by a Q&A discussion. For those who are not able to attend, the session will be recorded and posted on the HR Network Blink page. 

Important Reminder for Employees Transferring Between UC Locations HR coordinators should notify employees transferring from UCSD to another UC campus to cancel local deductions, such as parking, transit passes, Recreation card, Faculty Club membership, San Diego Faculty Association, and UC Foundation. These deductions do not cancel automatically and will continue at the new location if not cancelled prior to transferring. Please review the FAQ’s on UC San Diego Local Deductions Knowledge Base Article for cancellation contacts.

Updates on 1098-T Reporting for Graduate Student Researchers Starting January 2025, UCPath will provide payroll data for Graduate Student Research (GSR) fellows and trainees to the 1098-T vendor for tax reporting. This follows the change in UCPath processing payments for GSR fellows and trainees as of August 1, 2024. 

What is a 1098-T? The 1098-T reports qualified education expenses for tax purposes, including:

• Box 1: Tuition and fees paid
• Box 5: Fellowships and scholarships awarded

What's changing? UCPath Center will provide GSR fellows and trainees’ payment information to the 1098-T vendor beginning January 2025.

• UCPath Center shares reports to location-designated contacts each November and December, providing an opportunity for data validation and addressing any concerns prior to distribution to the 1098-T vendor
• Location UCPath transactors and Student Information System teams partner to support 1098-T questions from GSR fellows and trainees

For any questions regarding the 1098-T process, please submit a ticket to the Student Support and Services Portal or call (858) 946-4160.

1. SOBO Case Submission Form Enhancement
   1. The SOBO Case Submission form includes a Cancel Inquiry button throughout the form to ease navigation
   2. The form displays the selected employee Name and Employee ID throughout the inquiry submission process, making it easier to identify for whom the inquiry is submitted
2. Resource Center Access Update
   1. Users with Resource Center access now see “My Open Inquiries” and “My Closed Inquiries” when clicking on “My Inquiries” from the Ask UCPath main home page instead of the Case Dashboard
   2. The Case Dashboard can still be accessed by selecting: Other Resources > Resource Center > Case Management
3. Email Threading
   1. The email threading method within UCPath inquiries updates from Ref ID strings to Thread ID, which is a secure and reliable approach for matching emails to related inquiries in Email-to-Case
   2. Thread ID, which is token- and header-based, ensures better case matching and reduces duplicate case creation

Refer to the Submit a SOBO Inquiry in UCPath Job Aid or the Update My Inquiries Simulation for more information.

Enhanced MFA Requirements to Access UCPath To address increased phishing attacks and protect employee payroll information, UCPath is implementing enhanced Duo Push MFA for account access. Less secure options, such as callback and text message verification, will be disabled. 

Effective January 2, 2025, the UCPath single sign-on page will include updated text to inform employees about upcoming changes. This enhancement helps prevent credential compromise, unauthorized UCPath account access, and theft of paychecks.

Retirement of Direct Retro Tool in UCPath UCOP is planning on deprecating the Direct Retro (DR) tool in UCPath effective July 1, 2025. The decision was made to deprecate the tool because of ongoing maintenance concerns and due to the launch of the new Salary Cost Transfer (SCT) tool in November 2023, which was designed to enhance the user experience and replace the older Direct Retro tool.

Please perform Direct Retros in UCPath for any remaining payroll transactions that will require the use of the Direct Retro tool and have them approved by June 30, 2025. Please note that High-Risk Direct Retros will require an additional approval. Read the full communication here.