March 25, 2016 is the designated official day to observe both the Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day and Good Friday holidays.  Eligible RCUH employees will be entitled to observe the second holiday as a floating holiday within the 2016 calendar year (March 28 through December 31, 2016).

As a reminder, RCUH allows the Principal Investigators to exercise two options: (1) Designate the Floating Holiday for business/operational reasons or (2) Mutually agree with the employee to designate a Floating Holiday.

*NOTE: The Floating Holiday may be used to extend an employee’s weekend, vacation or holiday weekend. For example, Friday, March 25^th is the paid observed holiday and the floating holiday could be used on Monday, March 28^th.

The Floating Holiday will be reported on the RCUH Timesheet form on the day that it is taken under the “Special Codes” column by entering the new floating holiday “FHL” code and number of hours (based on the employee’s FTE).  For additional administration guidelines, please refer to the Current News article posted on January 12^th.

Thank you,
RCUH Payroll Staff

ATTENTION:  Regular status employees 50-100% FTE

If you are currently participating in RCUH’s Group Retirement Annuity (GRA) and/or Supplemental Retirement Annuity (SRA) plans administered through TIAA-CREF OR if you are interested in enrolling into a TIAA-CREF SRA plan, the RCUH Human Resources Department is now coordinating one-hour Individual/Employee Retirement Counseling Sessions with TIAA-CREF.  During these meetings, you will be able to discuss your personal financial/retirement goals with a TIAA-CREF Financial Consultant, on a free and confidential basis.

A TIAA-CREF representative will be able to assist you with planning for your retirement goals, including:

• Setting realistic goals for key life events and retirement
• Reviewing your investment mix and strategy
• Selecting your TIAA-CREF options
• Learning about TIAA-CREF retirement income flexibility

For employees unfamiliar with the SRA plan, it is considered a 403(b) tax-deferred annuity plan which allows an employee to make contributions via payroll deduction from his/her pre-tax earnings towards an individual retirement plan (i.e., SRA) through our third party administrator, TIAA-CREF.  Enrolling or making changes to your SRA election may be done at any time during the year. For more information about the GRA and SRA plans, please go to our website, www.rcuh.com and review the RCUH Retirement Plans Policy (3.560).

We have reserved the following dates and times for Individual Sessions:

Dates	Location	Times
March 29, 2016	JABSOM, Medical Education Building, Room 412A	9:00am – 4:00pm
March 30, 2016	JABSOM, Medical Education Building, Room 412A	9:00am – 4:00pm
March 31, 2016	JABSOM, Medical Education Building, Room 412A	9:00am – 4:00pm

To schedule an appointment, please use our secure Web site at:
www.tiaacref.org/schedulenow

If you have questions or are unable to schedule an appointment online, please call our Service and Scheduling Group at 800-732-8353 Mon-Fri 6am – 3pm Hawaii time. Meetings are accessible for individuals with disabilities.  For more information or to request an accommodation due to your disability, contact YeeYeng Lim at (808) 956-6979 or email [email protected] at least one week prior to the session.

In order to minimize searching for the RCUH timesheets each pay period, we will have the current RCUH timesheet available in the Current News section of the RCUH website on the first working day of each pay period.

Click here for the March 16-31, 2016 Timesheet
PAYROLL Deadline is April 1, 2016 noon
Payday for this timesheet is April 7, 2016

Next Announcement: April 4 (April 1-15)

The IRS recently issued an alert for email schemes that fraudulently request for your personal identifiable information.  They are seeing a 400% surge in phishing and malware incidents so far this tax season.

The emails are designed to trick taxpayers into thinking these are official communications from the IRS, others in the tax industry or from RCUH.  These malicious emails contain links which, when clicked, takes the recipient to sites designed to imitate official-looking government websites or possibly even RCUH’s website.  Personal information may then be requested or malware may be transferred to your computer to gain access to your files.

The IRS, other tax agencies, and RCUH do not initiate contact with taxpayers via email, text or social media to request for personal or financial information.  If there is an issue or problem, the first contact with the IRS is usually through official correspondence sent through the email, and NOT a phone call or email.

Please refer to the IRS website at www.irs.gov for informational notices about phishing scams.  To learn about protecting your personal, financial and tax data, see the following from the IRS website:  Security Awareness for Tax Payers, Publication 4524 and Security Awareness Tax Tips.

The RCUH does NOT initiate a request for personal identifiable information such as social security numbers, birthdates or PIN numbers.

Please be aware and keep vigilant so as not to fall victim to the growing surge of fraudulent requests for your personal identifiable information.

Each year Principal Investigators have the opportunity to nominate and recognize their RCUH employee who has made demonstrable, significant and outstanding contributions to their project during the previous year.  On March 11, 2016, a luncheon was held to honor the nominees and to announce the first and second place winners for 2015. 

Please join us in congratulating the following winners of the 2015 RCUH Outstanding Employee of the Year.

Outstanding Project Support Staff
1^st Place: Paul Berrios
Project: NASA Infrared Telescope Facility
PI: Dr. Alan Tokunaga

2^nd Place:  Lisa Sato & Noelle Long
Project: Animal and Veterinary Services
PI: Dr. Sylvia Kondo

Outstanding Researcher/Project Manager/Professional Staff
1^st Place:  Timothy Williams
Project: LEONIDAS
PI: Dr. Luke Flynn

2^nd Place: Rebecca Briggs
Project: SOEST Laboratory for Analytical Biogeochemisty
PI:  Dr. Kathleen Ruttenberg

Please note that the March training sessions for Kauai and Oahu have been cancelled.  They will be rescheduled for April and updated registration details will be provided.  Those that have already registered will be notified of new course offerings.
EEO/Sexual Harassment Training Session Updated Schedule:

LOCATION	DATE	TIME
Kauai – March 18, 2016 Cancelled	New Date – TBD for April	TBD
Oahu – March 29, 2016 Cancelled	New Date – TBD for April	TBD
Hilo – UHH, Campus Center, Room 306	Friday, April 8, 2016	9:00am–12:00pm
Maui – UHMC, Laulima Building, Room 225	Friday, April 15, 2016	9:00am–12:00pm

RCUH would like to invite you to register for an upcoming EEO/Sexual Harassment Training class. The sessions are open for all RCUH employees and supervisors.

TRAINING SESSION SCHEDULE:

LOCATION	DATE/td>	TIME
Kauai – KCC, OSC Building, Room 204	Friday, March 18, 2016	9:00am–12:00pm
Oahu – UHM, Kuykendall Auditorium	Tuesday, March 29, 2016	9:00am–12:00pm
Hilo – UHH, Campus Center, Room 306	Friday, April 8, 2016	9:00am–12:00pm
Maui – UHMC, Laulima Building, Room 225	Friday, April 15, 2016	9:00am–12:00pm

To sign up for training, click on RCUH Training Enrollment located on the RCUH web page.  If you are a current employee, log on to the Employee Self Service to select training.

Meetings are accessible for individuals with disabilities.  For more information or to request an accommodation due to your disability, contact Crystal Ka’aha’aina at (808) 956-6965 or email [email protected] at least one week prior to the session.

The Hawaii State Ethics Commission will be offering a general ethics training class on Oahu for state employees.

Here is the link to register:
http://ethics.hawaii.gov/2016-03-15stateemp/
Please encourage anyone who has not received ethics training to register for this class.

Thank you for your support of ethics education!

Hawaii State Ethics Commission
1001 Bishop Street, Suite 970
Honolulu, Hawaii 96813
Telephone: (808) 587-0460

In order to minimize searching for the RCUH timesheets each pay period, we will have the current RCUH timesheet available in the Current News section of the RCUH website on the first working day of each pay period.

Click here for the March 1-15, 2016 Timesheet
PAYROLL Deadline is March 16, 2016 noon
Payday for this timesheet is March 22, 2016

Next Announcement: March 17 (March 16-31)

As part of our compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act Law (PPACA), the RCUH is required to provide you with IRS Form 1095-C. This form will provide you with important information about the health insurance coverage that was offered to you during the 2015 calendar year.

Employees who submitted consent for an electronic IRS Form 1095-C:
Your 2015 Form 1095-C is now available on the RCUH Employee Self-Service system at www.rcuh.com:
Employee Self Service > User ID and password > Self Service > Benefits > View 1095-C Forms

If you have difficulties opening your .pdf form, please make sure that the pop-up blocker on your browser is off or allows our website “https://hrweb.rcuh.com.”

Employees who did NOT consent for an electronic IRS Form 1095-C:
A paper 1095-C form will be mailed to your current mailing address on record on Friday, February 26, 2016.

(a)    Worked 50% full-time equivalency or more, and enrolled in health coverage during the 2015 calendar year

OR

(b)    Worked 75% full-time equivalency or more, and were offered health coverage during the 2015 calendar year

All other employees who do not meet the above requirements will not be receiving a Form 1095-C.

For more information, please refer to the Questions and Answers about Health Care Information Forms for Individuals on the IRS website or the RCUH Form 1095-C Q&A on our website.

If you have any questions about your IRS Form 1095-C or the ACA, please contact [email protected]. If you are having difficulties logging in to ESS, please contact [email protected].