Winter Closure Information Posted November 1, 2023

Axess Timecard entries for the first pay period in December (Dec. 1-15) should be approved by noon (12 p.m.) on Monday, Dec. 18, 2023. Supervisors should be especially careful when approving Axess Timecard entries for the Dec. 1-15 pay period to minimize any pay corrections that may need to be facilitated by your department, as payday falls within the winter closure.

All requests for missing pay must be submitted in PeopleSoft by requesting an off-cycle payment and must have the appropriate department approvals. Please submit a support request to Payroll for questions regarding pay corrections. Payroll will accept requests for missing pay through the close of business on Wednesday, Dec. 20.

Employees must complete Axess Timecard entries for the Dec. 16-31 pay period prior to winter closure. The approval deadline is noon (12 p.m.) on Tuesday, Jan. 2, 2024. 

Reporting Time in Axess Timecard

Designated Stanford holidays are Monday, Dec. 25; Tuesday, Dec. 26; and Monday, Jan. 1. The university will provide three additional days off with pay. Specified departments that do not fully close during winter closure will be eligible to apply "Additional Day Off" hours in January 2024.

 Employees may use the following options for covering the remaining closure dates:

• Floating holiday for 2023
• Personal time off (PTO) for 2023
• Accrued vacation time
• Time off borrowed from December 2023 vacation accrual, which is normally not available for use until Jan. 1 (up to one month's accrual is permitted)
• Time off borrowed from 2024 PTO accrual (up to 24 hours for a full-time employee)
• Time off borrowed from 2024 floating holiday accrual (up to 16 hours for a full-time employee)
• Leave without pay

Use of sick time is not permitted during this period, except for those on approved short-term disability leave filed with AbsenceOne. Time off should be tracked in Axess Timecard as follows:

Holidays (Dec. 25, Dec. 26, and Jan. 1)

• Exempt Staff: Leave the designated university holiday dates blank when entering leave.
• Non-Exempt Staff and Bargaining Unit: Employees may manually enter the appropriate number of holiday hours onto their timecard, otherwise hours will be populated by Payroll on Dec. 6.

Winter Closure: Reporting Additional Days Off With Pay

To allow for usage tracking of the additional days with pay related to winter closure, each employee will have 24 Additional Day Off hours granted to them on Tuesday, Dec. 5, and part-time employees will receive prorated amounts based on their Standard Hours (FTE). The Additional Day Off time reporting code will be available to employees to allow recording of the three additional days with pay.  

On your timecard, enter vacation hours you would enter other leave hours:

• Exempt Staff: Enter up to eight (8) hours for each additional day with pay.
• Non-Exempt Staff and Bargaining Unit: Enter up to eight (8) hours, equivalent to their normal schedule for the day, for each additional day with pay.

The Additional Day Off time reporting code will remain available until Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024, for use by those employees who were required by their business unit to work during the winter closure and thus were authorized to take alternate days off by the end of January. Managers and timecard administrators will need to ensure that only those employees who are eligible to use additional day off hours past winter closure do so.

Time Off Borrowed from 2024 PTO, Floating Holiday Accrual, and December 2023 Vacation Accrual

Enter as you normally do:

• Axess Timecard has been programmed to allow overdrafts for December only.
• Employees who have a negative leave balance because of borrowed time will have the difference subtracted, either from:
  • Vacation from their December 2023 grant
  • Floating holiday and PTO from January 2024 grants

Please note: Employees on terminal vacation are not eligible for holiday pay, the additional days off with pay, or leave borrowing. Available leave hours should be used to continue pay for all winter closure days.

Reminders Related to Borrowing Time

• Vacation must be used before borrowing 2024 leave accruals. Employees who have available vacation balances must use vacation to cover days off during winter closure before borrowing their 2024 PTO or floating holiday.
• Borrowing 2024 PTO and floating holiday:
  Full time employees are allowed to borrow up to 24 hours of PTO and 16 hours of floating holiday. Please verify that part time employees do not borrow PTO or floating holiday in excess of the amount that they will be granted on Jan. 1. Employees who borrow more time than they are granted will have their vacation balance reduced until the overdraft is recovered.
• Borrowing not allowed for work days prior to winter closure.
• Borrowing will be enabled beginning on Wednesday, Dec. 6 to allow employees to enter their leave for the winter closure in advance. Borrowed hours must not be used to cover time that would otherwise be unpaid prior to the start of winter closure on Thursday, Dec. 21.
• As much as possible, borrowing should be entered before the close of the Dec. 16-31 pay period. If borrowed hours are entered after the fact, please submit a support request to Payroll as accruals must be manually adjusted.

Pay Statements

You will receive your pay for the Dec. 1-15 pay period one day early; payday is Thursday, Dec. 21. Direct deposits will post into bank accounts on Thursday, Dec. 21 by 5 p.m. PT. Online pay statements will be available in Axess for all employees (including those who receive live paychecks) on Tuesday, Dec. 19. The Dec. 1-15 pay period is the last pay period of tax year 2023. Employees are encouraged to review their online pay statement for accuracy by Tuesday, Dec. 19.

Employees Who Receive a Live Paycheck

We will be mailing all live checks to the employee’s mailing address on file. Payroll will not be able to reissue any live check not received for the Dec. 1-15 pay period until after winter closure. As always, we encourage you to enroll for direct deposit instead of receiving a live check to guarantee that your pay will post to your bank account on payday. Stop payment requests received after the close of business on Wednesday, Dec. 20 will be processed after winter closure.

Payroll Administration During Winter Closure

Payroll will be on call to address critical pay issues during winter closure. An example of a critical pay issue would be an involuntary termination of an employee scheduled to work during winter closure. These issues should be directed to Payroll by submitting a support request.

Voluntary terminations must be effective on a regular day of work, so therefore must be on a day that the employee is reporting to work either before or after winter closure, unless the employee is required to work during the winter closure period due to a critical business function that has been approved by the dean, vice president, or vice provost of the business unit. Be aware that Thursday, Dec. 14 is the deadline to submit web forms for terminations effective Friday, Dec. 15 through Wednesday, Dec. 20. Terminations for Thursday, Dec. 21 through Thursday, Jan. 4, 2023 must be submitted by Tuesday, Dec. 19 to allow Payroll to handle pay for the Dec. 16-31 pay period appropriately for terminating employees.

Questions? Need Help?

  For questions or help with your timecard, please contact your local HR Manager or HR Administrator.    

Important Cutoff Schedules and Deadlines

Expense Requests Transactions: Expense Reports, Advances, Non-PO Payments, and Petty Cash Payments

• The deadline for approving and submitting expense requests transactions is Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 5 p.m.
  • Note that the deadline is on a Wednesday this year because it is two weeks before the start of winter closure.
• The cutoff for approving and submitting expense requests transactions with rush priority or will call pickup is Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 5 p.m.
• Reimbursements: To prevent expenses from being treated as taxable income, a transaction must be prepared and submitted into the Expense Requests system in Oracle Financials with all appropriate receipts or backup documentation within 60 days after the end of travel (for travel expenses), the expense posted date (for non-travel expenses), or expected clearing date (for advances). The 60-day limit includes the two weeks during winter closure and does not provide exception days for the holiday period.

Invoice Payments

• The deadline for submitting invoice payment requests is Wednesday, Dec. 6 at 5 p.m. to process the invoice before winter closure.
• Every effort will be made to process items received after Wednesday, Dec. 6, but there are no guarantees.
• Rush invoice requests must be labeled as "rush" on the invoice and must be uploaded to an approved purchase order. Rush invoice processing times are one to two business days, and rush invoices can be requested for a $35 fee.
• The cutoff for submitting invoices with rush priority or will call pick up is Wednesday, Dec. 13 at 5 p.m.
• Payment Handling Methods and Processing Times are available to help you approximate the turnaround time for your transactions.

Will Call Checks

• Accounts Payable will call checks may be picked up at the Stanford Redwood City campus by scheduling an appointment. For more information, see How To: Request Rush and Will Call Payments.
• Redwood City Campus Will Call:
  • University Hall
    485 Broadway Street
    Redwood City, CA 94063-3136
  • Pickup hours: Appointment only
  • Invoices must be approved and validated in Oracle Accounts Payable and “Ready for Payment” by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 19 for payment on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
  • Last will call payment will be available Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023. The will call email will be sent by 1:30 p.m., with pickup times from 2 to 4 p.m. (by appointment only).
• Important: When the will call check is ready for pickup, a “Redwood City Will Call Check(s)” email will be sent to the requester listed on the transaction to arrange a pickup date and time. The building entry to University Hall in Redwood City is limited. Payment Services staff will greet you at the front entry (lobby) of University Hall to disburse the check. Please arrive at the appointed time and bring a copy of the email and a photo ID.
• Any will call checks not picked up by Wednesday, Dec. 20 will be held by Payment Services. Payment Services will coordinate with the requester if the check needs to be mailed out upon return from winter closure on Thursday, Jan. 4.

Wire Transfers (A/P and Expense Reports)

• Invoices must be approved and validated in Oracle Accounts Payable and “Ready for Payment” by 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 19 for payment on Wednesday, Dec. 20.
• For rush wire requests for same day processing, invoices must be approved and validated in Oracle Accounts Payable and “Ready for Payment” by 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Dec. 20.

Questions? Need Help?

If you have questions or need help prior to winter closure, please contact the Financial Support Center.

For Stanford Purchasers and Approvers

• Financial approvers should ensure they select delegatees to act on their behalf if an emergency transaction requires approval during winter close.
• Contracts that require signatures before winter closure must be submitted in SmartMart Contracts following the "Rush" procedure detailed in Fingate.
• Requisitions that do not require a contract must be submitted by Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2023 to be properly reviewed by Purchasing to be processed before winter closure.
• Purchasing and Contracts will make every effort to finalize all purchase orders and contracts by Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023.

Standard Purchase Orders

For a requisition over $25,000 that requires approval from a buyer, please make sure that the need-by date is a realistic delivery date and that you can sign for and accept the delivery. Suppliers will not ship during winter closure (Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 through Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024), so some orders may need to be delayed. If you plan to be available during winter closure for deliveries, you must work directly with your building administrator and the supplier to arrange this, as all purchase orders will instruct suppliers otherwise. The university’s purchasing systems (e.g., SmartMart Catalog Suppliers and Contracts, Amazon Business, and Non-Catalog) will be available for ordering during this period.

For Suppliers

Stanford University will be closed for winter break from Thursday, Dec. 21, 2023 through Wednesday, Jan. 3, 2024. The university will reopen on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024.

University staff will not be on campus to receive deliveries during winter closure unless specific arrangements have been made with the ordering department to receive the shipment. If you have a December delivery commitment that you are unable to deliver by Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, please schedule your shipment to arrive as soon as possible on or after Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024.

Questions? Need Help?

For unexpected requests that do not fit within these guidelines and require immediate response, please submit an emergency support request for the Financial Support Center.