Month: June 2017

Welcome Amy Carrozzino-Lyon!

Amy Carrozzino-Lyon was hired in Natural & Applied Sciences as the Lower Green Bay Restoration Project Coordinator on June 15, 2017.  Prior to her current role, she worked for the DNR as a Green Bay Wetland Habitat Coordinator for 2 years.

Amy studied fish and wildlife conservation at Penn State and Virginia Tech.  She is involved with the Green Bay Conservation Partners and enjoys traveling to U.S. national parks, hiking, camping, and bird watching.

She is married to her husband Scott and has a Shih Tzu/poodle/bichon frise mix named Teddy.  Amy is from Glassboro, New Jersey.

Welcome, Amy!

Student hours limit at 20 hours per week June 25 to July 8

As a reminder, the student employee hours limit reduces to 20 hours per week from June 25, 2017 through July 8, 2017.  The hours limit goes back to 40 hours per week from July 9th until August 19th.  The hours limit is in place to make sure we are in compliance with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).  Please review the 2017 Student Bi-Weekly Payroll Schedule at: http://www.uwgb.edu/UWGBCMS/media/hr/files/StudentBiWeeklyPayrollSchedule2017.pdf

If you have any questions about this, please contact Human Resources at payrollandbenefits@uwgb.edu or ext. 2390.

How much do you know about Mindfulness?

 

Take this Mindfulness Quiz from StayWell to find out!

A. Mindfulness is:ManStanding

  1. A cultural belief that is only practiced by certain groups of people
  2. A practice that cannot be learned or taught
  3. Analyzing thoughts in order to change them
  4. A medically approved practice that enables individuals to systematically reduce and manage stress

B. Which of these statements is false?

  1. Job stress alone is estimated to cost US industry more than $300 billion a year in absenteeism, turnover, diminished productivity, medical, legal, and insurance costs.
  2. 80% of people who have taken mindfulness programs are unsuccessful.
  3. Stress is the causative factor of illness underlying more than 70% of all visits to the family doctor.
  4. Mindfulness can reduce anxiety and depression-related symptoms by 60-70%.

C. Some benefits of mindfulness are:

  1. Strengthens immune system
  2. Improves cardiovascular health
  3. Builds resiliency
  4. All of the above

D. People who participate in mindfulness programs:

  1. Must eat a specific diet
  2. Wear special clothes
  3. Are business professionals, hospital employees, military personnel, schoolchildren, and athletes
  4. Have to be perfectly serene and peaceful

E. What are some experiences a person may have when practicing formal mindfulness?

  1. Fall asleep
  2. Have lots of thoughts
  3. Experience restfulness
  4. All of the above

F. The ability to pay attention correlates to a person’s performance and effectiveness.  Mindfulness teaches us to pay attention to:

  1. Only the things that matter to us
  2. Our aches and pains
  3. The moment-to-moment daily activities with nonjudgment
  4. Thoughts about the past and future

G. The benefits of mindfulness are shown physically, mentally, and emotionally. Which one is NOT a benefit of mindfulness?

  1. Improved brain functionPortal
  2. Ability to rehash the past and rehearse for the future
  3. Greater concentration and focus
  4. Gives more meaning and purpose to our lives

H. To begin a home mindfulness practice, it is suggested to:

  1. Sit quietly for 5-20 minutes while focusing on the breath
  2. Sit in a perfect cross-legged yoga position
  3. Light candles all over the room
  4. Play devotional chanting music

Answers: A – 4; B – 2; C – 4; D – 3; E – 4; F – 3; G – 2; H – 1

How did you do?  Are you interested in learning more about mindfulness?  There are some great resources on the StayWell portal!  To access the StayWell portal, you must be an employee, retiree, or enrolled spouse/domestic partner enrolled in the State of Wisconsin or Wisconsin Public Employers Group Health Insurance Program. To check out the mindfulness resources on the StayWell portal, please click on “Programs” after logging in, then scroll down to “Mindfulness Collection” and click on “Learn More” (image at right).  You will see the 21-day Meditation Experience with helpful videos to watch each day to improve your mindfulness!

Quiz from The StayWell Company, LLC

Welcome Justin Mueller!

Justin Mueller, Police-2Justin Mueller was hired as a Police Officer in Public Safety on June 14, 2017.  Prior to his current role, he worked for the DNR as a Conservation Warden.

Justin graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point with a Bachelor’s Degree in Resource Management-Law Enforcement.  He also completed two basic law enforcement training academies–Mid-State Technical College and Fort McCoy.

Justin is actively educating youth about the natural resources and teaching DNR safety courses.  He is currently the president of the Conservation Leadership Corps, which is part of the Wisconsin Wildlife Federation. Justin enjoys many outdoor activities, such as boating, hunting, fishing, and camping.  He likes to explore new places around the state and the world.

Justin is from Kewaunee, WI.

Welcome, Justin!

Welcome Morgan Hansen!

Advancement, Morgan Hansen-9Morgan Hansen was hired as the Manager of Events and Annual Giving in the University Advancement Department on June 12, 2017.  Prior to starting at UWGB, she worked for the Girl Scouts for over two years.

Morgan graduated in 2014 from UWGB, majoring in Public Administration.  She is currently involved with Current-Young Professionals and loves hiking, taking her dogs for walks, gardening, and enjoying the outdoors.

Morgan is engaged and has two dogs–Cooper and Chester.  She is from Spring Grove, Minnesota.

Welcome, Morgan!

Welcome Tory Ortscheid!

Purchasing, Tory Ortscheid-8On May 22, 2017, Tory Ortscheid was hired as a Procurement Specialist in the Purchasing Department. Prior to his current role, he worked at Morton Salt for two years and Pepsico for 20 years.

Tory received his Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Miami.  He enjoys bicycling, dog training, and being a certified yoga instructor.  He was living in Chicago for 25 years and then moved back to his hometown of Green bay.

Welcome, Tory!

Congratulations Sara Chaloupka!

Sara Chaloupka recently began her new role of Financial Specialist Senior for the University Union on May 15, 2017.  She had previously worked as a Financial Specialist in the Bursar’s office.

Congratulations Sara!

Sick Leave Fact Sheet

Sick leave is an important fringe benefit available to employees. Most employees earn and, depending on usage, will accumulate hours of unused sick leave while they are employed.  If eligible, upon retirement, layoff, death or with more than 20 years of adjusted continuous service, you can use your unused sick leave credits to pay post-termination state group health insurance premiums for you, your spouse or domestic partner and/or dependents.

Sick leave can be used for the following reasons:

  • A medical, dental, vision appointment for you or an immediate family member
  • Employee’s own illness or injury
  • For temporary care of an immediate family member with an illness or injury
  • After the death of a family member (restricted to three days after death and an additional four days for travel)

To review the complete sick leave policy, please see: https://www.wisconsin.edu/ohrwd/download/policies/ops/bn3.pdf

Employees have the right to use other accrued leave (personal holiday, floating legal holiday or vacation) in lieu of sick leave in order to preserve sick leave balances.

Sick Leave Credits Program

ETF Fact Sheet: http://etf.wi.gov/publications/et8929.pdf

ETF Sick Leave Conversion Credit Program Brochure: http://etf.wi.gov/publications/et4132.pdf

There are two sick leave credit programs for State of Wisconsin employees:

  • Accumulated Sick Leave Conversion Credit (ASLCC) Program: allows employees to convert sick leave balances to pay for state health insurance at retirement, as well as in other situations such as death, layoff or termination with 20 years of service. Under this program, accumulated sick leave is multiplied by the employee’s highest basic pay rate in a qualifying position and converted to credits to pay for State Group Health Insurance in retirement (or in the other instances listed above).
  • Supplemental Health Insurance Conversion Credit (SHICC) Program: allows employees who have at least 15 years of continuous state service to earn sick leave credits in addition to those provided by the ASLCC program. Eligible employees earn up to 52 supplemental credits/year for years 1-24 of service and up to 104 supplemental credits/year for years 25 and beyond. The number of supplemental credits provided may not exceed the actual number of sick leave credit hours an employee has accumulated.

Sick Leave Credits Example

A state employee retires with 28 full years of adjusted continuous service, with a sick leave balance of 2,150 hours and had a highest base rate of pay of $22.50/hour.

                  ASLCC (2,150 x $22.50) = $48,375

                  SHICC (24 years x 52 hours) = 1,248 hours

                              (4 years x 104 hours) = 416 hours

                                                                   1,664 SHICC hours

                  SHICC (1,664 x $22.50) = $37,440

                  Total ($48,375 + $37,440) = $85,815

 

Please contact Human Resources at (920) 465-2390 or payrollandbenefits@uwgb.edu with any questions regarding sick leave benefits.  The Sick Leave Fact Sheet may also be found here.

State Group Life Insurance Definition of ‘Dependent’ Changed Effective May 1, 2017

The Department of Employee Trust Funds (ETF) announced changes to the definition of ‘dependent’ for the State Group Life Insurance program. The changes were effective May 1, 2017 and broaden the definition of ‘dependent’ to expand coverage. Changes include:

  • Removal of the requirement that the dependent be unmarried.
  • Removal of the requirement that the dependent be more than 14 days old.
  • Changed the upper age limit for being considered a dependent from the end of the calendar year in which the dependent attains age 25 to attainment of age 26.
  • Removal of the requirement that the employee be responsible for at least 50% of support and maintenance for the dependent.

In summary, a dependent can be covered until they attain age 26 regardless of their marital, educational or financial status.  The definition of ‘dependent’ can be found in Wis. Admin. Code § ETF 10.01(2)(a).