This document provides HR Partners (HRPs) directions on how to terminate employees in Workday.
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· Human Resources Policy 208 – Termination of Employment must be adhered prior to initiating the Termination process.
· If the employee will be receiving severance pay, the One-Time Payment task can be used to assign it. This step can be skipped if severance will not be paid.
· The One-Time Payment task can also be used for any payments dated after the date of termination (such as a settlement). These payments cannot be processed in the next on-cycle payroll due to the termination, which helps prevent overpayment to employees no longer working at UChicago. Therefore, one-time payments processed after the termination date MUST be submitted using the One-Time Payment > On Demand Payment category. Submitting an on demand one-time payment ensures the request is routed to Payroll, who will review and issue the payment to the former employee as an off-cycle payment. Refer to the Requesting One Time Payments in Workday Knowledge Base Article for additional details.
· The information required to complete the Termination process in Workday is:
· Employee name.
· Termination date (employee's last working day).
· Resignation letter or equivalent (i.e., layoff letter).
· The following termination reasons will make the employee ineligible for future employment at the University of Chicago:
· Voluntary > Resigned in Lieu of Termination.
· Involuntary > Misconduct, violation of rules, serious misconduct.
· If another termination reason is chosen, but there are circumstances that could deem an employee as ineligible for rehire, HRPs need to contact an Employee and Labor Relations (ELR) Representative to have the employee manually added to the list.
· Do not use the Termination process to end an academic appointment. If the individual will continue to be employed at the University, the End Academic Appointment business process should be initiated instead. Please refer to the Managing Academic Appointments in Workday Knowledge Base Article for instructions on how to do it. Only use the Termination process if the employee is truly being terminated, and they should no longer have a Workday record.
· If a seasonal or temporary academic employee is expected to return in the future, they can be kept active after ending their End Employment Date and compensation Actual End Date. Benefits eligible employees that are no longer working and are not otherwise on an approved leave of absence should be terminated in Workday.
· Student employees:
· A student can only be terminated based on the following criteria:
· Student with a graduated/completed Academic Information System (AIS) status who has not received payment within three (3) months.
· Current/active student who has not received payment through Workday within 12 months.
· HRPs can terminate a student only if:
· Student position is within a supervisory organization the HRP supports.
· Student has graduated.
· All the student's additional jobs have been ended. See the Ending an Additional Job in Workday Knowledge Base Article for more information on how to end a job.
· Workday access will be disabled for an employee until they are terminated. Once the Termination process is complete, former employees will continue to have limited access to Workday up until the end of the April of the year following their termination. They will be able to access some documents, such as the W2 form, through that time.
· After termination, benefits will continue at the employee rate, regardless of termination reason, through the last day of the month in which the employee is terminated.
1. Log into Workday using your CNetID and password.
2. Navigate to the Employee's Profile by typing their name or another unique identifier (Chicago ID, SSN, Employee ID, etc.) in the search box at the top of the screen. Select the appropriate suggested record that appears below the search box, or press Enter to run the complete search, and find the right employee.
a. Use the prefixes worker: or id: to refine the search results. For details on how to use prefixes, review the Workday Search Prefixes Knowledge Base Article.
3. Within the Employee's Profile, select the Actions button under the employee's name and title, hover Job Change and choose Terminate Employee.
4. The Terminate Employee screen will display. Use the Pencil icon to the right of each section to enter termination information. Fields identified with a red asterisk are required for submission.
a. Select the Primary Reason and Secondary Reason (if applicable) for the termination using the Hamburger Menu (the icon with 3 dots and 3 dashes) to the right of each prompt box. Choose between Involuntary, Offer Declined/Rescinded and Voluntary termination reasons.
i. For student employees, select Primary Reason code of Voluntary > Left/Graduated from School.
ii. If choosing the option Voluntary > Other Voluntary Unknown, please specify the reason in the Comments section at the bottom of the screen.
iii. If choosing the option Involuntary > Layoff (with severance), a One-Time Payment task will route to the Recruitment & Retention Specialists Team. Please include the funding information (COA or POETAF) and the dollar amount of the payment in the Comments section of the screen for the Recruitment & Retention Specialist to initiate and process the task.
1. HRPs are also able to initiate a One-Time Payment for severance as a standalone process by following the steps in the Requesting One Time Payments in Workday Knowledge Base Article.
b. Type or use the calendar icon to enter the Termination Date and Resignation Date (if needed).
i. The Last Day of Work and Pay Through Date fields will populate automatically after the Termination Date has been entered. If required, update these fields with the appropriate date.
ii. Please be advised that the Termination Date should be the last day worked/of pay received, except in cases of layoff, severance, or other unusual circumstances where extensions of pay or benefits have been approved.
iii. If anticipating any additional payments being made to the employee after the termination date, please indicate the final pay period end date for that payment in the Pay Through Date field.
iv. For biweekly employees, please ensure that the Pay Through Date indicates the end date of the pay period. This will ensure that any hours the employee has logged prior to the termination during the pay period are paid out. To find the University Payroll Paydates schedule, visit the Financial Services | Payroll website and scroll to the bottom of the page.
c. Indicate if the employee is or is not eligible for rehire in the Eligibility section. For student employees, leave this blank.
d. Go to the Position Details section to make edits.
i. Check the Close Position box to close the position in the employee's former organization. Positions that have an open job requisition cannot be closed.
1. Please note that closing a position is a permanent change that impacts UChicago’s planning, budgeting, and forecasting. If there is any chance the position may be backfilled or needed in the future, DO NOT close it. Once closed, the position cannot be backfilled.
2. For student employees, checkmark this box.
ii. Check the Is this position available for overlap? box if it is anticipated to backfill the position before it is vacated. This will allow to temporarily put more than one worker in the position.
1. For student employees, DO NOT checkmark this box.
e. To attach the resignation letter or equivalent document, scroll down to the Attachments section at the bottom of the screen. Upload the document either by choosing Select Files and selecting the appropriate file from your computer, or by dragging and dropping the file into the gray box. To insert additional documents, select Upload and add the files. If an incorrect document is mistakenly uploaded, select the Trash Can icon.
i. After uploading the document, use the Hamburger Menu to the right of the Category prompt box to choose the appropriate document classification (e.g., Resignation Letter).
ii. When warranted, indicate in the comments section if an unemployment claim for the terminated employee should be contested and upload any supporting documentation.
f. Select Submit.
5. Additional tasks regarding pending time and time off may need to be completed. The To Do: Confirm Time Offs in System task will be generated to ensure the timesheet is accurate and up to date, so the correct accruals are paid out.
a. To Do steps instruct employees to take care of an item outside of the business process. After completing the To Do task, navigate back to My Tasks, and select Submit on the To Do task to move the business process to the next step.
6. The process will be routed to a Recruitment & Retention Specialist to review and approve the Termination process, then to a Payroll Analyst to review the time off balance, and finally to a Business Process Administrator to manage the business processes for the worker. For student employees, the process routes to a Student Employment Administrator for review and approval.
a. If the person held security roles in Workday, there will be a step to review the role assignments and reassign the role of the employee being terminated if appropriate.
7. As part of the Termination process, both the employee and the HRP will be sent a Termination Checklist notification.
a. The Termination Checklist notification for the employee will include instructions to verify their legal name and update their mailing address via the Change Contact Information business process in Workday.
b. The Termination Checklist notification for the HRP will include instructions for collecting University property, retrieving ID badges, and completing the exit interview.
i. The Exit Interview is an optional task that can be completed if departments chose to do it when they terminate an employee. Please note that the Not Eligible for Rehire reason within the Exit Interview task, does not determine whether the individual will be placed on the Ineligible for Rehire list maintained centrally.
8. If the employee is faculty or academic, the process will be sent to the Academic Administrator to end the academic appointment(s) for the employee.
9. If an Academic HR Partner is terminating a tenured faculty member and the termination reason is Retirement, the Academic HR Partner will receive a brief questionnaire asking whether the faculty member will be returning immediately after retirement for a paid appointment. If the answer is YES, the Academic HR Partner will receive a To Do step with a reminder to create an active Emeritus position and start the rehire process. If the answer to the questionnaire is NO, the Provost Office will receive a To Do step to enter the newly retired faculty as an inactive Emeritus.