Division of Public Health Sciences

Division of Public Health Sciences

Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy

Administrative Handbook

Providing department policy derived from the policies of the organization.

This document is revised twice yearly (last revision January 2009)

Table of Contents

Contents

MEDICAL CENTER POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

MISSION STATEMENTS

APPROVAL PROCESS FOR STAFF SCHEDULES

REPORTING TIME WORKED/TIME OFF

HIPAA WORKING OFFSITE/AT HOME GUIDELINES

BAD WEATHER PROCEDURE

HEALTH AND MEDICAL LEAVE

RECRUITING, HIRING AND TERMINATING STAFF

CHANGES IN WORK HOURS, FUNDING OR STATUS

BUDDY SYSTEM

REPORTING WORRYING ISSUES

ID BADGES

PERFUME POLICY

DEPARTMENT PERSONNEL FILES

TEMPORARY SERVICES

CLERICAL ASSISTANCE

ICE MACHINE

PEOPLESOFT

WFUHS HOLIDAY SCHEDULE

PHS DIVISION and SSHP DEPARTMENT COMMITTEES

CONFERENCE ROOMS

AUDIOVISUAL EQUIPMENT

REQUESTING PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT FUNDS

FAXING PROCEDURES

RESEARCH MANAGEMENT

HOUSEKEEPING AND MAINTENANCE PROCEDURES

TRAVEL PROCEDURES

INFORMATION SERVICES COMPUTING REQUESTS

PURCHASING

TELEPHONE SYSTEM and CELL PHONE USE

LIBRARY SERVICES

MAIL SERVICES

SERVICE DEPARTMENTS

RESTAURANTS

PUBLIC HEALTH SCIENCES LOCATIONS

WFUHS/PHS/SSHP ADMINISTRATION

PHS SSHP OFTEN-USED ABBREVIATIONS

GLOSSARY OF GRANT TERMS

GENERAL ACRONYMS AND ABBREVIATIONS

MEDICAL CENTER POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

Non-Faculty

The WFUHS Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual can be found on the Intranet at (go to Departments, HR WFUHS Internal, Policy Manual). The Administrative Coordinator and the Finance Coordinator both have a copy that you may borrow on request.

Faculty

The Dean’s Office administers policies and procedures according to the Organization Policies and Procedures Handbook. It can be found on the web at

MISSION STATEMENTS

SSHPMission Statement

The mission of the Department of Social Sciences and Health Policy is to improve the human condition through the application of social sciences and policy research to health and health care. Recognizing that health and healthcare represent complex challenges, we are committed to collaborative, multidisciplinary and translational approaches to our research, education and community involvement.

SSHP Administrative Staff Mission Statement

To provide professional support by working as an efficient and committed team while fostering mutual respect and a positive attitude.

Adopted September 2001

Scientific Sections within SSHP

Healthcare Systems and Policy

Healthcare Systems and Policyfocuses on understanding how to organize healthcare delivery so that is it safe, effective, efficient, equitable, affordable, accessible and patient-centered.

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Social and Behavioral Sciencesfocuses on improving individuals' health and quality of life through social and behavioral approaches.

Society and Health

Society and Healthfocuses on the influence of families, communities and social forces such as civic engagement and discrimination on health, and the potential to improve health by influencing society.

APPROVAL PROCESS FOR STAFF SCHEDULES

As a general rule, even when a staff member reports to a non-faculty supervisor, the ultimate responsibility for staff schedules is at the faculty level. Therefore, for most staff scheduling issues, faculty approval must be obtained.

Working out of the office/at home

In general, staff will perform their duties at the workplace. Working at home due to special needs must be approved in advance by a faculty supervisor. Constraints are:

The work must be of a nature that can be performed out of the office.
The employee must have all the equipment needed to perform out of the office. SSHP will not purchase equipment in order for an employee to work out of the office.
The working relationship must be such that the supervisor trusts the employee to work outside of the office.
HIPAA regulations and any other relevant guidelines must be adhered to.
The work must be measurable and progress shown on request.

Working overtime

Biweekly paid staff

Overtime for biweekly staff must be approved in advance by the supervisor and communicated to the Administrative Coordinator.
If the staff member recognizes the need to work overtime, the faculty supervisor for whom the work is to be completed should be notified and the approved request should be forwarded to the Administrative Coordinator.
If a faculty member requests that a staff member work overtime, the request should be copied to the Administrative Coordinator.

Note that WFUHS policy requires that all staff members of similar classification in the same work area should have the opportunity to work overtime and that hours offered and declined by employees should be tracked at the Division/Department level. For this reason, all requests should be by e-mail so that discrepancy patterns may be monitored.

Monthly paid staff

WFUHS does not have a "compensation" time policy for exempt staff. If a monthly paid employee is required to put in additional time, this should be discussed with their faculty supervisor. If work demand consistently exceeds forty hours per week or the number of hours per week the employee is hired to work, the employee should discuss this with their faculty supervisor to help prioritize work demands or make other arrangements.

Vacation

All requests should be made to the faculty supervisor by e-mail. For administrative staff, the staff member should then forward faculty approvals to the Administrative Coordinator. If the time off will not disrupt the smooth running of the Department, administrative approval will also be given.

Absences

The regular office hours are 8 am to 5 pm. Administrative staff absences during these hours should be approved by the supervisor. If planning to be out of the office, contact your assigned faculty regarding their being assigned a back-up secretary. Contact the Administrative Coordinator if back-up arrangements are requested.

All staff requests for release time for courses, special events, or irregular work hours must be approved, in advance, by the employee’s faculty supervisor. If approval is obtained, it is up to staff to identify someone to cover for them during these times.

Sick Time

Notify assigned supervisor(s), faculty, and the Administrative Coordinator by delivering an e-mail, audix voicemail message or phone call to each. (Ask Administrative Coordinator if you need assistance with creating audix messages for multiple deliveries or see “Telephone System and Audix” later in this document).

Arriving Late

Notify assigned supervisor(s), faculty, and the Administrative Coordinator by delivering an e-mail, audix message or phone call to each. (Ask Administrative Coordinator if you need assistance with creating audix messages for multiple deliveries or see “Telephone System and Audix” later in this document).

Leaving During the Day

When you leave your desk during the day, leave details of where you are and your expected return time (e.g., lunch - back at 1:00 p.m., WachoviaBldg - back at 3:00 p.m.). Obtain faculty permission before attending activities that require an absence from work.

Leaving Early

If leaving early for the day, obtain permission from assigned faculty and leave details as above.

Family Sick Time

Employees can use up to ten days of accrued sick time per year to care for an immediate family member.

Immediate family members are defined as your spouse, parents, and minor children. You may use this time to care for a child over 18 years of age if he/she is registered disabled.

If you are a monthly paid employee using Family Sick Time, report the hours in the sick time area on the monthly attendance sheet and make a note that you were out with a family member.

REPORTING TIME WORKED/TIME OFF

Exempt (monthly-paid) employees

At the end of each month you will be asked to report any vacation, sick, travel, or excused hours, along with the dates, to Susan Harris, Administrative Secretary.

Biweekly (hourly-paid) employees

Biweekly employees working in the office log in and log out of work at their assigned computer using the Kronos timekeeping system. If unable to log in or out for any reason, complete a Time Form (signed by faculty supervisor or person designated by faculty supervisor) and submit to Susan Harris. Biweekly employees are required to log in/out whenever:

arriving at work
leaving for lunch
returning from lunch
leaving for the day

You must also log out if you leave for any non-work related reason during the day. Sick and vacation hours are to be submitted to Susan Harris who will make the necessary adjustments.

Working at Home

If you log-in to check e-mail or take care of other work items at home, you must log-in to Kronos or submit the time you spent working to Susan Harris. Federal law states that all non-exempt employees must be paid for time worked and checking work e-mail from home is to be included as time worked and to be paid. If this will cause you to be paid overtime, follow the overtime approval policy.

The WFUHS internet service is not to be used at home for internet access unless access is for work-related use.

Pay Schedules

Biweekly-paid employees are paid on alternate Fridays.

Monthly-paid employees are paid on the 26th of each month unless the 26th is a weekend or a WFUHS Holiday. If the 26th is a Saturday, employees will be paid on the Friday. If the 26th is a Sunday, employees will be paid on the Monday. For pay during a Holiday, see the Human Resources website for details.

HIPAA WORKING OFFSITE/AT HOME GUIDELINES

Faculty and staff in the Division of Public Health Sciences have an ethical obligation to protect participants in research studies from unwanted and inappropriate disclosures or release of confidential information, especially personal identifiable health information. The objective of this Guideline is to minimize risk of unwanted or inappropriate disclosure or release of confidential information when departmental faculty or staff members remove research materials from the physical premises of Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS) in the course of working off-site. These guidelines are also intended to promote compliance with requirements established in state and federal regulations including the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA).

Scope

This Guidance provides recommended steps for safeguarding the privacy of all research participants and to protect the confidentiality of participant’s health information when faculty/staff are performing work duties off site. It does not cover procedures for safeguarding the privacy of research participants while on the work site. This guidance applies to all employees in the Division of Public Health Sciences. It covers protecting research information whether it is in electronic, printed, written or verbal form.

Policy

It is the Policy of the Division of Public Health Sciences that the guidelines provided in this document will be used as appropriate to assist in the associated activities.

Deviations

Deviations from these Guidelines are allowed if the deviations are justifiable.

Statement of Authority

Controlled documents generated within the Division of Public Health Sciences may be distributed in both paper and electronic form. In all cases, the authorized original of the documents will be the most current published electronic form that is stored in the Document Management System. It is the responsibility of the reader of distributed paper copies to ensure they are using the most recent authorized version of the Document Management System document.

Guidelines

Any removal of research materials (with or without protected health information) from WFUHS premises must have prior approval from the Principal Investigator of the project or a supervisor. If a Principal Investigator or supervisor authorizes an employee to remove materials to perform work off site, that work is considered an approved work function.

Whenever research materials are removed from WFUHS premises, care should be taken to limit the confidential or protected information to the minimum information necessary to complete the assigned work function. In some cases, risk of unwanted and inappropriate disclosures may be reduced by recoding certain variables. Examples might include converting date of birth to participant age or exam dates to a study interval such as days since enrollment.

If an employee is obtaining medical records, the records should be blinded by removing all identifiers in the medical record room prior to leaving the building, when possible.

Special care and consideration should be used when employees are working with research information containing research participants’ social security numbers while off site.

If transporting any PHI off site, employees should use a secured briefcase/container. PHI should also be secured in the briefcase/container when the employee is not working on it. When PHI is transported as electronic records, media should be password protected and encrypted if possible.

Current HIPAA rules regarding protected health information apply whether work is being performed on or off site. These regulations hold individual employees accountable for

any breaches.

Those who have access to CareCast are reminded that the system is to be used to access study related participant or patient medical records ONLY for a business need to know. You are NOT allowed to access to the medical records of family, friends, yourself or any casual acquaintance.

Supervisors and employees should clearly understand these requirements.

Working at Home

The WFUHS internet service is not to be used at home for internet access unless access is for work-related use.

BAD WEATHER PROCEDURE

The official school policy is to remain open and continue operations during severe weather. Many critical functions must be staffed regardless of weather. The school has adopted the following policy regarding weather-related absences:

Non-exempt(biweekly-paid) staff

Non-exempt employees who do not report to work or who arrive late for work because of weather conditions may be given an excused absence without pay for the period of work missed or the time may be charged to accrued vacation if preferred.

During severe weather conditions the School of Medicine may close. Each department will be notified of this decision. Under such circumstances, there will be no loss of pay to affected employees nor will they be required to charge the time to accrued vacation. Such excused time off will not be counted as hours worked for the purposes of determining overtime. The employee must be at workwhen the decision is broadcast in order to be paid for this excused time.

Excused, non-exempt employees who elect to leave work prior to the time specified in the official notification may use accrued vacation or be absent without pay for the scheduled work time missed. (Example: If an employee who normally works 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. elects to leave work at 1:00 p.m. due to severe weather, and the official notification states that designated employees may leave at 3:00 p.m., the person who left at 1:00 p.m. will either charge vacation or take an excused absence without pay for the time not worked from 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. The employee who leaves at 3:00 p.m. will be paid for the remainder of the workday.)

SSHP staff should call their supervisors to let them know their anticipated time of arrival, of their decision to leave work early, or that they will be taking the excused absence for the entire day, as soon as possible.

If WFUSM has issued a “bad weather” statement, those who arrive at work by 10:00 a.m. will be paid from the time they normally arrive until 10:00 a.m. Those who arrive after 10:00 a.m. may choose to use vacation or unpaid time. This will only take effect on days that the school issues a “bad weather” statement. Please note that other departments do not pay excused time at all – this is a concession that PHS awards employees.

If the school does not issue a “bad weather” statement, staff may choose to arrive late or not come to work, but there will not be any excused pay. This time may be charged to vacation or taken as unpaid time.

Exempt (monthly-paid) staff

Exempt staff may also take an excused absence without pay or use accrued vacation during periods of severe weather.

HEALTH AND MEDICAL LEAVE

Employee Health Clinic: Mead’s Hall

The clinic is available to all employees, free of charge, and is not intended to replace the employee’s need for a primary care physician (PCP), but is to be an adjunct to the care received from the employee’s PCP. Flu shots are available free of charge each fall/winter.

Hours:

Mon. – Fri. 7:30 – 10 a.m., walk-in.

Mon., Tues., Wed., and Fri., 10 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. by appointment only.