Dear Campus Colleagues,
I want to provide important deadline information in anticipation of closing out the 2025 calendar year and in preparation for HR requests that need to happen in 2025 for Spring 2026. We are currently working on additional communications around ASE/GSR and Lecturer hiring deadlines and guidelines on best practices for hiring a postdoc. Please assist in cascading this information to your faculty members and department staff. It would be greatly appreciated.
Department deadline for 2025 overpayment to be processed in 2025
UCPath has informed us of their upcoming deadline for 2025 overpayments. Departments need to submit a ServiceHub case for any 2025 overpayments they wish to be processed in 2025 by October 6, 2025 in order to guarantee that UCPath will process these overpayments this calendar year. Any overpayment requests submitted to BRS after October 6, 2025 are not guaranteed to be processed in 2025 and may cross tax years for impacted employees and this will impact the amount they owe. For information on the impact of an overpayment crossing tax years, please refer to page 8 of the Overpayment Guidelines.
Deadline for retroactive salary actions to trigger payments in 2025.
If a department wishes to have a retroactive salary action pay in the 2025 calendar year, all retroactive salary actions need to be submitted to BRS by November 10, 2025. For any retroactive salary changes submitted to BRS after November 10, 2025 we cannot guarantee that UCPath will generate the retropayment in 2025.
Spring 2026 Visiting Professor Appointments & Recall Appointments
Many departments hire Visiting professors to work in the Spring semester. Please note that Visiting Professor titles are not academic year appointments. These are fiscal-year appointments that may begin at any time and are not limited to July 1 or January 1 start dates. There is no grace period for onboarding; the required hiring paperwork must be completed prior to the start of the appointment. Because they are fiscal year appointments, their start dates should be when they report to work for their assignment.
UCOP has narrowed all Visiting Professor titles to the following three categories:
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1108, Visiting Prof – Holds rank as Professor at home institution
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1208, Visiting Assoc Prof – Holds rank as Associate Professor at home institution
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1308, Visiting Asst Prof – Holds rank as Assistant Professor at home institution
*For hires that complete onboarding after the start of the appointment, hiring units will need to adjust the appointment letter to reflect updated appointment start date, FTE, etc., when applicable.
Recall Appointments
For all recall appointments, the UCPath pay frequency MUST be monthly (UC_FY 12/12).
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1700, Recall Teaching – Use for recall appointees with teaching duties only.
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1701, Recall HCOMP – Currently limited to the School of Optometry.
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1702, Recall Faculty – Use for Recall appointees with a combination of teaching, research, and/or administrative duties, or research duties only. For teaching duties only, use title code 1700.
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3802, Recall Non-Faculty Acad – Use for recall appointees such as academic coordinators, academic administrators, researchers, project scientists, specialists, cooperative extension advisers, etc. for research and administration.
As a reminder, under APO’s Quick Links/Forms section, a recall compensation calculator is provided to assist units in determining recall appointments.
Working Outside of the U.S.
As a hiring supervisor, it is important that you do not agree to allow any employee to work outside of the United States without seeking proper authorization. Doing so poses significant risks to both the employee and the organization. Please work with your HR Partner or HR Generalist before extending any appointments or work duties for anyone that may work outside of the U.S.
Why Working Abroad Creates Risk
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Tax Compliance: Employers may be required to pay employment taxes in the country where the employee is physically working.
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Labor Laws: Local labor laws may entitle employees to rights or benefits beyond those provided under U.S. law.
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Benefits Coverage: Standard U.S.-based benefits may not extend to employees working in another country.
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Legal and Immigration Issues: Employees may not have proper work authorization or visas, creating liability for both the individual and the institution.
Staff Titles
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Working outside of the U.S. is not permitted for staff titles without control unit approval.
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Supervisors must first work with their control unit to request support. If approved, the control unit will then coordinate with BRS if they wish to advance the request to Eugene Whitlock.
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Please note: pursuing this path typically requires retaining legal counsel. Attorney retainer fees average around $3,000 and may be necessary to explore options such as nomad visas.
Academic Titles
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Working outside of the U.S. is not permitted for academic titles without APO approval
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If you wish to hire or allow an academic employee to work abroad, you must inform your department and provide a strong business justification.
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Please be aware: such requests are rarely approved by APO.
Important reminders to Faculty hiring Postdocs post Fall 2025 graduation:
Continuing to employ a GSR beyond the last day of the term in which they graduate is not permitted unless they are an NSF Graduate Research Fellowship Program (GRFP) GSR. If you wish to hire them into a different title, such as a Postdoctoral Scholar title, you need to inform HR by October 31, 2025so BRS can determine eligibility, ask the employee to gather all of the required documentation and initiate the hire request. Please note that any employee placed into a Postdoc or Interim Postdoc appointment requires a certificate of PhD completion. Failure to provide the certificate of completion will delay the start date of the Postdoctoral appointment, and the employee may have a break in service. A break in service may create benefits or pay interruption.
Any international students graduating should consult with Berkeley International Office (BIO) to determine their work authorization end date so they do not violate their visa requirements.
If there is no formal offer approved by HR to an incoming Postdoc, the GSR should not continue to work past their end date without HR approval. Continued employment may violate an employee’s work authorization and could potentially create late wage claims.
Unpaid Leaves for Spring semester (January 2026)
If an employee will begin an unpaid leave in January 2026 and chooses not to continue their benefits coverage, please follow the process below.
Supervisor/Department Responsibilities
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Submit leave details to BRS via ServiceHub by November 10, 2025.
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BRS must process the leave in UCPath before the employee submits their Benefit Billing Election form.
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UCPath will not process the election form unless the leave is already entered.
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Provide the employee with the Benefit Summary election form from UCPath
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Instructions on how to download the form
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(Supervisors: check with your SARA approver if you need access to this page.)
Why This Deadline Matters
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Benefit premiums are deducted at the beginning of each month for that month’s coverage.
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Submitting by November 10 ensures leaves are processed in UCPath before the employee submits their Benefit Summary election form and eliminates delays for the employee.
Employee Process
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Employee completes the Benefit Billing Election Form using the summary page.
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Employee submits the form directly to UCPath.
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Benefit premiums are deducted at the beginning of each month for that month’s coverage.
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Recommended submission date: by November 30, 2025 to avoid incorrect January premium deductions.Example of a Benefit Billing Election form: