Tax Cuts
Congress passed an extension of various tax cuts that were set to expire on December 31. The bill has several provisions of note:
- “Make Work Pay” Credit – one-year payroll tax reduction will reduce your share of the FICA payroll tax by almost one-third, down from 6.2 to 4.2 percent (Medicare deduction remains unchanged at 1.45%).
- Section 127, Employer-Provided Education Assistance – Allows employees to use up to $5,250 in employer-provided tuition assistance – tax-free – for graduate, undergraduate or certificate level education and training.
- Deductible Education Expenses – Allows assistance from certain scholarship programs to be excluded from income including the annual $2,000 contribution amount to Coverdell Education Savings Accounts and a deduction for interest up to $2,500 on qualified education loans.
- Federal Unemployment Benefits – Extends benefits for an additional 13 months, through December 2011.
Sexual Harassment and Employment Discrimination Training
Sexual discrimination in the form of sexual harassment is defined as the use of one’s authority or power to coerce another person into unwanted sexual relations or to punish another person for that individual’s refusal, or the creation of an intimidating, hostile, or offensive environment for living, working, or learning by a member of the University community through repetitive verbal or physical conduct of a sexual nature. You can read the entire policy at https://uknow.drew.edu/confluence/display/Handbook/Sexual+Harrassment+Policy
On-line Sexual Harassment and Employment Discrimination Training is mandatory for all full and part-time faculty — including adjuncts — and staff. Designed to help us understand, respond to and prevent employment discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace, the online training takes less than one hour of your time and you can take it at anytime and anywhere you have access to a computer. If you have not already done so, please fulfill your responsibility by going to: to take the sexual harassment training and http://training.newmedialearning.com/psh/drewu
http://training.newmedialearning.com/ped/drewu for employment discrimination training. If you have difficulty with either of the links, the links can be found on HR’s webpage. If you are not certain whether you have taken the training, call Fredi Cox at 3795.
Campus Conduct Hotline is available 24/7 and makes it possible for you to report concerns about possible violations of Drew’s policies on a completely confidential and anonymous basis. For more information about the Hotline and/or the Whistleblower’s Policy, go to “Information for Employees” on the HR Intranet website.
Calendar of Events
The holiday schedule for Christmas through New Year’s is:
Closed: Thursday, December 23, 2010 through January 2, 2011
Offices Re-open: Monday, January 3, 2011
New Faculty and Staff Orientation:
Monday, January 3 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm Madison House, Room 104
Tuesday January 18 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm Madison House, Room 104
Monday, January 31 9:00 am – 11:00 am Madison House, Room 104
HR and Payroll Closed
Tuesday through Thursday January 11 – 13, 2011 for all-day Banner training
Happy and Safe Holidays and Happy New Year!