DEANS
DEPARTMENT CHAIRS
INSTRUCTIONAL FACULTY
PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS
ASSISTANT DEANS
CHIEF PERSONNEL OFFICERS
The new Graduate Student Researchers (GSR) and Academic Student Employees (ASE) labor contracts provide enhanced paid leave benefits, and the Office of the President has mandated that all campuses implement leave recording processes to ensure these paid leave benefits are implemented consistently across the system. The University has legal responsibilities as a public institution and recipient of grant funds to align compensation with work provided to the institution.
Principal Investigators (PIs) will be responsible for reviewing and approving submitted absence/leave records by Graduate Student Researchers (GSRs). Instructors of Records (IORs) will review and approve submitted absence/leave records for Teaching Assistants (TAs) or Associate Instructors (AIs) assigned to their courses. This generally means that once a month, PIs and IORs will review the absences/leaves reported by GSRs, TAs, or AIs and ensure that the absences/leaves recorded are accurate and approve it. Where applicable, GSRs, TAs, or AIs will be required to seek prior approval for leaves of absence.
Effective for the pay period beginning on October 1, 2023, individuals who hold appointments in the GSR, TA or AI positions will be required to report absences/leaves taken on a monthly basis in the UCI Time Reporting System (TRS). If no absences/leaves were taken, employees will be required to log in to certify that they have not been absent from work for that pay period.
The assignment of PIs and IORs as Reviewers/Approvers in UCI’s Time Reporting System (TRS) is to facilitate processing of submitted absence/leave records. At UCI, the following designations will be implemented as reviewers/approvers of absence/leave-reporting process for GSRs, TAs, and AIs:
- TAs and AIs
- Reviewer/Approver: Instructor of Record
- Backup: Department Chair or designee
- Department Time Administrator (DTA): Designated unit DTA
- GSRs
- Reviewer/Approver: Principal Investigator
- Backup: Department Chair or designee
- Department Time Administrator (DTA): Designated unit DTA
GSRs, TAs, and AIs will be notified separately about this absence/leave reporting process. Here is a Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) to assist you in navigating TRS and in answering questions regarding how GSRs, TAs, AIs are to report absences/leave in the system. This FAQ also contains information about GSR Personal Time Off (PTO) use requests and reporting.
We thank you in advance for your partnership in managing this new administrative task related to the new labor contracts. If you have any questions, the following resources are available to you:
- For school or department-specific questions, please contact your School’s Chief Personnel Officer (CPO) or your department manager.
- To access the UCI Time Reporting System (TRS) as well as employee, supervisor and DTA training resources, please visit the following links:
- For timesheet completion related questions, employees should contact their supervisor, department manager or designated DTA. Any questions requiring Central Payroll assistance should be submitted via EEC Ticket by selecting the following categories:
- Payroll and Time Reporting > View all Payroll and Time Reporting > Time Reporting System (TRS) and Timesheet Inquiry
- For any questions related to ASE or GSR contractual provisions, please contact your Academic Personnel Analyst and/or the Office of Academic Personnel, acadpers@uci.edu.
Sincerely,
Diane K. O’Dowd
Vice Provost, Academic Personnel Marianne Liu Beckett
Assistant Vice Chancellor, Academic Personnel