New Full-Time Employees

About North Park

New Employee Information

The Human Resources department extends a warm welcome to you as a new employee of North Park University. We are dedicated to providing you with quality service and professional standards. As a new employee, we will guide you in navigating the benefits and services offered by our institution. The following details important information for full-time employees. Please take a few moments and read through the summary and corresponding attachments.

Please submit paperwork via email to your respective HR Business Partner listed below:

STEP 1:

EMPLOYMENT FORMS: Please digitally fill out all of the required forms in Step 1 and email them to your respective HR Business Partner as soon as possible (listed above). You will not receive a paycheck and computer services will not be able to activate a computer account until these forms are returned to us. When returning the forms, you must present the proper identification. The most common identification(s) provided are a current Passport OR current Driver's License AND social security card or birth certificate. The identifications shown must be originals and not photocopies. Please complete the following forms prior to your start date:

Personnel Data Sheet
Direct Deposit Authorization Form (you may also request a similar form directly from your bank)
Federal W4 Form
Illinois W4 Form
Illinois W5 Form (Only for residents of IA, KY, MI & WI)
I-9 Employment Eligibility Form (Please note you will need to stop by HR to present two forms of identification during your first week to complete this form)
I-9 Notary Public Form (Only for those not able to complete the I-9 in our office)
Enroll in Benefits: If interested, please complete the Medical, Dental, and Vision insurance Enrollment Forms (located on the right-hand side of this page). If not, please complete the Decline Form.

STEP 2:

After filling out your Employment Forms, please continue reading the rest of the information on this Wiki page. There are additional benefit forms that will need to be completed upon hire.

EMPLOYEE ID: Once we receive and process your personnel paperwork, an employee ID number will be issued and emailed to you. You will need the ID number to set up your NPU email by creating a login and password. To set up a password for your account, go to the Account Management page and enter your employee ID number to begin. It will take you through identification verification steps, allow you to set your password, and will provide you with your North Park Username and e-mail address. Please call our Information Technology helpdesk at 773-244-5540 if you have problems creating a password for your account. You can log into your NPU e-mail here. North Park University issues identification cards to all students, faculty, and staff. You are required to carry your ID card with you when you are on campus. It will serve as your access card to many places and resources such as using Helwig Recreation Center, making copies at machines around campus, entering and checking items out of the library, and purchasing items with Flex Dollars in the dining hall, or Viking Cafe. Please visit Campus Safety on the 1st floor to acquire your Employee ID Card. View the NPU Campus Map for more information.
PAY SCHEDULE: Exempt Employees are paid on a semi-monthly basis. Exempt employees receive their pay on the 15th and last day of the month and are paid through the date of payday. If this day falls on a weekend or holiday, you will receive your pay on the Friday prior. We require all full-time employees to have direct deposit. You will be able to view your pay advices, annual W2 and 1095c tax documents online through Self Service. Non-exempt (hourly) employees are paid on a bi-weekly basis (every other Friday). Non-exempt employees enter the time worked via web time entry in Self-Service and submitted based on a set bi-weekly pay period. You must fill out the direct deposit form along with your tax forms.
BENEFITS INFORMATION: Your health insurance will be effective the first of the month following your start date. You may enroll now or during open enrollment. Open enrollment will be held in November and any changes made at this time will be effective January 1. You may make changes to your insurance when you have a qualifying event such as a marriage, birth, adoption, etc. At the time, you have within 30 days of the event to make a change. **Premiums are taken out of your paycheck on a pre-tax basis. Please review our Benefits Guide for health insurance information and the monthly premium amounts. North Park shares the monthly premium cost with employees.**
FLEXIBLE SPENDING ACCOUNTS: This account allows employees to set aside money on a pre-tax basis for health care expenses not covered under the medical plan and dependent care expenses. You should estimate how much you want to set aside annually and this amount will be deducted from your paycheck which lowers your taxable income. After you have enrolled, you may change the amount of your deduction only if you have a qualifying event. As you incur expenses, you will use your preloaded FSA debit card or submit receipts and claim form directly to Highmark. Qualified expenses are from your start date through December 31. You may carry over up to $550 for the healthcare FSA into the new year. Any money not used by December 31 for the dependent care account is forfeited. Claims can be submitted until March 31 of the following year for expenses incurred until December 31 of the previous year. Please complete and return the enrollment form if interested.
COMMUTER BENEFITS: The commuter benefit program will help you save money on your mass transit commuting costs. You may enroll at any time through out the year. We have selected Commuter Check Direct to provide you with simple online and electronic fulfillment for use in commuting to work. You will directly create an account with the Commuter Check website. Commuter Check will send you a pre-filled debit card based on your designated selections and North Park will automatically receive instructions to make the proper pre-tax deductions from your paycheck. You will then use the debit card to purchase transit cards.
LIFE INSURANCE: North park maintains and pays the premium for a term life insurance policy for each full time employee. It is in the amount of your annual salary rounded to the nearest thousand dollar. Please print and return the beneficiary form to us.
DISABILITY INSURANCE: North Park provides long term disability insurance for all full-time employees after they have completed one year of service with us. The plan provides income equal to 60% of annual salary in the event of disability after a waiting period of six months. North Park pays the premium. Please refer to the letter of employment verification instructions to pass on to your previous employer to determine if you are eligible to enroll early into the plan. There is no form to complete and return.
TUITION REMISSION: Tuition remission benefits are available to employees, their spouses, and their dependents in accordance with the policies outlined in Appendix B of the employee handbook (see number 11 for the employee handbook). North Park also is a member of the Tuition Exchange. Tuition exchange provides employees’ dependents the opportunity to attend any of several higher educational institutions that participate in tuition exchange programs. North Park participates in two tuition exchange programs involving a wide range of educational institutions.
RETIREMENT PLAN: The Benefits Guide (see Other section) provide a summary of our retirement plan with TIAA. It is mandatory for employees to enroll after 2 years of full-time service. If you have previously worked full time at a private or public college or university or a public secondary school, your time worked at your last employers may shorten or eliminate the waiting periods for North Park’s retirement plan. You must obtain a letter from your previous employers stating your specific full time dates of employment and description of their plan within 30 days from your benefit start date for consideration.
LEAVE TIME: Faculty and part time positions do not accrue leave time. Full time staff employees accrue leave as you work. The leave cycle is from Sep 1 through Aug 31. Balances for accrued leave are shown in Web Advisor. You may not take leave time in excess of what you have accrued. New employees are discourage from taking leave time within the first 3 months of employment.
VACATION DAYS: You will accrue 10 days during your first year of service. After your first year anniversary, you will accrue 15 days of vacation per year for the next four years, after that you will accrue 20 days per year after your fifth year anniversary. At the end of the leave cycle, you are allowed to carry over half of your total annual accrual into the next leave cycle.
SICK DAYS: You will accrue 10 days per year. You may accrue up to 450 hours and at that point you will no longer accrue sick time until some hours are used. Sick time does carry over into the next leave cycle.
PERSONAL DAYS: You will accrue 3 days per leave cycle (Sep 1 – Aug 31). Personal days do not carry over into the next leave cycle. If you do not use them you will lose them.
**Exempt Employees report their time off taken by responding to a Leave Time Off email at the beginning of each month regarding the previous month and submit it to their supervisor in a timely manner. The employee MUST respond whether or not time off was taken.** An example email message is attached.
**Non-exempt employees report their time off taken immediately each pay**
EMPLOYEE ACKNOWLEDGEMENT: Our EMPLOYEE HANDBOOK is designed to be a useful guide to help you understand key policies as well as your privileges and obligations as a North Park Employee. The handbook is not intended to create a contract of employment nor is it an all-inclusive description of all policies, procedures, and benefits program. North park may from time to time amend, delete, or supplement any of its policies and procedures. When possible reasonable notice will be given of changes to policies, procedures, or benefit programs, but failure to give notice will not affect the validity of the change. Employment is at the will of the employee and North Park University. This means that you may quit at any time with or without notice and North Park University may terminate your employment at any time with or without notice. There is no promise that employment will continue for a set period of time, nor is there any promise that your employment will be terminate only under particular circumstances. No one has the authority to make representations inconsistent with this policy. The current published handbook supersedes any and all other oral, written, or implied provisions, descriptions, or understanding of North Park’s policies, rules, procedures, or benefits, except as specifically indicated in the handbook. Please print and return the Employee Handbook Acknowledgment Form to us.
PARKING: Parking is provided to you with a purchase of a valid permit parking sticker. The sticker is valid at designated faculty and staff parking lots. Each car is required to display a permit and is effective Sep 1 – Aug 31 of every academic year. It is important to view the Parking Regulations site for information about our parking policies, campus parking maps and instructions on permit purchasing. ALL parking permits are sold exclusively ONLINE. All purchased parking permits will be available for pickup at the Campus Safety Center during regular business hours. Note: This process is available to the employee ONLY after we have received the required employment documents.
SAFE COMMUNITY: We are committed to the safety and well-being of students, faculty & staff. North Park is prepared to communicate with students and other constituents through a variety of channels in the event of an emergency. Learn more of the procedural guidelines for acting and reporting possible emergency situations at Campus Safety.
BOMB THREATS: Our Campus Safety Department encourages all staff members who are required to answer phone calls from the general public to understand how to respond and handle a bomb threat. We ask that you view the Bomb Threat Training video produced by the University of Central Florida and Homeland Security along with a Bomb Threat Checklist that should be kept handy by each phone. The checklist is designed to help call takers and decision makers respond to a bomb threat in an orderly and controlled manner. Most bomb threats are received by phone and should be considered serious until proven otherwise. If a bomb threat is received, Campus Safety should be notified immediately (773-244-5600) so that they are able to review the information and determine if the Chicago Police should be notified. The video can be viewed at this link What To Do
EQUAL OPPORTUNITY AND DIVERSITY, EQUITY, AND INCLUSION TRAINING:
North Park is committed to providing and maintaining a welcoming environment, and will not tolerate discrimination, harassment, retaliation, or any form of intimidation by any person in any form directed against students, faculty, or staff of the institution. To this end, we have partnered with EVERFI to provide trainings that will help us all be informed on topics vital to achieving our goal and mission. Every year all NPU employees will be required to complete the following EVERFI course:
1. Accommodating Disabilities
2. Diversity: Inclusion in the Modern Workplace
3. Managing Bias
4. Preventing Harassment and Discrimination with Title IX/Clery
KNOWBE4 SECURITY AWARENESS TRAINING:
Information security is vitally important to North Park University as we seek to protect the data entrusted to us by students, employees, alumni, and donors.
To help us all build information security awareness, North Park has partnered with KnowBe4 to provide a program of training videos and simulated phishing training. Through KnowBe4's short, informative videos, we will all learn about data security, phishing, and other risks, and we will assess our progress with simulated phishing emails.
Employees are required to complete regular training courses and will receive email alerts from Information Technology and Human Resources about upcoming and overdue training modules.
Please log in to complete your training using standard university account credentials at https://training.knowbe4.com/
More information regarding information security can be found here. Thank you for being lifelong learners and for doing your part to keep North Park University secure.
OTHER: We encourage you to engage and be part of the North Park Community. Take advantage of a variety of other benefits available to our employees. The B enefits Guide explains the specific information on the links provided.
EMPLOYEE ASSISTANCE PROGRAM: Lincoln National Life has partnered with North Park to provide Employee Assistance Program (EAP) and other value-added services. These are resources you may need to meet life's challenges and the service is offered at no additional cost to you. The EAP is strictly confidential and is designed to safeguard an employee's privacy and rights.