UUA Church Staff Finances
Guided by Unitarian Universalist values,
we equip congregations for excellence as employers
and their staff for financial competence and well-being. |
Retirement and Insurance Plans
Compensation and Staffing Guidance
Aid Funds |
Compensation & Staffing News |
February 2025
Benefits Tune-up Month! |
Editor's Note: Show Your Staff the Love
Dear Readers,
The 8th edition of our popular Benefits Tune-up Workbook is now available, along with an updated Benefits Tune-up Tip Sheet for staff. See our lead article about an important way of showing your staff the love!
The Annual Certification process has wrapped up, but use the links below let us know about changes to your staff and lay leadership throughout the year – salary and hours changes, new home addresses, terminations, and retirements. |
New leaders or employees? Changes to staff salaries or addresses? Let us know!
Faithfully, |
Jan Gartner, Associate Director, Church Staff Finances |
Show Your Staff the Love: Tune Up Your Benefits |
When you provide employee benefits, you are making legal commitments to your staff and to the UUA. Unfortunately, in many congregations, those who manage UUA benefits for the staff often receive little or no training. Even well-equipped leaders sometimes forget the details when it comes to eligibility requirements, enrollment windows, and administrative must-do's.
We have a resource to help you provide UUA benefits with confidence! |
|
|
The Benefits Tune-up Workbook has become one of our best-known resources. Leaders appreciate the presentation of content – with yes/no questions, short fill-in-the-blanks, and plenty of white space. We encourage you to complete it once a year or whenever someone new takes over responsibility for benefits administration. It's also a good idea to review it as you onboard new employees.
By offering our values-based benefits and ensuring that they are administered properly, you are showing your staff the love! Be sure to share our Benefits Tune-up Tip Sheet with them, as well. When your staff members are knowledgeable about eligibility and enrollment, they can help you avoid pitfalls.
You don't have to do the whole Workbook in one sitting – or even in one month! Consider completing one section this month, perhaps with a buddy or a small group of leaders. And please use the feedback survey (link throughout the Workbook) to share with us what you've learned and/or how this resource can be improved. |
Splits Form Reminder: Please Submit ASAP
Last year, we transitioned from monthly to annual Health Plan Splits Form reporting. (The Splits Form shows, for each participating employee, how much of the premium has been contributed by the employee and by the employer.) As we wind up the Health Plan Audit for this cycle, we are still waiting for some of these forms. If you haven't yet completed yours, we thank you for taking care of this Department of Labor requirement as soon as possible! |
Reporting Nonexempt Hours to Empower
As you know, employers are responsible for keeping records of daily and weekly hours worked for all nonexempt employees. Some of these nonexempt staff might be salaried. This means that even though their pay is constant, you still need to track hours. You must also ensure that you are paying the minimum wage for actual hours worked and using the overtime rate for over 40 hours in a workweek (or per state law).
The question recently arose – for salaried nonexempt staff, should you report their nominal hours in the Empower platform or their actual hours? Please report their actual hours worked. As an example, you may have a nonexempt employee who is salaried based on a 16-hour workweek. However, their workload varies. One week, they might work 15 hours. Another week 22 hours. And so on. For the purposes of qualifying for employer contributions, we want to make sure that employee gets credit for all hours worked, regardless of the pay arrangement.
What about exempt employees? You will use nominal hours, since reporting actual hours is not required (or recommended) for exempt staff. |
Stewardship for Us Seeking Consultants
Stewardship for Us provides consulting services on a fee-for-service basis to Unitarian Universalist congregations and other organizations. Their mission is: "We help UU congregations and other non-profits grow and thrive through inspired stewardship." While Stewardship for Us is not a program of the UUA, their team works with our Congregational Life staff to ensure coordinated efforts in serving congregations.
Due to increased demand, Stewardship for Us is seeking one or more consultants to join their team, with a preference for those located on the east coast. Do you have experience as a volunteer or professional in some aspect of stewardship in a UU setting? Are you intrigued? Click the button below for further information. |
Was this newsletter forwarded to you and now you want to subscribe?
Or do you want to encourage others to subscribe? |
UUA Church Staff Finances provides general information to
help equip and empower congregational leaders in their decision-making.
We are not legal or tax professionals and we do not track state law. Congregations are solely responsible for their legal obligations. We encourage you to consult your own legal and tax advisors for specific guidance. |
|
|
|
|
