Payroll Information for Mechanical Engineering Graduate Staff
Engineering Employment Center (EEC): A.A. Potter Engineering Center, Room 127 engremployment@purdue.edu
The College of Engineering Employment Center, engremployment@purdue.edu, is responsible for managing all fellowship, research assistantship, and teaching assistantship payroll information and permission for payment for University-related travel. Not following University regulations may result in late payroll deposits or even loss of funds. Note: The offers of fellowship, research assistantship, and teaching assistantship appointments are made by the Head of the School on the recommendation of the faculty and Associate Head for Graduate Studies, and not the COE Employment Center. Also, the actual take-home stipend amount depends upon the tax status of the individual student.
Initial Payroll Setup Procedure
If you have an RA or TA appointment, or if your fellowship is being administered as an assistantship, once your signed offer letter is received at the employment center, you will receive a ‘Welcome’ email from Purdue HR, with details on how to proceed. Please make sure that you complete the New Hire Wizard and Section 1 of the USCIS Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, as soon as possible. Section 1 must be completed no later than your start date. International students MUST have a local address prior to completing this step. (If you have not received the New Hire Wizard link by your start date, email engremployment@purdue.edu as soon as possible).
Section 2 of the electronic I-9 must be completed within three business days of your start date and requires you to physically present original and unexpired document(s) from the List of Acceptable Documents in person to a predetermined location on campus. If you do not complete your I-9 within three business days of your hire date, your employment will be terminated. You cannot work until your I-9 is completed. You should schedule your appointment to present your physical documents with the Engineering Employment Center, once Section 1 of the Employment Verification is complete, to complete section 2 (this step can be completed prior to your start date, and any time after the New hire Wizard and Section 1 are complete).
- Proper ID – I-9 Documents must be presented to the employment center in person by appointment. Documents must be original, unexpired, and legally valid. Photocopies and photographs cannot be accepted. Please DO NOT send them to the engremployment@purdue.edu. Link to make an appointment is provided here: https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/EngrEmploymentCalendar@purdue.edu/bookings/ Walk-in appointments are available Monday-Wednesday ONLY, during regular business hours, 8:00-11:30am or 1:30-5:00 pm.
- Social Security Number (SSN) – All non-U.S. residents must apply for a social security number if you do not have one. The SSN must be reported to the business office within 30 days of your hire date or your employment will end. To apply for a SSN, please send an email to engremployment@purdue.edu. Once received, the engineering employment center will send a form to ISS and they will notify you when it is ready for pickup. ISS will provide you with directions to apply for your SSN. Once you receive your SSN, you will receive a link via email to upload the number to the payroll system. Please DO NOT send copies of the card, or the number on the card to the engineering employment center. The engineering employment center cannot enter this number for you. Please follow the directions in the email you receive.
- Glacier – If you are an international student, you will receive an invitation email to access and complete your international tax information in the Glacier software. GLACIER is a secure web-based Nonresident Alien (NRA) tax compliance system that foreign visitors can use to provide their immigration and tax data via the internet 24 hours a day. GLACIER helps determine tax residency, withholding rates and income tax treaty eligibility. At the end of the account, please print, sign and date all forms. Send all forms and copies of required documents per the instructions in the account. Questions regarding Glacier, International Tax withholding, tax withholding errors/questions, please see https://www.purdue.edu/hr/workpurdue/tax/index.php, or contact tax@purdue.edu
- Direct Deposit – Purdue requires that you sign up for direct deposit of your salary. If you do not have a bank account set up and entered into Employee Self Service portal prior to August 31, your first payment will be a paper check, and will be mailed to the home address in Success Factors. Payments are made on a bi-weekly basis. Fiscal Year biweekly Payment schedule can be found on the human resources website.
Non-exempt positions, graduate staff appointments (exempt), resident assistants and fellows are paid biweekly. The biweekly pay period starts on Sunday and ends 14 days later on a Monday (here's the biweekly payroll calendar). Faculty and non-grad staff exempt positions are paid monthly. Their pay period starts with the first of the month and ends on the last day. All students with fellowship, research assistantship, and teaching assistantship positions must review their payment information every paycheck.
To avoid late pay, report any changes in visa or I-20 status by bringing the needed documents to the Engineering Employment Center (A.A. Potter Engineering Center, 500 Central Drive, Suite 127) as soon as a change is approved. Also notify the center of any change in address; changing your address on myPurdue does not change it on payroll records.
Notify the Engineering Employment Center of any change in funding (and ISS for international students). Check with the Engineering Employment Center before each semester to make certain your Major Professor has reported the changes in your funding that you have discussed. Students should request the Major Professor also notify the ME Graduate Office when a change in funding level (e.g., half-time or quarter-time) or type (e.g., research assistantship to fellowship) is made. Travel on university business (attending conferences, meeting sponsors, etc.) must be approved by the Major Professor and the Head of the School before the trip and it must adhere to the regulations to obtain reimbursement for expenditures.
For questions regarding the onboarding process, please see https://www.purdue.edu/gradschool/gradpayroll/. Additionally, you can make an appointment with any center on campus to complete Step 2 of your USCIS Form I9, if the Engineering Employment Center does not have appointments available.
If at any time your support changes, including if it ends, please notify engremployment@purdue.edu immediately of the change to avoid being paid incorrectly or not at all.
Insurance
If you hold a half-time (.50) TA or RA appointment (or quarter-time (.25) TA and quarter-time (.25) RA), or a Fellowship that is being administered as an assistantship, you are eligible for the Graduate Staff Insurance program. There are multiple plans available for you to select and premiums for each plan are different. You may go to https://www.purdue.edu/hr/Benefits/gradstaff/index.php to look at these different plans before enrolling in one.
If your appointment drops below half time, you will automatically be dropped from the insurance program.
Those who hold a true fellowship are not eligible for the Graduate Staff Insurance program.
The fellowship insurance stipend (as of Fall 2022) is $1,487 per year to allow for the purchase of health insurance. PUSH requires that the insurance be paid a semester at a time, so your insurance supplement will be added to your August and December stipends. The supplements will be $620 in August and $867 in December. https://www.purdue.edu/push/Insurance/index.html
For registration, payment of premiums and enrollment in the graduate staff medical insurance plan, please contact Academic HealthPlans (AHP, tel: (855) 566-7278 or email support@myahpcare.com.
For Graduate staff medical insurance plan coverage, claims, international student requirements and waiver process, fellowship insurance, please contact Student Insurance Office, Purdue Student Health Services (PUSH), 3rd Floor, tel: (765) 496-3998 or email student-insurance@purdue.edu.
For questions on benefits eligibility, Benefitfocus enrollment issues, benefits-related payroll deductions, as well as information on the graduate staff medical insurance plan, graduate staff vision plan, voluntary retirement savings plans and dental and voluntary benefits, please contact Purdue Human Resources, Benefits Department, tel (765-494-2222) or email hr@purdue.edu.
For questions on Graduate Staff Medical Insurance plan coverage, claims, international student requirements and waiver processes, fellowship insurance, please call (765) 496-3998 or email student-insurance@purdue.edu.
Vacation Time
Grads in ME are appointed on the Fiscal Year (12-month) cycle and will earn a total of 22 days of vacation time each year. You must be employed for three months before you are allowed to take any paid vacation days. Vacation days are accumulated by the month and you cannot use them before they are earned. You will accumulate two days of vacation every month that you are employed, with the exception of September and March in which only one day is accumulated for each month. Vacation requests must be approved by your supervisor prior to the leave being taken, and requested through SuccessFactors. Accumulated vacation days will be forfeited if you leave the University for any reason or if there is a break in employment.
To use vacation days, submit your leave request through SuccessFactors (see how to use the Request Time Off form). Since the TA appointments in ME are on the FY schedule, you will need to submit a vacation request in Success Factors during the school breaks when no classes are in session.
Internships: When leaving on an internship, time off is requested in Success Factors as unpaid personal leave for supervisor approval, as well as other departrments. This needs to be done 30-60 days before leaving.
Purdue Holidays can be found at: https://www.purdue.edu/hr/Benefits/LTD/holidays.php. Official Purdue Holidays are the only absences that do not need to be recorded in Success Factors. Any days taken off besides the Holidays listed must be taken as vacation.
For complete details about graduate student staff benefits including eligibility guidelines, insurance, and paid leave, including the full Graduate Student Employment Manual, please see https://www.purdue.edu/gradschool/student/families/benefits.html
Request Verification of Employment
For students who need to request verification of previous employment at Purdue, please see https://www.purdue.edu/hr/buspur/empveri.php for instructions.
Expectations
For Employed TA’s, please see Expectations and Overview of Responsibilities
For Employed RA’s, please see Expectations for Research Assistants
ME Graduate Office
516 Northwestern Ave. (4th floor of Wang Hall)
West Lafayette, IN 47906
MEgradoffice@purdue.edu
(765) 494-5730
Virtual office hours available every Tues/Wed/Thurs