Frequently Asked Questions

Duplicate copies of 1099, 1099G, or 1042S must be obtained from the Office of Financial Management (OFM). For 1099s, contact OFM’s Customer Service number at (301) 496-6088. For 1099G or 1042S, you may call (301) 496-5635.

As an NIH employee, it is strongly encouraged that you have your salary directly deposited into your account at the financial institution(s) of your choice. If you decide to change accounts or financial institutions, DO NOT CLOSE YOUR OLD ACCOUNT until you have received your direct deposit in your new account. Once that happens, you may then close your old account. If you want to begin or change your net deposit account, you need to do so through myPay.

The CFC is the annual fundraising drive conducted by Federal employees in the workplace each fall. To contribute, you must work through your IC CFC contact person. When signing up during the CFC drive in the fall, the salary deductions begin the first leave period of the following year. You may start making contributions at any time throughout the year; however, you cannot retroactively contribute to the CFC. For more information, visit OPM’s CFC website.

If you do not receive an expected direct deposit payment by the official Friday payday, you must complete the Missing Electronic Funds Transfer Request Form to initiate the tracer process. Once completed submit the form to Bldg 31, Room B3C23. This paperwork is forwarded to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which sends the information, in turn, to DFAS. DFAS queries the financial institution to which the payment was sent. If the financial institution returns the funds to DFAS, DFAS will alert HHS that the funds have been returned. In the interim, employees may be entitled to an Emergency Salary Loan Payment.

If your check is mailed to your address of record and is lost, stolen, destroyed or mutilated, you must complete a Statement of Claimant Requesting Recertified Check to request a re-certified check. Once completed submit the form to Bldg 31, Room B3C23. This paperwork is forwarded to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), which sends the information, in turn, to DFAS. DFAS will use the information to make the determination to reissue a recertified check, based on the information provided, and for canceling the original check. The information will also verify a proper mailing address.

You are encouraged to closely review your Leave and Earnings Statements (LES) each pay period to confirm that your pay, allotments, deductions, and leave balances are accurately reflected. Please note that benefits such as the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP), Federal Employee Health Benefits (FEHB), Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) and the FERS pension factor into overall federal employee payroll deductions, and you are encouraged to plan accordingly. You may contact your servicing Benefits Specialist for more information about your benefits as a federal employee. If you note an error with payroll deductions and/or missing pay, immediately contact the Leave, Payroll & Workforce Support Branch. Your assigned Payroll Liaison will research this issue and if needed provide a resolution.

After the necessary paperwork has been completed and a TSP loan check has been issued, the TSP Service Office sends paperwork to DFAS. Because there can be a timeliness issue in forwarding the paperwork, you may wish to FAX your TSP paperwork to the Retirement and Employee Benefits Branch at (301) 402-5506. Faxing this paperwork will help to ensure that the TSP loan repayment process is started in a timely manner and that the TSP Service Office is receiving your loan payments.

Your coverage will continue for up to 365 days of non-pay status. You have the option of terminating your coverage during the period of non-pay status or continuing the coverage. If you elect to continue your coverage, you must incur a debt or make direct payments to DFAS while in non-pay status. You will need to sign a Notice of Intent Agreement for LWOP Status. Please notify your benefits contact for additional information. The U.S. Office of Personnel Management provides additional information on LWOP and its impact on Federal benefits.

When you have paid your TSP loan in full, The TSP Service Office will automatically inform the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), our payroll provider. Typically the payments should terminate within 2 pay periods. If payments associated with your TSP Loan have not terminated after 2 pay periods, please call the Retirement and Employee Benefits Branch at 301-496-2404.
 

Your timekeeper may audit your record and determine that your pay must be adjusted.  The timekeeper may complete Form 411A Pay Error Notice to correct issues with your pay.  This process is your timekeeper’s responsibility; direct any questions you may have to him/her.

Your timekeeper may audit your record and determine that your Leave and Earnings Statement must be adjusted.  The timekeeper may complete Form 411B Leave Error Notice to correct issues with your leave balance.  This process is your timekeeper’s responsibility; direct any questions you may have to him/her.

When you transfer to NIH from another Government agency, the staff in the Client Services Division (CSD) requests your SF-1150 (Record of Leave Data). Upon receipt of the SF-1150, the staff in the Client Services Division of OHR forwards this document to the Benefits and Payroll Liaison Branch who in turn forwards the information to the Department’s Payroll Services Division for processing. You will need to routinely review the annual and/or sick leave portion of your DFAS LES in myPay.

Yes. When putting in future leave requests, you must enter the start and end times for the actual hours you want to take leave.

Ensure that there are core hours established for the employee’s SAC. If not, establish core hours and then try again.

If the employee’s SAC does have core hours established, make sure the hours listed in the Biweekly Distribution of Biweekly Basic Work Requirements at the bottom of the Tour of Duty page have been cleared out prior to going to the employee’s timecard on the “Timecard” tab and clearing it out as well.

Yes.  You can submit multi-day leave requests that are within the same work week by entering the start/stop times and the appropriate range of dates.

Note that multiple weeks of leave should be entered as separate leave requests for each week (e.g. 11/30/2015 - 12/04/2015 and 12/07/2015 - 12/11/2015). A single request for leave from 11/30/2015 through 12/11/2015 would result in leave being requested for the weekend days in addition to the week days.

During core hours, an employee must be working or on leave. They can be working in the office or at an approved telework location, but they cannot be flexing their schedule to be off. This means that if an employee was previously on a Compressed Work Schedule in which they had Tuesdays off but they are now on Maxiflex and the office has core hours on Tuesdays, the employee must work or be on leave during those core hours.

Yes.  When putting in future ad-hoc telework requests, you must enter the actual hours you want to telework. To request a full day of ad hoc telework, two requests must be entered in ITAS. The first request is before your meal period, and the second request is after (e.g. 12/03/2020 from 8am to noon and 1pm to 5pm). 

Core hours impact an employees’ leave in several ways. Employees may find that they do not need to take as much leave on Maxiflex because they are able to work additional hours throughout the pay period. Conversely, an employee may not simply record one hour of leave on a day that they have a core hour from 10 am - 11 am. That is because employees on Maxiflex must record a minimum of two hours of work or leave each day that has core hours.  Therefore, an employee’s combined hours of work and leave for the day must equal no less than two hours.  If an employee will be out of the office for an extended period of time, i.e. a full week, a Leave Approving Official may request that the employee record 8 hours of leave per day.

An employee is not entitled to night differential for voluntarily working flexible hours between 6 p.m. and 6 a.m.

If an employee voluntarily works before 6 a.m. or after 6 p.m. while on a Maxiflex Work Schedule, they are not entitled to night differential.

Yes.  Maxiflex, like all other work schedules, is subject to supervisory approval based on organizational work requirements such as duties of the position, office coverage, or participation in collaborative projects.

Employee participation is an employment benefit and not an entitlement. Bargaining unit employees may participate in Alternative Work Schedules only under the terms provided in a negotiated agreement.

Yes. During core hours, employees must be in a working status or on leave. Working status includes time in the office as well as time teleworking for those employees on an approved telework agreement.

You have several options.

• If there are several days left in the pay period, you can work additional hours. You will need to record any time beyond 80 hours as credit hours, if you are eligible.
• You can extend your work day if you have not reached your IC/O’s total hours cap and are within flexible hours.
• You can also take leave to reach 80 hours. If you attempt to record less than 2 hours of leave on a day that doesn’t have additional regular hours, ITAS will present an error message.

Note: If you have core hours on remaining days in the pay period, you must work or be on leave during that time.

Employees are strongly encouraged to enter their projected hours of work on the Certify Timecard page in ITAS at the beginning of the pay period. That information can be updated as often as needed until the timecard is verified at the end of the pay period.

Please review the Maxiflex-specific guidance on inclement weather.

Yes, a timecard can be certified at any time during the pay period. However, it is strongly recommended that you do not certify your timecard until the end of the pay period. Once a timecard has been certified, you can no longer make changes and must request assistance from your timekeeper.