Terminate Employee

Overview

This tip sheet provides steps on processing a termination in PeopleSync.

roles & approval chain

The transaction is initiated by HR Analysts and routes to the HR Partner and Finance Executive for review and approval. Based on the reason listed below, the transaction may also route to Employee Relations for review. 

(Note on who can initiate. Many of the roles in PeopleSync share the same functionality. The HR Partner can submit the same transactions as the HR Analyst. Refer to the Organization Support Roles Descriptions guide for list of roles and function.)

After the transaction is completed this process may trigger one time payment tasks or to-dos. (See Post-Termination section)

pre-termination steps for specific employee categories or scenarios

• Employee with non-primary jobs. Prior to submitting the termination, make sure to end all non-primary jobs. Refer to the End Job tip sheet. (Note: If the job is with another school or unit, contact HR from that school and ask them to end the job.  Tip: On the employee record click on Overview > Jobs. This will show a list of all jobs and the supervisory organization/manager. If you need assistance contact PeopleLink.)
• Employees paid through Activity Pay (i.e. Adjuncts, Students in Student-Related positions, and Post-Doc Fellows, Additional Compensation Jobs). The Activity Pay dates must be on or before the termination date. 
• Employees on Leave. If an employee is currently on leave but will be terminating, process a Return from Leave transaction prior to the termination transaction.
• Faculty members with active academic appointments. Request that the Academic Initiator end the active academic appointments. The initiator will receive a reminder post-termination.
• Employees with PeopleSync Roles. If the employee  has incomplete tasks in their PeopleSync Inbox, you should ask them to review these items prior to termination. The initiator will receive a to-do post-termination. This step is important for separating employees who had PeopleSync roles, i.e. HR or Finance personnel.
• Employees who are Timesheet Approvers or Timeoff Approvers. If the employee is has been assigned as timesheet approver or timeoff approver to an employee/position, make sure to update the Organization Assignments Page with the new TSA or TOA.
• Position available for overlap. See step 6. It is helpful if you know whether the position should be made available for overlap prior to processing the termination so that you may complete this field accordingly.
• Important: If the employee is eligible for a vacation payout make sure to review the Vacation Balance. If you would like to preview the amount to be paid out, run the Time Off Liability report on the employee’s organization for the termination date. After the termination is completed, use an effective date one day prior to the term date when running the report.

Steps 

1. Navigate to the employee record.
2. Click the Actions ellipse > Job Change > Terminate Employee
3. Complete the Primary Reason. Review the list below for assistance in selecting the Reason. Specific reasons determine how the transaction is routed and may trigger additional steps. If you are retiring an employee, refer to this tip sheet.
4. Enter the Termination Date.
   • Date that the Termination is effective, as of midnight; termination is not visible to Employee until this date. Terminations can be future dated in PeopleSync.
   • The Last Date of Work, Pay Through Date, and Notify By date will default to the Termination Date. 
   • The Resignation Date is the date the employee submitted his / her resignation and should only be used for Voluntary termination reasons. 
     • Complete this field if the employee is eligible for a vacation payout at separation. Based on this field you will receive a confirmation if the vacation payout will be processed. See reminder on checking the vacation balance in the Pre-Termination Steps above.
     • You may see the following alerts:
       • If based on the date, the minimum amount of notice is met:
         • Soft Alert: “Be aware that this worker is eligible for a time off plan balance payout, and will be automatically processed as part of this termination…”
       • If based on the date, the minimum amount of notice is NOT met:
         • Soft Alert: “The resignation date entered is less than the…”
       • If the date is not completed:
         • Critical Alert: “Resignation Date Required…”
5. Regrettable: Do not complete this section.
6. Position Details: Do not use the Close Position checkbox during the Termination process, with the exception of Position Elimination.
   • If a position is to be closed after the termination process, you should complete the termination and then use the Close Position process.
   • You have the ability to mark a position as “available for overlap” if there is an intent to hire an employee while the current employee is still sitting in the same position to allow transfer of knowledge, etc.
7. Click Submit.
8. The transaction routes to the HR Partner for review. Once approved, it routes to the Finance Executive. As noted in step 2, additional review and approval may be required by Employee Relations.
   • The transaction routes to Employee Relations if the terminating employee is not Full Time Faculty and the termination reason is Involuntary (for any Reason excluding Death) or Voluntary > Mutual or Mutual with Agreement

Termination Reasons

Voluntary Reasons
Note: If Voluntary > Mutual or Voluntary > Mutual with Agreement is selected and employee is not FT Faculty, the transaction routes to Employee Relations for review.

Note: If Voluntary > Voluntary Post Retirement is selected it is necessary that the Termination Date be set today or in the future, meaning no retro terms.

• Commute Time / Moved
• Did Not Return to Work
• Dissatisfied with Job
• Dissatisfied with Pay
• Family Reasons
• Fixed Term Contract End – Resignation
• Full Time to Part Time
• Mutual
• Mutual with Agreement
• Other Employment
• Part Time to Full Time
• Post Retirement
• Retirement
• To Pursue Further Studies
• Transfer to other NYU Site
• Transfer to School of Medicine
• Unknown / General

Involuntary Reasons
Note, with the exception of Involuntary > Death, if an Involuntary Reason is selected and the employee is not FT Faculty, the transaction routes to Employee Relations for review.

• Adjunct with Termination Pay
• Death
• Fixed Term Contract End – Termination
• Misconduct / Policy Violation
• Not Authorized to Work
• Poor Job Performance
• Position Elimination
• Position Elimination with Agreement
• Union Termination
• Unknown / General

During Probation Reasons

• Inability to Adapt to Work Environment
• Inability to Perform Duties
• Lateness / Absenteeism
• Misconduct / Policy Violation
• Voluntary Resignation

Academic Reasons

• Return to Home Institution

post termination tasks or to-Dos

The following Roles will receive tasks or to-dos after the transaction has completed. All tasks/to-dos can be found in the PeopleSync InBox. You will only receive the to do if the termination transaction meets the scenario described.

Initiator

• End Period Activity Pay. Employee has scheduled activity pay payments past the termination date.
• Update Date of Death in Personal Information. Reason is Involuntary > Death.
• Request One-Time Payment for Agreement Payout. Reason is Voluntary > Mutual with Agreement or Voluntary > Adjunct with Termination Pay.
• Request One-Time Payment in Lieu of Notice. Reason is  is Involuntary > Poor Performance, Position Elimination, Position Elimination with Agreement, or Adjunct with Termination Pay.
• Request One-Time Payment for Severance Payout Employee is Staff or Administrative/Professional and Termination Reason is Position Elimination, or Position Elimination with Agreement

HR Partner

• Manage Business Processes for Worker. Employee has incomplete tasks in PeopleSync InBox.

Payroll Partner

• Prepare Final Check for Deceased Worker. Termination reason is Involuntary > Death.

Retiree Partner

• Add Retiree Flag.  Reason is Retirement or employee meets criteria for retirement eligibility.
• Retiree Eligibility Due to Death of Active Employee. Termination reason is Involuntary > Death.

Academic Initiator

• End Academic Appointment. Faculty member has an active academic appointment.

System-Automated Steps

PeopleSync completes some actions automatically as part of the Termination process:

• Terminating the employee’s account
• Deactivate the employee’s payment elections after 60 days
• End employee’s benefits

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Last updated in October 2023.