Delegations

Supervisors are primarily responsible for reviewing, editing, and approving an employee’s timecard. However, if the supervisor is unable to fulfill this role due to business operations, the role necessary to update, approve and edit timecards can be delegated to another staff employee.  The original supervisor will retain systems capabilities within CalTime and still have the ultimate responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of the employees' timecards.  

When is delegation appropriate?

You may consider delegating if you are unable to fulfill your supervisor responsibilities, which include:

  • Reviewing employees’ timecards regularly to make sure employees have reported their hours worked and leave taken
  • Making edits and notifying employees of timecard errors
  • Ensuring that employees approve their timecards by the deadline
  • Approving employees’ timecards during the supervisor’s one-day approval window

Choosing a delegate

When choosing a delegate for CalTime timecard approval, keep in mind that:

  • The employee receiving delegation access should be of such a level to carry out the authority given such as an equivalent manager or supervisor position (students are not permitted to be delegates). 
  • Students cannot be granted delegation access. No exceptions will be granted. This topic has been discussed with the Office of Ethics, Risk and Compliance Services and the decision was made that students should not have this role. 
  • Delegation or re-delegation is prohibited if the position to receive the delegation holds an inherent conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict, or if a conflict or the appearance of a conflict develops or occurs. The delegate cannot approve their managers’ timecard.
  • Delegated officials are charged with efficiently managing resources and risks to attain program objectives while maintaining a sound financial condition and compliance with applicable laws and regulations.  For access to edit timecards (non-view access), the Delegate must be trained to perform the necessary CalTime responsibilities (i.e. receive training from employees immediate supervisor, review CalTime job aids and view CalTime training videos). In addition, the delegate must understand how to review, edit, and approve timecards.
  • The delegate must have first-hand knowledge of the accuracy of employee timecard information.
  • An authorized individual may be a delegate for more than one supervisor at a time.
  • The delegate can take on timekeeping tasks either temporarily or indefinitely.
  • Delegation remains in place until a formal request via the CalTime Delegation form to update access is submitted or a temporary end date was provided during the initial setup and the end date has now passed.

Responsibilities of a CalTime supervisor delegate

Ensuring that all employees delegated to them:

  • Accurately enter their leave taken and, for non-exempt employees, their hours worked
  • Approve their timecard by the CalTime employee due date
  • Following up with employees who have not completed their timecards and making edits where necessary
  • Reviewing and verifying completed timecards for accuracy and completeness
  • Approving completed timecards no later than the CalTime supervisor due date
  • The delegate certifies that they are responsible for ensuring the accuracy of employees hours

Note: Delegates may not approve their own timecards. Either the original supervisor or another delegate must do so.

What to expect after delegation

Emails:The supervisor of record continues to receive all email reminders and notifications as they are still ultimately responsible for timekeeping activities; the delegate will also receive these notifications. 

In CalTime: The supervisor of record will still be able to see his CalTime supervisor screens and employee list, and to review and approve timecards. CalTime provides an audit trail that includes actions taken on a timecard.

Delegates who are already supervisors will see new employee(s) added to their employee list. System access and capabilities will be the same for all employees they are responsible for. Any action taken for the new employees will be recorded with the supervisor’s unique ID in CalTime’s electronic audit trail. If the delegate is not seeing expected employees, please submit a ticket to caltime@berkeley.edu

Delegates who are new to approving timecards in CalTime will have access to the supervisor screens required for timecard review and approval. CalTime will open with a customized view of employee information instead of their own timecard.

Training for Delegates

Training is recommended for all supervisors, including delegates. For information, visit the Supervisor Training page.

Guidelines for requesting delegate access, updates or removal

A delegate must be pre-approved by the chief administrative officer or department manager prior to submitting a delegate request. Requests to delegate non-exempt biweekly paid employees must be submitted prior to the applicable biweekly pay period requiring delegate access.  Requests to delegate exempt monthly paid employees can be submitted anytime except the first week of the calendar month (during the exempt timecard approval period).

Complete and submit the delegate request form:

For a large request to setup many delegates or delegate access to many employees (i.e., greater than 5), you may complete the information in a Delegation Mass Update spreadsheet and submit with a ticket to caltime@berkeley.edu.

Additional delegate request processing information:

  • The estimated time to process a delegation request after the request has been submitted to the CalTime Team is 5 business days.  This timeframe assumes that the delegate request information that was submitted is complete and accurate.  During peak hirng periods such as February or September processing can take 1-2 weeks.
  • A confirmation email will be sent once the request has been processed.
  • Large change requests & peak times (holiday periods) require longer processing time.