The process differs depending on whether the submission is for
- a new family member or dependant, or
- a modification of an existing household member or dependant.
The process is as follows:
Dependency/Household member requests for NEW family members (ESS Workflow)
- The staff member submits original documentation offline for verification by the HR Administrator, who stamps and dates a copy as seen and verified and returns the originals to the Staff Member.
- After checking the Staff Member’s family profile and ensuring this is not a duplicate record, Staff Member or HR Administrator enters personal data related to dependency (marriage, newborn child, etc.) in ESS and, if applicable, requests dependency benefits. If no dependency benefits are requested, the approval will be for a household member.
- As part of the submission, the Staff Member or HR Administrator needs to upload the previously verified supporting documentation as an attachment.
- The HR Partner reviews the information provided by the Staff Member in ESS against the verified documentation submitted as attachments and approves if appropriate. The HR Partner will reject applications that are not complete (including missing or not verified documents) explaining the reason for the rejection and pointing out any missing documents, etc. If rejected, the Staff Member or the HR Administrator on behalf of the Staff Member must submit a new application as the system does not allow modification of the current application based on the feedback received at the time of rejection.
- Once the approval is made in ESS, the dependency data is updated in ECC and an automatic notification of the approval is sent by the system to the Staff Member.
MODIFICATION of data for an EXISTING household member/dependant (Offline and ECC Workflow)
If the Staff Member already has an approved household member or dependant and they want to change some information, the request must be submitted offline to the HR Partner.
- The Staff Member submits a written request to the HR Partner using the P.85 form and clearly indicating what they need to change about a dependant/household member. Some of the most common modifications are:
- Request for a dependent status or discontinuation of dependency status of a recognized spouse
- Request to discontinue dependency benefits for a dependent child or secondary dependant.
- Request for special dependency for a dependent child.
- These requests require submission of supporting documentation that shows that the conditions to obtain or discontinue the dependency status have been met. Please refer to the table above for specific details on required supporting documentation.
- Upon receipt of the request the HR Partner reviews, and then approves or rejects it. If approved, the data will be entered by the HR Partner directly in ECC and once the PA is approved, Umoja will send an automatic notification to the Staff Member.
Special Dependency Requests
If the Staff Member’s child has a disability, certification of the disability from the Medical Services Division (MSD) must be obtained prior to making the special dependency request. [Offline]
For a NEW dependent child (ESS Workflow)
If the Staff Member has never requested dependency for the child, then the Staff Member or HR Administrator on behalf of the Staff Member can submit the special dependency request in ESS.
- The Staff Member submits a request for certification of special dependency to MSD along with the child’s medical reports and school reports, if available and requested by MSD. The HR Partner receives a copy of the request only (but not the medical reports). [Offline]
- MSD determines the eligibility for Special Dependency and the next review dates. [Offline]
- The Staff Member and HR Partner receive feedback from MSD. [Offline]
- The Staff Member or HR Administrator on behalf of the Staff Member creates a request for special dependency and checks the disability indicator in ESS, making reference to the communication from MSD in the remarks and attaching the approval from MSD to the ESS request.
- Upon receipt of the request the HR Partner reviews, and then approves or rejects the request in ESS.
- The system will send an automatic notification to the Staff Member regarding the approval/rejection of the special dependency and the next review date.
For an EXISTING dependent child (ECC Workflow)
If the Staff Member already has the child as a recognized dependent, then the request for special dependency is considered a modification of a dependency status and the request must be submitted offline to the HR Partner.
- The Staff Member submits a request for certification to MSD along with the
child’s medical reports and school reports, if available and requested by MSD. The HR Partner receives a copy of the request only (but not the medical reports). [Offline] - MSD determines the eligibility for Special Dependency and the review dates. [Offline]
- The Staff Member and HR Partner receive feedback from MSD. [Offline]
- The Staff Member submits a request to the HR Partner to modify the dependency status of the child. [Offline]
- Upon receipt of the request the HR Partner reviews the request and if approved, modifies the dependency status of the child in ECC.
- The Staff Member will be notified regarding the approval/rejection of the special dependency and review date. [Offline]
In exceptional circumstance in which ESS is not accessible for either the Staff Member or the HR Administrator, the HR Partner may also receive all the original documentation in hard copies and process the approval of dependency in ECC using a PA40. The procedure section documents how to approve in both ESS and in ECC.
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