In partnership with HUCTW, Harvard University Employees Credit Union (HUECU) is hosting a series of live webinars on personal finance for HUCTW members on a variety of practical topics during the year. The next workshop is titled "Money Management During the Pandemic." Description: Our HUECU expert will discuss financial resources available to you and your family during the pandemic, how to budget & increase your cash flow during this time.…
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As you saw in the latest communication from Harvard administrators about the fall semester, most Harvard staff members will continue to work from home until the end of the calendar year in order to maintain low campus density. Some Harvard staff members whose work requires them to be on site have been asked to return to campus. HUCTW and Harvard have agreed that members who work on campus more than four hours a week will be tested for COVID-19 on a recurring basis. …
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The Memorial Church at Harvard University invites community members and their families and friends to participate in a University-wide Commemoration to Honor the Lives Lost to COVID-19. The Commemoration will take place on Sunday, November 1. From event organizers: "We invite all members of the Harvard community to participate in this commemoration by sharing names and photographs of loved ones who have lost their lives to COVID-19. Names and photos collected through this form will be shared virtually as part of the commemoration on November 1, and afterward online."…
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Tuesday, September 22, is National Voter Registration Day and we want to provide you with some important dates and links so that you and your family members can make sure you have a plan to vote in the upcoming election. Have you made your plan to vote in the November 3rd election? Will you (1) vote by mail, (2) vote in-person early, or (3) vote in-person on election day? Massachusetts mailed vote-by-mail applications to residents, but if you still need one, you can download a PDF application on the Secretary of State's website. Massachusetts recommends that you request it as soon as possible, but not later than October 20. …
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We want to follow-up on the survey we sent out to HUCTW parents and caregivers on August 19. Thank you to the 600+ members with dependents who took part! The data and stories you provided have been extremely helpful in our ongoing discussions with Harvard, helping to illustrate some of the many challenges facing HUCTW members during the COVID-19 pandemic for the University. To this end, we want to make sure that you saw the message sent out by Harvard Human Resources yesterday (9/21) announcing the creation of a new, temporary paid time off benefit for Harvard staff with dependents. We also wanted to provide you with a summary of the survey results.…
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The next pay raise for HUCTW members will be delivered on October 1, 2020. You need to have been on the payroll for one full year as of October 1, 2020 to be eligible for the full 2020 raise. The average member (which is someone who earns approximately $61,500 and has at least one year of service) will receive about a 3.5% salary increase to their base pay. You can use a downloadable (Excel) salary calculator below to determine your estimated salary increase for 2020. Members with less than one year of service will receive pro-rated increases of 1% or 2%, depending on their months of service.…
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Are you renting or buying a new home this fall? HUCTW and Harvard University Employee Credit Union (HUECU) offer members three types of 0% interest loans to help members with costs of (1) first and last month's rent or moving into a new rental home, (2) moving into a new purchased home, or (3) home owner emergencies. Check out the HUCTW Home Loan Program application page to download the loan affidavits and guidelines for all three loan programs.…
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We are outraged by the unjust killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and the countless black lives lost to racist violence, institutional discrimination, and police brutality, both recently and throughout our country’s history. As human beings, and particularly as advocates for economic and social justice, we must commit to the eradication of racism in our communities, our country, and the wider world. HUCTW stands in solidarity with protesters and with Black Lives Matter in the urgent fight for racial justice, equality, and human rights.…
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As we mentioned our email message from July, in order to ensure compliance with IRS policy, Harvard will begin withholding tax from your paycheck for any graduate-level tuition benefits (TAP/TRP) you receive from Harvard over $5250 per year for NON job-related classes. You may be able to avoid owing tax on your class up front, if you use Harvard's Graduate Credit TAP Form to make an argument that your course is job-related in the "Job-Relatedness Attestation" section of the form. The following page gives some examples and further explanation of how to apply the "job-relatedness" standard.…
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We're sad to share the news that our HUCTW office colleague and friend, Peter Berry, passed away from an aggressive cancer on March 9, 2020. Peter worked at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum for 16 years before joining the staff of HUCTW in 2010 as an Organizer, working with Union members and University leaders across the campus. He was a quiet leader who nurtured the self-advocacy of others and modeled a union organizer’s most important skill: listening. His wonderful wit, modesty, and attention to detail appeared in everything he did -- his union organizing, his ceramic artwork, and the house he built with the help of his loving parents and his life partner of 36 years, Andy.…
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