Employee Clearance

I. Scope

This procedure applies to faculty, professional, professional faculty, operational, classified, and hourly employees of the College of William and Mary and the Virginia Institute of Marine Science (the “University”). 

II. Purpose

To ensure that any professional, professional faculty, operational, classified, or hourly employee terminating his or her employment with the University has satisfied any obligations to the University and has the information and assistance necessary to facilitate a smooth transition.

III. Policy Statement

It is the policy of the University that an employee, who terminates his or her employment with the University, will return all property, pay all fees and fines, and/or satisfy any amounts due the University prior to departure.  Upon initial employment, each employee completes a Payroll Deduction Authorization form to indicate agreement with this policy https://www.wm.edu/offices/hr/documents/forms/payroll_deduction_authorization_form.pdf.  When an employee departs the University, the employee will verify that all obligations have been met by completing a Clearance Form.  The clearance process for the William and Mary campus is an online process started by the supervisor.  The link for the online process can be found at https://support.wm.edu/CherwellPortal/HR 

The VIMS campus form can be found at UHR's site in the “Department Resources Forms” section.  

IV. Procedures

For Non-VIMS Employees

When a William and Mary supervisor or other designated department official learns that an employee is leaving, he or she will begin the clearance process on behalf of the employee by navigating to https://support.wm.edu/CherwellPortal/HR  and entering the supervisor’s W&M credentials. The supervisor will then be navigated to the University HR Services webpage where he or she will click on: Complete CLEARANCE FORM under the Employment section.  Once the supervisor enters the required information, the system will send an email to the separating employee with instructions to resolve any outstanding issues or debts with the required departments. The employee is also asked to update his or her Personal Information via https://personalinfo.wm.edu/.  Once the separating employee confirms completion of the clearance process, an automated email is sent to the required departments for clearance approval or decline. 

This online process also serves as the Personnel Action Form for Human Resources to separate the employee from the University in Banner.

For a complete guide on this process, please visit HR.

For VIMS Employees

A VIMS employee should obtain a Clearance Form from the Office of Human Resources website. The employee is responsible for obtaining the appropriate departmental signatures, or clearance e-mails from the listed departments, and he or she must submit the completed Clearance Form to the Office of Human Resources prior to his or her departure.  

An employee’s final paycheck will be a manual check. The final paycheck and/or the leave payoff check will be released to the employee either in person at the Cashiers’ Office or via U.S. mail once the Clearance process is complete.

V. Data Management

The Office of Human Resources will review job records for adjunct faculty, hourly employees, and student employees on no less than an annual basis.  If an hourly employee or student employee has not been paid within the past 6 months, the employee’s job record will be terminated. If an adjunct employee does not return to teach in the semester in which he or she typically teaches, the employee record will again be terminated.  In these cases, the Office of Human Resources will work with the appropriate department or unit to determine what, if anything is owed to the University.

VI. Authority, Interpretation & Amendment

The Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) is responsible for oversight of the clearance process.  The CHRO may amend or revise this procedure at any time with the approval of the Sr. Vice President of Administration and Finance.  

This procedure was amended effective November 13, 2017, to expand coverage to professionals and professional faculty and to update and provide additional detail regarding the clearance process.