Many systems used by the Office of Human Resources to provide tax documentation, employee benefits, and employee pay use the employee’s name and sex that aligns with state-issued ID documents (a “legal name” and a “legal sex”) due to federal compliance and insurance claims processing needs. Some other University programs have a space to provide preferred name(s), pronouns, and/or gender.
If you are receiving communications from the University itself that use pronouns or a name you do not identify with, you may update that information anytime in MyU in the “My Info” section. For step-by-step instructions to submit a legal name change request in MyU, please refer to this guide.
If you would like support from the Transgender Advisory and Action Team (TAAT) in contacting the respective department or unit about incorrect pronouns or name use, please email UMN-TAAT@umn.edu.
Purpose
This page is intended to provide current information about which human resources functions require the use of legal names and/or legal sex, and which functions have the option of using a preferred name and/or gender (in place of legal sex).
When compliance requirements do not require legal name or legal sex, the Office of Human Resources will make every best effort to reference a preferred name, personal pronouns, and/or gender as specified in an employee’s MyU portal.
For contact information for staff-facing University offices and units that use names, see below the table. For more information on updating your personal information to reflect your personal pronouns, gender identity, and preferred name on services also used by students, click one of the following links for resources about MyU, One Stop, and UCard.
Key
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HR program or document: Service an employee may receive or participate in, and who administers it (the University or an outside vendor). If no outside vendor is listed, the University both provides and administers the program/document.
- Required use of legal name: Describes whether the HR service requires either the recording or use of an employee’s Legal Name.
- Possible to use preferred name: Describes whether the HR service allows for recording and/or use of a preferred first name instead of the legal name. How the preferred name is used can vary by service; however, University policy protects privacy by informing University staff and faculty to not use both legal name and preferred name in the same communication, report or display at the same time.
- Source of compliance: Explains the external or internal compliance rules that require use of legal name and/or legal sex for the service, if applicable.
- Required use of legal sex: Indicates whether the HR service requires either the recording or use of an employee’s legal sex.
- Additional details: Any details or specifics about current state, or pending changes in this area.
Use of Legal Name and Sex by Program or Document
| HR program or document* | Required Use of Legal Name? | Possible to Use Preferred Name? | Source of Compliance | Required Use of Legal Sex? | Additional Details (specific details about current state or pending changes in this area) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Emails from University itself, sent by OHR Communications | No | Yes | None | Not used | Uses the preferred name from MyU if listed |
| Print mail from University itself, sent by OHR Communications | No | Yes | None | Not used | Uses the preferred name from MyU if listed |
| Offer letters | Yes | Yes | Legal employment contract | Not used | Offer letters should be addressed to the new employee’s preferred name with the added paragraph included in the templates. |
| I-9 (I-9 Express) | Yes | No | Federal government— USCIS (verify legal right to work in USA) | No | |
| Tax documents (W2, W4, Tax Treaties, etc) | Yes | No | IRS at federal level, state department of revenue | Not used | |
| Paycheck | Yes | No | IRS at federal level, state department of revenue | Not used | |
| Notice of appointment (internal HR use) | Yes | No | Legal employment contract | Not used | |
| Personal bio demographic (Internal HR use) | Yes | Yes | University policy is to track both legal and preferred names. | Yes | Initial data is taken from employee job applications, and later onboarding data gathering. If an employee needs to change their legal name or sex, they work with unit level HR to update the appropriate data. Employees can use MyU self service to update preferred name, pronouns, and gender at any time. |
| HR Analytics reporting (Held by OHR, available to anyone with access to MyU reporting center) | Depends on the report or dashboard in question. Most of the HR Analytics reports do NOT require use of legal name. HR analytics reports will used preferred name if possible. | Depends on the report/dashboard in question. It is possible to use Preferred Name in most of the HR Analytics reports. There are some reports that use aged or limited data sets where the preferred name is not available. In these reports, the Legal Name would be the only name available. | Some U of M processes that use HR Analytics have compliance requirements for legal name. | Yes, but as a private restricted data element, Legal Sex information would only be available to individuals provided explicit access to this data (generally HR professionals). | Defaults to use the preferred name from MyU if listed. Reports can be generated using Legal Name based on HR business and process needs. |
| Reporting Center HR analytics other than HR analytics (Held by OHR, available to anyone with access to myU reporting center with HR query access) | Yes | No | Operational reporting for primary HR and Payroll staff use | Sex and gender is not available in these reports | |
| Health/Medical insurance (Administered by Medica) | Yes | No | Must match IRS and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services records | Yes | Work is being started with insurance providers to send and utilize preferred name and gender. |
| Specialty Pharmacy/Medications (Administered by Fairview) | No (but the University only sends legal name at this time) | No | N/A | Yes | University sends legal name and legal sex due to a limitation of the electronic 'eligibility file' format currently in use by U of M. |
| Pharmacy benefit (Administered by Prime Therapeutics) | No (but the University only sends legal name at this time) | No | N/A | Yes | University sends legal name and legal sex due to a limitation of the electronic 'eligibility file' format currently in use by U of M. GENDER: Currently, Prime’s system only allows M = Male or F = Female be sent and loaded. Prime is working on updating our system effective 1/1/2022 to allow other values to be sent. |
| Flexible Spending Account (FSA) (Administered by WEX) | Yes | No | WEX and and U of M systems lack a space/field for preferred name | Not used | |
| Health Savings Account (HSA) (Administered by Optum Bank) | Yes | No | The Patriot Act requires financial institutions, including Optum Bank, to obtain, verify, and record legal name to identify the individual opening the account | Not used | |
| Disability (Administered by Unum) | Yes | No | Tax reporting | Yes | Employee can request use of a preferred name through the claim intake process for use during the open claim, but must make this change with each new claim. |
| Dental insurance (Administered by Delta Dental) | Yes | No | Limitation of electronic healthcare eligibility file | Yes | Individual clinics and providers may record a preferred name and gender identifier for use, but claims that are sent to Delta Dental must match what Delta has on file. |
| Life insurance (Administered by Securian Financial) | Yes | No | U of M and Securian systems lack a space/field for preferred name | Yes | |
| Wellbeing Program (Administered by Personify Health) | Yes | Yes - First name only can be updated though profile on program's site. | Personify Health requirements & syncing of incentive-eligible participants with Medica | No - However some activities may require disclosure of sex, gender, or both. | Activities requesting sex and/or gender are currently being re-evaluated by Personify Health. |
Faculty and P&A retirement savings program (Faculty Retirement Plan) Voluntary retirement plans (ORP and 457)(Administered by Fidelity)
| Yes | No | IRS | Not Used | Fidelity is investigating an enhancement to allow for use of a preferred name. |
| Pension plan (MSRS defined benefit plan) (Administered by Minnesota State Retirement System) | Yes | No | IRS (1099) | Yes | A participant may tell the representative a preferred name; and a flag will be put on the account for future phone calls only. |
| Seniority rosters (public facing) | No | Yes | None | Not Used | Defaults to preferred name listed in MyU |
| Any Employee Relation documents (such as discipline document, letter, non renewal) | No | Yes | None | Typically not used, exceptions may occur | A process is currently underway to include additional information in templates that eschews legal name and gendered language |
| Job Application (U of M Careers website portal) | No | Yes—uses whatever name is provided on the resume or account | None | No - external applicants can select M or F or none at all | |
| Background check | Yes | No | Federal, state, or international; depending on where they lived | Not Used | |
| Video interviewing tool (Spark Hire) | No | Yes | None | Not used | |
| Reference checking tool (SkillSurvey) | No | Yes | None | Not used | |
| Performance management tool to track goals and evaluations (Performance Appraisal Tool (PAT)) | No | Yes | None | Not used | Internal, uses preferred name |
| New hire reports for unions | No | Yes | None | Not used | Pulls preferred name from MyU |
| Unemployment | Yes | No | State (DEED), Federal (Social Security) | Yes (to State/ DEED) |
*This list is an ongoing process in which information will be added, removed, or otherwise updated as new information is found. Please send edits or updates to the OHR Website Update Form.
Questions? Concerns?
If you are having difficulty updating your personal information or have questions or concerns about something on this page, please reach out to the appropriate University area:
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ohr@umn.edu for centralized human resources: job applications, tax documents, paychecks, data collection and distribution, Performance Appraisal Tool (PAT), unemployment, reports for union
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benefits@umn.edu for employee benefits: health and dental insurance, disability coverage, life insurance, FSAs and HSAs, retirement savings, Wellbeing Program
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You can also directly contact a benefit administrator (such as Medica or Delta Dental) using phone or email info on the Benefits webpages.
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help@umn.edu for University-administered technology, such as computers, email accounts, and other licenses
- myu@umn.edu for MyU portal questions and concerns.