Cell Phone NSP EPAF – User Guide for Main & HSC
Cell Phone NSP EPAF
Applicable Policies/Guidelines:
The following criteria applies to the Cell Phone EPAF process:
Cell phone payments are valid for one fiscal year. Re-approval is required at the start of each new fiscal year.
Employee has been previously paid using the Cell Phone Non-Standard Payment process and has a “C” suffix position.
If the employee does not have a “C” suffix position, complete the FY26 Cell Phone Allowance Agreement and forward to the appropriate Employment Area.
For staff, send the completed agreement to the HR Transaction Center (HRTC) at HRPR@unm.edu. HRTC will create a shell suffix and notify you once it's ready. You may then proceed with submitting the EPAF.
For HSC faculty, send to HSC Faculty Contracts (HSCFCO), find your consultant here.
For main campus faculty, send Office of Academic Personnel (OAP) at faculty@unm.edu
The must be completed and attached to the Cell Phone EPAF. (Please download this pdf and send the fillable pdf to the employee's supervisor for them to complete.)
Retroactive payments are not permitted. All payments must begin at the start of the current or a future pay period.
Restricted index funds are not eligible for payment approval.
Payments will not be prorated.
If an employee changes positions, an approved cell phone allowance does not automatically transfer. A new approval is required. (Exceptions may apply for position changes due to FLSA salary threshold adjustments, which will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.)
Only one cell phone allowance is allowed at a time.
These employee classifications are not eligible for the allowance:
Undergraduate student employees and Graduate student employees
Temporary staff, On-Call staff, and Working Retirees
Temporary Faculty and Non-Credit Teachers
Cell Phone NSP EPAF Approval Categories:
Staff Main Cell Phone NSP (JS0071)
Used to reimburse staff who use their personal cell phone for University business using unrestricted funds. This cannot be used as a compensatory payment to an employee.
Staff HSC Cell Phone NSP (JS0072)
Used to reimburse staff who use their personal cell phone for University business using unrestricted funds. This cannot be used as a compensatory payment to an employee.
Faculty Main Cell Phone NSP (JF0031)
Used to reimburse faculty who use their personal cell phone for University business using unrestricted funds. This cannot be used as a compensatory payment to an employee.
Faculty HSC Cell Phone NSP (JF0032)
Used to reimburse faculty who use their personal cell phone for University business using unrestricted funds. This cannot be used as a compensatory payment to an employee.
Allowable Earn Code:
073 – Non-Taxable Phone Allowance
Allowable Account Code:
21V2 – Non-Taxable Phone Allowance
Navigate to Electronic Personnel Action Form within LoboWeb
Select New EPAF
Entering Employee Information
Enter the employee’s UNM ID in the ID field
Enter Query Date – Date must be on the first day of the pay period in which the payment will be issued. For more information on pay periods click here.
Within the Approval Category field select the appropriate EPAF type from the dropdown list. Example: Staff Main Cell Phone NSP (JS0071), Staff HSC Cell Phone NSP (JS0072), Faculty Main Cell Phone NSP (JF0031), or Faculty HSC Cell Phone NSP (JF0032)
Once information is entered, click on the “Go” button.
Selecting Job Record
Select the job record with the “C” suffix. In most circumstances, the “C” suffix should have a status of “Terminated.” The status of “Terminated” means that the employee does not have an active Cell Phone payment on that job record. Note: If the “C” suffix position is Active, check the End Date of the job record. If the end date is before the pay period for the Cell Phone payment, you can select that Active “C” suffix.
If no “C” suffix position, then click on the "All Jobs" tab to pull in additional positions.
If no “C” suffix positions exist for the employee, then complete the and forward to the appropriate Employment Area.
Click on the “Go” button to advance to the next step.
Entering Payment Start/End Dates
The initial payment will only be processed in a complete time period. Prorated allocations in a pay period will not be processed.
JOB START DATE: The Jobs Effective Date and Personnel Date must reflect the first day of the applicable payroll period
JOB END DATE: The Jobs Effective Date and Personal Date will be the last day of the applicable payroll period for the fiscal year.
Please refer to the current payroll schedule here.
EXAMPLES:
Exempt
Start dates - 07/01/2025
End dates - 06/30/2026
Non-Exempt
Start date – 07/12/2025 (start of 2R16)
End date – 06/26/2026 (end of 2R15)
Entering Payment Amount - New Value
SPECIAL RATE: (Default Earnings)
Verify the Effective Date matches the effective date, and personnel start date used above.
Select the appropriate Earnings – select 073 from the dropdown list. – This is the only allowable earnings code for the cell phone allowance.
Hours or Units Per Pay – will always be 1
Special Rate – the amount paid per period in the approved and signed cell phone allowance agreement. 5R = Amount can only be $20/30/40 per month
2R = Amount is fixed based on the agreement
$40 allowance = $18.46/biweekly paycheck
$30 allowance = $13.85/biweekly paycheck
$20 allowance = $9.23/biweekly paycheck
End Date – This should be one day after the terminated date. A new agreement is required for each Fiscal Year. Examples:
Exempt – if paid on the last day of June, then the End Date will be 07/01/20XX
Non-Exempt – will be the first day of the next 2R pay period
Example: 2R15 end date is 06/26/2026, then the End Date will be 06/27/2026
LABOR DISTRIBUTION:
Effective Date – first day of the applicable payroll period (same as effective dates above, these all must match)
COA – will always be “U”. This must be filled in for this section to function properly
Index – enter the appropriate index. A department is not required to use the index on the employee’s job record. An alternative departmental index can be used. Restricted indexes are not allowed to be used to pay the cell phone allowance regardless if the employee’s labor is charged to a restricted index.
Account Code – enter 21V2 – This is the only allowable account code for the cell phone allowance.
Percent – will always equal 100 – if using multiple indices, then total will need to equal 100
NOTE – once COA and INDEX are entered, select the “Default from Index” button to bring in the remainder of the information
Routing Queue
Select the appropriate person for each approval level.
If your department requires additional approvals, then you can use the “Not Selected” field to select the appropriate approver and required action – then select Approve or FYI.
Click Save and Add New Rows
Comments
Comments are required so please enter this text. “Please refer to the attached approved allowance agreement." Once completed, click on the “Save” button to save your EPAF.
Upload Documents and Submit
Click Upload Documents to attach required supporting documentation
When all steps above are satisfied, click Submit to complete EPAF and route to appropriate approvers.
Ending a Cell Phone NSP Early
If a Cell Phone NSP needs to end before the original termination date listed on the EPAF, it is the responsibility of the originating department to initiate the termination process.
To do so, the department must contact the Employment Area (EA) and request that the termination date be updated.
Employment Area (EA) will update termination date to appropriate end date.