OU Winter Closure Checklist

Winter Break 2025 for campus admin offices is Dec. 24, 2025, through Jan. 4, 2026. Services will resume Jan. 5, 2026.

Winter Break Holiday Leave may not be available for employees who work in areas where continuous operations must be sustained to support patient care, teaching schedules, and service-related functions, and it does not apply to College of Medicine physicians and credentialed providers providing clinical services to OU Health Partners. Employees with questions should consult their supervisors for specific direction.

For more information, visit the Holidays, Time Off and Leave page. 

Description of Closure

University offices will be officially closed on these holidays except where continuous operations must be sustained to avoid conflicts with patient care, teaching schedules, and service-related functions. This schedule may be altered for 24/7 service and some clinics. Please check with your department. The Tulsa campus may publish its own holiday calendar.

Employees who are required to work on published holidays will be provided alternative time to be taken on a date to be scheduled between supervisors and affected employees. 

If you are benefits-eligible staff, the deadline to enter your 2025 Goals in Cornerstone is January 6, 2026. You can learn more about this process here.

Norman Program Employees:

Submit your time: time.ou.edu

To ensure your pay is configured properly for your first check of 2026, go to time.ou.edu before your last working day of the last pay period for 2025. To learn more about when your time must be entered for specific pay dates, visit Norman's Payroll site.

For hourly employees' workdays 12/13-12/26/2025: hours must be submitted for payment. No estimated time will be used for these days.  

Note that bi-weekly and hourly employees' pay will be issued on 12/26/25. Checks will be mailed on 12/23/25 to employees who do not have direct deposit information in PeopleSoft by 12/16/25. 
You can enter your direct deposit information in Employee Self-Service. 

HSC Program Employees:

Submit your time: TAL Login Page

To ensure your pay is configured properly for your first check of 2026, go to the TAL login page before your last working day or before 12/29/25 at noon to complete your timesheet. To learn more about when your time must be entered for specific pay dates, contact your departmental payroll coordinator and/or supervisor. For paycheck dates, visit HSC's Payroll site.

Note that employees' final pay for 2025 will be issued 12/26/25. Checks will be mailed on 12/23/25 to employees who do not have direct deposit information in PeopleSoft by 12/16/25. 
You can enter your direct deposit information in Employee Self-Service. 

2026 Benefit Selections

Open Enrollment ended 11/07/25; you should have received a confirmation statement showing your 2026 benefits selections. Be sure to ask any questions you have about coverage selections before Winter Break. Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) will mail ID cards to the address you have in PeopleSoft prior to 1/1/2026. Please remember that the university will have a separate pharmacy benefit through Rightway starting 1/1/2026. Rightway will not issue a separate ID card. Both your medical (BCBS) and pharmacy (Rightway) information will be included on your BCBS ID card. Employees on either campus who selected dental coverage for 2026 or made medical plan changes will receive new dental cards from BCBS. If you newly elected a High Deductible Health Plan, a new HSA (Health Savings Account) card from HSA Bank will be mailed to your home address on file. Make sure your address is up-to-date in Employee Self-Service.

2026 Retirement Contributions

For 2026, the IRS has published the retirement contribution limit information and you can find it in the 2026 OU Benefits Guide on page 22. Remember, if you're not enrolled in one of the voluntary retirement plans, it could mean you're not saving any of your own money for retirement. Any changes made to voluntary retirement plans can take 1-2 pay periods to show up on your earnings statements.

Voluntary retirement account contribution limits may change from year to year for 403(b) and 457(b) retirement accounts, so it’s important to check the retirement portion of the OU HR website for current information and contribution limits. You can sign up for voluntary retirement plans at any time during the year.

Beneficiary Selections

Not having a beneficiary designated on your retirement account paperwork can delay benefits payments to your recipients. 

You can review your beneficiary information in Self-Service.

Have you moved?
Be sure your address on file with the university is up-to-date so that we can find you when we mail insurance cards, tax forms, and other important documents.

Change in marital status?
Marital status can affect many things including benefits, beneficiaries, emergency contacts, and much more. 

Job title change?
Your title can affect pay and benefits.

Phone number/office location change?
For emergencies or just so colleagues can find you, it's important that we know where you're located on campus. 

Is all your beneficiary information updated?
Beneficiary designation is not just for life insurance. Your wages and retirement accounts need to have beneficiary designations as well. 

You can review all of this info and more in Employee Self-Service.

If you have FSA balances and can use them for eligible expenses, do yourself a favor and exhaust the balance by the deadline. FSA health and dependent day care plans have a “use it or lose it” provision, so if you don’t use the money, it cannot, by law, be spent past the IRS mandated deadlines. 

For more information on FSA deadlines and limits, visit HR's FSA page. For a refresher on eligible expenses for your FSA account, visit OU's FSA partner, Optum Financial. 

Blue Cross Blue Shield (BCBS) will mail ID cards to the address you have in PeopleSoft prior to 1/1/2026. Please remember that the university will have a separate pharmacy benefit through Rightway starting 1/1/2026. Rightway will not issue a separate ID card. Both your medical (BCBS) and pharmacy (Rightway) information will be included on your BCBS ID card. 

Employees on either campus who selected dental coverage for 2026 or made medical plan changes will receive new dental cards from BCBS

If you do not receive your new cards by January 15, call the HR Benefits Department at (405) 325-1826 for Norman program employees and (405) 271-2180 for Health Campus program employees. These cards will be mailed to your home. When you receive your new card, please review it carefully to ensure the plan and other information are correct. 

If you need to review or update your address in our system, you can review your employee record in Self-Service.
 

Double check that insurance coverages, retirement contributions, FSA, and HSA accounts on your first January earnings statement are correct. If you have a question, contact the Norman HR Benefits team or the HSC HR Benefits team.

Your 1095-C is proof that you had insurance coverage for 2025. Your W-2 must be included in your tax returns. W-2 forms will be sent by January 31 and 1095-C forms will be sent by March 2; both forms will be sent to your address on file in Self-Service.

Payroll Services also offers an online system to access your W-2 and 1095-C tax forms. This is a more secure way to receive your tax forms and eliminate the possibility of lost or stolen documents. Electronic tax forms are also available earlier than the mailed version and can be accessed anytime during or after your employment at the university. To enroll in this service, click here for Norman programs and here for HSC programs.

All Norman and Health Campus administrative offices will resume work on January 5, 2026, unless otherwise noted on their website or other communication. We hope you have a safe and happy holiday season!