Welcome to Morning Sun Financial Services!
We are the financial management service for your employer. That means we will be responsible for processing your timesheets and/or EVV records and handling your paychecks.
As an employee to a participant/consumer receiving self-directed (or self-determined) services, you play a vital role in helping this individual achieve independence and live a fuller life. You will not only be providing a valuable service to this person, but also making a contribution to their family and to society as a whole.
What are Self-Directed Services (SDS)?
The individual you have been hired to work with or their representative has chosen services that are “Self-Directed”, or “Self-Determined”. Self-Directed Services puts the person with the disability in control of the care and assistance they need. The individual or their representative chooses who they want to work with them and provide their care, what type of care they want and need, and when they want to receive that care. Often the individual or their representative chooses family members, friends or other people that know them well. The individual or their representative hires and manages their own workers, they decide what type of support they want the workers to provide and when they want the support workers to work with them.
Self-directed services have their origins in the concept of self-determination. Self-determination is a movement aimed at changing the service system for people who have disabilities.
Self-determination means that each person who has a disability has the same rights as all other citizens to have a meaningful life that is:
- Fully integrated into their communities
- Rich in relationships
- Individually crafted
The Self-Determination Project showed that when participants are given control over the funds allocated for their support, they create the type of supports they need to live the life that they want instead of a life determined by others.
What are the advantages of Self-Directed Services?
- Individuals can plan their own services to lead the type of lives they choose.
- Individuals choose where and when services are provided.
- Individuals can hire, manage and direct their own support workers.
- Individuals can hire support workers from people they already know
including friends, neighbors, and local organizations.
- Individuals can choose support workers familiar with their own language, culture, and traditions.
- Individuals can make stronger connections with their communities.
The Role of the Employee, the Employer and Morning Sun Financial Services
- Employer
- The employer is either the person you have been hired to work with (also referred to as “Participant”) or their responsible representative.
- Many times, the responsible representative is a family member that helps the participant manage these services.
- The employer is also the person that:
- Hires you.
- Decides how much you will be paid.
- Decides what days and times you will work.
- Trains you on how to care for the participant.
- Decides what tasks you will be asked to do.
- Supervises you.
- Morning Sun Financial Services
- We are the the Fiscal Employer Agent (FEA) or “Payroll Agent.” This means we are responsible for processing your employer’s EVV time records, paying their employees, paying payroll taxes and making sure all employment laws are followed.
- Employee
- Your role as an employee is working for a person who is choosing Self Directed Services may be a new experience for you as the Employee.
- If you have worked with people with disabilities in the past through an agency, you may find this job is a little different. An agency will hire, train, schedule, and assign you to an individual. But in Self-Directed Services, the individual with disabilities or their responsible representative has chosen you to work with them.
- The person who hired you will train you on your duties according to the participant’s needs and wishes.
- You may also have been chosen as an Employee because you know the individual receiving services’ family. Perhaps you are a family member, neighbor, friend, or other acquaintance.
- One of the benefits of Self-Directed Services is that it allows the Participant to hire people they know and are comfortable with. Family members and other people the Participant knows must meet the same qualifications and follow the same rules as all employees.
New Employee Packet
The first step to become an employee is to complete a New Employee Packet. Your Employer will give this to you and help you to fill it out if you have questions. There will be instructions on how to complete the forms as you go. Your Employer will also have parts of the packet to complete. Your Employer will check the packet to make sure it has been filled out correctly. Your Employer will then return the packet to Morning Sun. Forms that are missing information may cause a delay in the approval for you to begin working. You may not work until Morning Sun has given this approval to your Employer.
Payroll Policies and Procedures
- Starting Wage
- Your wage is decided by your Employer (within established guidelines of the program).
- Pay Periods
- Pay periods are bi-weekly, with payment issued 10 business days after the due date of your timesheet or EVV time record. We have included a payroll schedule as part of this packet. Each workweek begins on Sunday at midnight and ends on the following Saturday at 11:59pm.
- Timekeeping
- Employees must record their hours worked for each shift by utilizing a timesheet. The Employer is responsible for approving all shifts the employee works.
- Electronic Visit Verification (EVV): The employee must record their hours worked for each shift using an EVV app on a cell phone or tablet. Each login the employee makes will capture the employee’s name, the participant they are serving, start times and end times, the date and the type of service being provided. The Employer is responsible for approving all shifts the employee works. EVV instructions will be sent to you once a hire date has been issued and you are given permission from Morning Sun to begin working.
- Issues That May Delay Payroll:
- Timesheets or EVV transactions that are not completed properly or accurately.
- Timesheets or EVV transactions that are missing approval from either you or your employer.
- Timesheets or EVV transactions that are received after the due date.
- Timesheets or EVV transactions that include unauthorized hours on the time record.
- A Good to Go date had not been issued by the Morning Sun Human Resources Department before you began working.
- Insufficient funding left on the Participant’s waiver allocation.
- Employee Paychecks
- You have a few choices in how you would like to receive your pay.
- If you choose an electronic deposit, your options are to have your payroll deposited directly into your personal bank account or on The rapid! PayCard issued by Mastercard.
- If you provide Morning Sun with your email address your earnings statement will be emailed to your personal email account. If you do not provide an email address, your earning statement will be mailed to you via the US mail.
- You also have the choice of having your paycheck mailed to you. We encourage Employees to use direct deposit or the cash card option to avoid delays caused by the United States Postal Service. We are unable to guarantee when your paycheck will be delivered to you.
- Corrections Involving Payroll
- If you feel that there has been a mistake with a payment made to you, please tell your Employer immediately. Your Employer should immediately tell our Payroll Specialist. You may also choose to contact the Morning Sun Payroll Specialist yourself. Morning Sun will work with the Employer or Employee to immediately fix the problem.
- If Morning Sun makes a mistake in the payment to you, we will correct that error and send a new payment within one business day.
- Customer Service
- Our Payroll Specialists and HR Specialists are available between the hours of 8am to 4pm CST, Monday through Friday to assist with questions you may have.
- For questions on paychecks, taxes, payroll information, timesheets, or EVV time records: Please contact the Payroll department
- For assistance completing a new employee packet or for questions on background checks, personal information updates, employment verifications: Please contact the Human Resources department
- Complaints and Grievances
- If Employees have a complaint or problem, the first step is to let your Employer know so they can work to fix the issue with you.
- If you are not satisfied with their response, please let the Morning Sun Program Administrator know right away.
- If you are not satisfied with the Program Administrator’s response, you may also contact any of the following individuals: