Luis Lewin, associate vice president for finance and administration for human resources, also briefed senators on potential changes to health care benefits. (See related story.)

Sari Bailey, interim manager of payroll, said the Oracle Employee Self-Service project is expected to yield significant savings.

Other goals and planned initiatives from Payroll include:

• Increasing the percentage of Ohio University employees paid through direct deposit to 95 percent, from 87 percent.
  
  
  
• Eliminating paper copies of W-2 forms and direct deposit pay stubs. The university could save more than $100,000 a year if more employees opted to receive that information online.
  
  
  
• Eliminating printed update forms for the university's campus directory. The change, which is scheduled for next fall, will save the university more than $20,000 a year.

Senate discussed a recent Graduate Student Senate resolution that asks for a pay-freeze exemption for employees earning less than $30,000. However, Classified Senate agreed to support an amended version of the resolution that exempts employees earning up to $36,900 in base salary.

The next Classified Senate meeting is scheduled for 10 a.m. Feb. 19 in Baker University Center 242.