Work Location Attestation Program

The attestation is a short activity designed to ensure organizational compliance by confirming where employees are actually performing their work on a day-to-day basis. Specifically, it is intended to: 

• Capture work location details, including:
  • The New York State location from which the position is directed – likely Ithaca campus or NYC — as required by New York State tax law.
  • The location where an employee actually performs their work – likely their home address if working fully remote or a hybrid schedule.
• Ensure required workplace notices are sent to employees with hybrid and remote flexible work arrangements.
• Have employees attest to their obligations and responsibilities when granted these flexible work arrangements.

The attestation will be distributed to all paid employees (excluding hourly student employment jobs). 

All faculty, academics, staff, and other employees at the Ithaca-based campuses are required to complete this Work Location Attestation annually.

Weill Cornell Medicine is administering a similar process. The two plans will be aligned when all employees are on the same HR system (CEMI). 

No. Employees must complete the attestation directly. Supervisors or other delegates cannot complete the attestation on behalf of the individual. 

The attestation should take less than 5 minutes for most employees to complete. 

• For employees who work fully onsite, it should take less than 2 minutes.
• For those who work hybrid or fully remote, it should take less than 5 minutes.

Employees should reach out to their HR representative (Find Your HR Rep) with questions related to their work arrangements and or the information requested in the Work Location Attestation.  

All tax-related questions should be directed to the University Tax Office: Submit a Service Request.  

Questions about the Work Location Attestation Program may be directed to the Flex Work Team at hr-flexwork@cornell.edu. 

The Work Location Attestation form will be delivered through a Workday Learning course titled “HR 102 Work Location Attestation.” Employees will be assigned the course and will complete the attestation by following the instructions provided within the course. 

The Workday Learning course assignment is delivered as a Workday notification (accessible by clicking the bell icon in the top right corner of the homepage) and a system email from Workday Learning (via cornell@myworkday.com). You may also launch the course by clicking on the “Launch HR 102 Work Location Attestation” button towards the top of this webpage. 

No. A flexible work arrangement request through Workday is still required and remains subject to the business unit’s approval determination. Work address information submitted on the attestation form will be shared with the employee’s college and unit, who may reach out to the employee if it differs from what is shown in Workday.

The initial phase of the work location attestation program involves completing an internal audit and updating our employee records in preparation for the new Workday tax feature, which is scheduled to go live in January 2026. During this phase, we will also identify key Workday events that require a review of the work location information in the university’s HR system. Employees may be reassigned the Work Location Attestation form or a variation of it to complete the review. These events currently include:

• A change in employment status from unpaid to paid
• Approval of new or amended fully remote or hybrid flex work arrangements
• A change in home residence location outside of New York State

More guidance will be provided to the HR community soon.

In cases where information shared by an employee differs from what is recorded in Workday, the local HR teams will work with the employee, manager, and/or college and unit leadership to resolve any discrepancies. This may result in the employee needing to propose a flexible work arrangement in Workday for the college or unit’s approval determination. Refer to Cornell’s Flexibility in the Workplace Program and Procedures for Requesting and Reviewing Flexible Arrangements.

Colleges and units will have the discretion to require employees to return to campus or modify any aspect of a flex arrangement that doesn't work for their business or unit. When a proposed flex arrangement involves working at a location outside of New York State, the college or unit HR rep should contact Cornell’s Flexible Work Specialist for guidance on any tax, compliance, and other considerations that will need to be considered during the review process. Resources and other helpful information can be found on Cornell’s Resources for Flex Arrangements and Flex Work Evaluation Criteria websites.

The initial phase of the work location attestation program involves completing an internal audit and updating our employee records in preparation for the new Workday tax feature, which is scheduled to go live in January 2026.

Submitting a corrected or new work address in the HR 102 Work Location Attestation form reports information about your on-site and or remote work address to your local HR team for verification. Verified work addresses will be updated in Workday through a system process scheduled in December. Employees cannot manually enter a work address. We anticipate all Workday records to be updated by the end of the year.

Employees who need to update their home or correspondence address in Workday can find information about changing their personal information in the following links:

• Address Change
• Change Personal Information Job Aid

If you use hoteling space and/or do not have a designated workspace, you may enter the appropriate system-default campus address for the location where you primarily work on-site. The system-default addresses are as follows:

• Cornell Tech: 2 West Loop Road, New York, NY 10044
• NYC (Weill Cornell Medical College): 445 East 69th Street, New York City, NY 10021
• NYC (not WCMC, not Tech campus): 16 East 34th St., New York City, NY 10016
• Ithaca Main Campus, Geneva, and other locations: No Address Supplied, Ithaca, NY 14853

The three hybrid work arrangements are defined as follows:

• Hybrid - Consistent: Work is typically conducted onsite a specific number of days per week and remotely a specific number of a days per week.
  • Example: Employee works on campus three days per week and from home two days per week for a majority of the year.
• Hybrid - Variable: Work is conducted in a combination of remote and onsite on an inconsistent basis.
  • Example: Employee works from home and comes to campus inconsistently to attend meetings or work as needed from a shared office space.
• Hybrid - Seasonal: Work is typically conducted onsite and remotely during periods of the year for either a set number of days per week or weeks/months of the year.
  • Example: Employee works on campus for most of the year and remotely for six weeks during the summer.

Employees can access information about their Flexible Work Arrangements in Workday from the Job section of their profile. 

View Workday Instructions

It depends. A flexible work arrangement is not required if an employee is not working during their leave period. A remote work location will be established (whether intended or not) if an employee consistently works, even at a reduced effort, from a location different from the customary work location. Note:  A flexible work arrangement is not intended to serve as a reasonable accommodation; please refer to Cornell’s Disability Accommodation Process.

Remote work is a form of workplace flexibility in which employees work from home or telecommute from an alternate work site as their normal workplace. Cornell University does not permit employees holding a U.S.-based position to work remotely, either full-time or in a hybrid arrangement, from a location outside the 50 states and Washington, D.C. 

We recognize that the nature of faculty appointments has not historically been categorized or captured under formal flexible work arrangements. For this reason, the overlap of hybrid and remote work terminology in the work location attestation has understandably led to confusion.

Based on the feedback and questions received so far, the following guidance has been prepared to assist faculty in completing the form.

Faculty Guidance

This phase of the Work Location Attestation program is currently focused on regular work locations. Refer to the Travel and International Work section on this website for information about Cornell-sponsored business travel.

On-Site: For most faculty, the customary work arrangement is on-site. This means the majority of their regular job duties – such as in-person instruction and advising for Cornell’s residential academic programs, research, lab work, and other scholarly and scientific activities – are performed at the assigned job location. This includes Cornell’s Ithaca, New York City, and Geneva campuses, as well as other designated program locations. 

Ancillary activities may be conducted remotely on a limited or inconsistent basis during the academic year. 

Hybrid: A hybrid work arrangement applies when a faculty member’s regular job duties include both online and in-person scholarly and scientific activities and are consistently performed at two locations:

• On-site, including Cornell’s Ithaca, New York City, and Geneva campuses, as well as other designated program locations, and
• Remotely at an alternate location, such as the faculty’s home residence.

This category typically includes faculty whose appointments are part-time, visiting, or involve on-site scientific activities across multiple locations.

Please contact your local HR representative if you have questions about your specific work arrangements. 

Future considerations: During the next phase of the program, we will be incorporating feedback we received on the attestation form and working with the University and Academic leadership to develop additional faculty guidelines to manage out-of-state sabbaticals, leaves, special circumstances (e.g., stacking course load into one semester, part-time appointments, etc.), and any other situations unique to faculty. 

No. The work arrangement would remain the same during the three months the person is not working on behalf of the university. If the appointment circumstances change, and you continue to work (e.g., conducting grant research, directing a lab, performing a summer appointment, etc.), you will follow the guidance for reporting any applicable changes in your work location. 

No. The form is designed to capture an employee’s customary work location and work arrangements. Business travel, as defined by policy, is when an employee temporarily travels away from their customary work location for legitimate business reasons and returns to their work location after travel concludes. 

Temporary, short-term international business travel to a location to conduct legitimate Cornell business (i.e., research collaboration, fieldwork, data collection, faculty-led treks, etc.) generally does not constitute a change in work location. For this to be the case, the work activities must be performed lawfully as a business visitor. The employee must return to their normal workplace in the U.S. after completing the business travel, and the time spent in the country or U.S. territory must align with the host location’s regulations for a business stay and not be considered employment. 

Global Operations in Global Cornell supports international business travel and global staffing solutions. Please refer to the Global Operations website for more information. Also see the Global Operations Travel webpage for links to the international travel registry, travel insurance, and available resources.

Some visa categories are job- and location-specific. International faculty and staff need to be aware of the visa-specific conditions for maintaining their immigration status. Read Visa Basics to learn more. If you believe the work address shown in the Work Location Attestation form needs to be updated or changed, you should first ensure this change is allowed under your visa category. There may be restrictions on and/or reporting requirements before being permitted to work at alternate sites, including working remotely in a fully remote or hybrid arrangement. Please reach out to your local HR Rep or International Services team if you have questions or need assistance. 

Your state or local payroll tax withholdings may change if you are working remotely (either on a hybrid or fully remote work arrangement) or if your work or home addresses change. In such a case, you may need to update your state, and potentially local, payroll tax withholding certificates in Workday as a result of this change. We recommend that you review the income tax withholding certificate and associated instructions for the state in which you perform the remote work and, separately, New York, and discuss these items with your personal tax advisor in advance of completing them to ensure accurate completion of these forms. Cornell University is unable to provide personal income tax advice and, thus, is unable to provide you with specific guidance on how to complete federal, state, or local withholding tax forms.

No. The Work Location Attestation form is an internal tool used to verify where an employee is performing their work and other work arrangement details. The federal, state, and local withholding certificates or other similar tax forms provide the university instructions on how much tax to withhold from your wages, salaries, and other similar income. We recommend that you review the income tax withholding certificate and associated instructions for the state in which you perform the remote work and, separately, New York, and discuss these items with your personal tax advisor in advance of completing them to ensure accurate completion of these forms. Cornell University is unable to provide personal income tax advice and, thus, is unable to provide you with specific guidance on how to complete federal, state, or local withholding tax forms.

Employees can make changes to their federal and state withholding allowances using Workday. Refer to the Tax Withholdings and Forms website for the Workday Job Aid, which provides the current process and additional information. 

As a result of the new Workday Convenience of the Employer tax feature, beginning in January 2026, employees working a hybrid or fully remote arrangement outside of New York State will receive new tax forms – including both NYS and the state where they work. Employees are strongly encouraged to monitor their Tasks and Notifications in Workday for alerts when the new tax forms are available and guidance. These forms should be submitted after 01 January 2026 and before the Campus Deadline assigned to the first pay period in January. Pay period information can be found in the Pay Calendars. 

If you have any questions, please visit the Tax Withholdings and Forms website in January 2026 to confirm you are following the most current instructions and Workday Job Aid related to the Workday Convenience of the Employer tax feature. 

For nearly all Cornell hybrid or fully remote workers, New York State’s Convenience of the Employer Tax law results in 100% of their wages being subject to New York State income tax withholding.  Additionally, income tax withholding is generally required in the hybrid or fully remote work state. 

As a result of the new Workday Convenience of the Employer tax feature, beginning in January 2026, employees working a hybrid or fully remote arrangement outside of New York State:  

• Will receive new tax forms – including both NYS and the state where they work
  • Employees should monitor their Tasks and Notifications in Workday for alerts when the online tax forms are available in Workday and for additional guidance. The anticipated release date is early January 2026.
• Most will be subject to additional required state/local tax withholding in the remote or hybrid work state.
  • This will likely lead to many employees working outside of NYS having greater tax deductions taken from their paychecks starting their first pay period in January (a decrease in take home pay).  

Employees are encouraged to speak with their personal tax advisor now to understand any tax impacts before determining their selected tax withholdings in New York State and their hybrid/remote work state and to ensure accurate personal income tax filing and reporting.