Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A) Policy statement and
purpose
The purpose of the BGSU cellular
services policy is to provide guidelines when providing a cell phone stipend to
a university employee.
(B) Policy
Employees of Bowling Green state
university whose duties may include the need for cellular services can obtain
this service in one of the following manners:
|
Option
|
General
description
|
|
Cellular services
stipend:
|
Personally owned phone managed
by the employee with a provided monthly, taxable stipend paid to the employee
for business use of the cell phone.
|
|
BGSU owned phone:
|
Phone and service owned by BGSU
and managed by the department.
|
(1) General
The policies under the "general" heading apply to all faculty
and staff of BGSU regardless of the method of cellular services.
(a) Management for each department will
determine the cellular services options for their staff subject to the approval
of the divisional vice president.
(b) Employees must not store sensitive
university data unencrypted on their phone.
(c) Any cellular phone that has been used to
access the BGSU email system must wipe the data from the phone in the event the
phone is deemed lost, stolen, or the phone is no longer going to be used for
university purposes. For assistance on remotely wiping a phone, please contact
the ITS technology support (419-372-0999-
www.bgsu.edu/tsc).
(2) Stipend
(a) Employees eligible for a cellular
services stipend must complete the "cellular services stipend authorization"
form.
(b) Stipend allowance,
including amount, is subject to the approval of the vice president of each
division.
(c) Employees must
provide their supervisor with the cellular phone number obtained as a result of
the stipend.
(d) Employees must
retain a cellular services contract for as long as the stipend is
provided.
(e) Employees must notify
the university if their cellular services contract is cancelled or
expires.
(f) Stipends will not be
provided for hardware (i.e. employees must purchase their own
phones).
(g) Employees are
responsible for researching and obtaining a cellular services contract that
meets the requirements of the stipend allowance. Employees can purchase
services/features beyond the stipend package if they choose to, however, the
employee will be responsible for the additional charges.
(h) Employees are individually responsible
for all contractual obligations agreed to in their cellular services contract.
This includes any termination fees.
(i) Employees are responsible for the
maintenance of their phone, both hardware and software.
(j) Stipend allowances must be reviewed
annually for accuracy and relevancy by the employee's supervisor.
(3) BGSU owned phone
(a) Use of the BGSU owned cellular phones
must be done so in a manner consistent with the IRS rules for employee cell
phones:
http://www.irs.gov/irb/2011-38_IRB/ar07.html.
(b) A BGSU owned cellular phone may be issued
only to those who have on-call positions and who, furthermore, have
responsibility to protect property, health, and safety of the
institution.
(c) The employee is
required to account for personal calls on the monthly bill.
(d) Charges
(i) The employee must timely reimburse BGSU
for the cost of the personal calls, to include a pro rata share of the monthly
charge.
(ii) Failure of the
employee to timely reimburse BGSU shall result in the personal use of the phone
being treated as ordinary taxable income to the employee. This use will be
reflected in the employee wage statement and shall be subject to usual income
tax withholding.
(e)
University owned cellular phones must be returned to the college/department
upon termination of employment of duties requiring the use of a cellular
phone.
(f) Colleges/departments are
responsible for maintaining the hardware, software, accounts and services for
the BGSU owned cellular phones used by their employees.
(g) Colleges/departments are responsible for
assuring that usage of the BGSU owned cellular phones are in compliance with
this policy.
(h)
Colleges/departments are responsible for monthly review of the employees' BGSU
owned cellular phone bills, and any supporting documentation.
(i) College/departments must maintain the
usage records and supporting documentation to support the exclusion of the
phone use from the employee's wages.
(4) Personally owned cellular phones-no
stipend
No reimbursement will be provided for business related calls or
data access.
(C)
Policy
definitions
Sensitive university data - Sensitive
university data includes personal information and proprietary information of
the university included but not limited to: social security numbers, driver
license numbers, credit card or other financial account numbers, BGSU id
numbers, protected health information, financial data, educational records,
intellectual property or research records, donor profiles, or any information
that could result in material risk of identity theft, a violation of the family
educational rights and privacy act, or otherwise harm the legitimate financial
and reputational interests of the university if unauthorized access is
permitted, whether intentionally or unintentionally.
(D)
Enforcement and
sanctions
Individuals or entities in violation of
the cellular services policy will be referred to the appropriate disciplinary
authority for review.
