Current through all regulations passed and filed through September 16, 2024
(A)
Policy
statement
The basis for student employment is to
assist in meeting the needs of the university, provide university students with
financial support in pursuit of their academic goals, and provide opportunities
for academic or administrative job experience. The job duties and
responsibilities of student employees vary greatly, and may or may not be
related to their field of study. A student employee is defined as an individual
who is:
(1)
Enrolled at the university on a full-time or part-time
basis, during the semester(s), they are working. During the summer semester,
university of Toledo (UToledo) students who attended classes the prior spring
and are enrolled for the following fall semester may work as student employees.
Associated with the university, primarily in the pursuit of an academic
degree.
(2)
Students attending other institutions who are under an
approved consortium agreement may also be employed as UToledo student
employees.
(3)
Appointed to a position designated as student
employment.
The university maintains a distinction
between on-campus student employment and staff employment. These distinctions
may include but are not limited to the nature of work, hours worked, rate of
pay, and benefit eligibility.
(B)
Purpose of
policy
Oversight for the recruitment,
selection, and management of a student employee is the responsibility of the
appropriate administrative authority within the various colleges, departments,
and offices.
(1)
The hiring unit must adhere to all applicable federal
and state employment laws when hiring student employees.
(2)
The hiring unit
must adhere to all university human resources' policies and procedures when
hiring student employees.
(3)
Students
appointed to work-study positions must meet federal work-study program
eligibility requirements as determined by the student financial aid
office.
(4)
Student employment positions must not be in conflict
with university collective bargaining agreements.
(5)
Students are not
eligible to begin working until all of the required actions have been
completed, and they have received all required approvals. Allowing a student to
begin working before they are cleared to start could result in the
following:
(a)
In the event of an injury the student may not be qualified for coverage under
the university's workers' compensation insurance.
(b)
The student's
paycheck cannot be processed until all employment and compliance processes has
been completed and their ePAF is active in the system.
(c)
This could result
in corrective action being implemented with the hiring authority who does not
follow all employment and compliance procedures.
(C)
Scope
This policy applies to all positions
that are being hired through on-campus student employment.
(D)
Terms
of employment
(1)
Job posting
To ensure all students have an equal
opportunity to find and apply for positions, on-campus departments must post
their positions on career services official job posting platform:
(a)
Positions must be
posted for a minimum of seven calendar days.
(b)
Departments must
include the completed the job description template in the job description
portion of the post to ensure a compliant job description has been provided to
the student.
(2)
Background check
Any department hiring an on-campus
student employee for a position, which will require a background check based on
the qualifying duties listed in rule
3364-25-47
of the Administrative Code (criminal background check), are responsible
for:
(a)
The cost of the background check.
(b)
Completing the
background check before submitting the student's ePAF.
(3)
New
hire paperwork
Employment authorization (I-9) and any
other required employment forms must be completed and certified for all student
employees before the first day of employment. Failure to complete the I-9
correctly and on-time may result in fines being issued by immigration and
customs enforcement
https://www.uscis.gov/i-9-central. The non-compliant department would be responsible for
payment of any imposed fines.
(4)
Wages and
compensation
All student employees must be paid on
an hourly basis.
(a)
On-campus student employment and human resources
(compensation) are responsible for establishing student employee pay ranges and
applicable guidelines. The guidelines can be found in the on-campus student
employer handbook.
(b)
All student employees must be paid at least the current
minimum wage.
(c)
Hourly pay rate for student employees should not exceed
full-time staff.
(d)
Any student employee wage increase must be approved by
on-campus student employment.
(5)
Hours of
work
(a)
All
student employees other than co-op employees are appointed on a temporary,
part-time basis and may hold multiple student appointments as long as they do
not exceed the maximum amount of hours.
(i)
Domestic students
are eligible to work twenty-eight hours per week (Saturday twelve a.m. to
Friday fifty-nine minutes after eleven p.m.).
(ii)
International
students are eligible to work twenty hours per week (Saturday twelve a.m. to
Friday fifty-nine minutes after eleven p.m.). International students are
eligible to work twenty hours per week during scheduled breaks that are at
least one week long.
(iii)
Federal work-study (FWS) students are eligible to work
twenty-eight hours per week (Saturday twelve a.m. to Friday fifty-nine minutes
after eleven p.m.). They are limited to twenty hours of FWS, and the remaining
eight hours are paid for by the department's budget. FWS is part of the federal
financial aid program is only available to students who are eligible to qualify
for federal funds.
(c)
Graduate
assistants must seek permission from the college of graduate studies to hold an
additional position. These positions are limited to a maximum of five hours per
week (Saturday twelve a.m. to Friday fifty-nine minutes after eleven
p.m.).
(d)
Departments are responsible for the monitoring of hours
worked by student employees assigned to their unit; this is especially
important for students who hold multiple student appointments.
(6)
Performance evaluations
All hiring departments are required to
provide a performance appraisal for student employee. On-campus student
employment will provide the appraisals after the half way point of each
semester.
(7)
Unpaid time off
(a)
Student employees
do not accrue vacation, sick leave, or other paid time off.
(b)
Arrangements for
time-off without pay are negotiated and approved within the employing unit,
including time-off during academic break periods. Academic break periods are a
function of the academic calendar and do not relate to student employee work
assignments.
(8)
Holidays
Generally, student employees are not
required to work on university-designated holidays, and they are not paid for
the holiday. In those university offices where services are maintained on
holidays, you may request a student to work on the holiday. If they agree,
their pay is at the regular hourly rate. An opportunity should be offered to
take an alternate day-off without pay within the pay period in which the
holiday is observed.
(9)
Workers'
compensation
The Ohio workers' compensation law
covers student employees.
(10)
Unemployment
Student employees are not entitled to
unemployment compensation.
(11)
Social security
and medicare tax
All employees of the university are
exempt from the pension portion of social security. In addition, student
employees enrolled on at least a half-time basis are exempt from medicare tax
withholding. The university is required to withhold the medicare tax from the
wages of student employees enrolled on a less than half-time basis. Consult
payroll for information regarding exemption eligibility.
(12)
Ohio
public employees retirement system
Employees of Ohio public colleges and
universities do not contribute to the federal social security system, other
than contributions to medicare. They contribute to state retirement
systems.
(a)
Membership in the Ohio public employees retirement
system (OPERS) is optional for student employees and work-study students
enrolled on at least a half-time basis at a qualifying institution. OPERS
membership is mandatory for co-op students, and student employees enrolled on
less than a half-time basis in any quarter. OPERS membership requires a
tax-deferred payroll deduction. These deductions are remitted to OPERS for the
purpose of accumulating service credit toward future retirement
benefits.
(b)
Student employees may request an exemption from OPERS
membership by responding to an email or text sent to them by OPERS. They must
respond to the email or text within thirty days of covered employment. OPERS
exemption requests will be honored for the duration of a student's employment
status unless enrollment drops to less than a half-time basis. In such cases,
OPERS deductions will be withheld until sufficient credit hours are added in
subsequent term(s). Co-op students are not eligible for the option exemption
from OPERS.
(c)
Upon termination of employment, student employees who
participate in OPERS can either leave their accumulated contributions on
deposit to qualify for future retirement benefits or request a refund of their
accumulated contributions and will be issued by OPERS. Refunds from OPERS are
subject to federal and state income tax withholding, and reporting by OPERS is
taxable income on IRS form 1099r.
(13)
Jury duty
Time used by a student in the
performance of jury duty, or when summoned as a witness, shall be treated as an
excused absence without pay.
(14)
Termination
A student employee is an at-will
employee and may be terminated with or without cause unless there is an
explicit written contract between the student employee and the university that
provides otherwise.
(a)
If a student's position is eliminated due to budget
constraints, lack of work, or any other valid reason unrelated to job
performance, the employer should give the student a notice with an
explanation.
(b)
If the supervisor determines that the student employee
is not performing satisfactorily, the following process is required;
(i)
A verbal
conversation must occur to try and help the student employee understand the
issue in order to resolve the concern.
(ii)
A written
warning must be provided with a course of action to deliver one final attempt
to help the student employee correct the problem.
(15)
Military duty
Per The 1994 Uniformed Services
Employment and Reemployment Rights Act --
http://www.dol.gov/vets/programs/userra/userra_fs.htm
(a)
A student
employee who is a member of any reserve component of the United States armed
forces, who is voluntarily or involuntarily ordered to extended U.S. military
service, shall be granted time off without pay.
(b)
The student
employee should provide to the supervisor advance written or verbal notice of
the call for impending training or active duty.
(c)
Upon completion
of training, or if discharged under honorable conditions, and upon
re-registration as a student, the student employee shall be returned to his or
her former position in a timely manner, based on the availability of a student
position. Due to the temporary nature of student employment, if the position is
abolished during the student's absence, then no obligation
exists.
(16)
Conflict of interest/nepotism
Student employee appointments shall
conform to rule
3364-25-18
of the Administrative Code (conflict of interest and nepotism).
Replaces: 3364-25-11
