PERSONNEL
60.26
Revised 7-05
Human Resource Services
335-4521
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OVERVIEW
The University employs temporary employees to meet short-term and intermittent workload needs.
The University hires temporary employees for the following purposes:
- Ongoing part-time work,
- Extra work required for a work load peak, and
- To complete a special project, or a cyclic work load.
Temporary employees, as referred to in this section, are also known as hourly, piece work, or time slip employees.
Limits
The University may only employ temporary workers for a maximum of a specified number of hours in a given period of consecutive months. These limits are provided below for student and nonstudent employees.
A period of consecutive months begins with the effective date of appointment. The period ends on the day preceding that date any number of months later.
STUDENT EMPLOYEES
Definition of a Student
For purposes of temporary employment, a student is one who is enrolled at WSU for six or more credit hours during fall or spring semesters. During summer session a student is one who is enrolled for three or more credit hours.
Students enrolled for less than six credit hours who receive financial aid are also considered students.
Replacing Civil Service or Collective Bargaining Unit Employees
Student temporary employees may not be hired to replace civil service or collective bargaining unit employees who are laid off due to lack of funds or lack of work.
Student temporary employees may not be hired to fill a position currently or formerly occupied by a civil service or collective bargaining unit employee during the current or prior calendar year or fiscal year.
Maximum Hours
The law limits student employment to a maximum of 516 hours worked in any six consecutive months, excluding hours worked during the summer and other academic year holiday breaks. (WAC 357-04-040)
WSU academic holidays are periods when school is not in session. Academic holidays include time in November, December, January, and March and from semester-end in May to the start of the fall semester in August.
F-1 Status
Foreign students who hold F-1 nonimmigrant status are limited to 20 hours of work per week while school is in session. Contact the Office of International Students and Scholars for more information.
Exceptions
The following types of students are exempt from the hours limitations, in accordance with WAC 357-04-040:
- Student body officers or student organization jobs such as student officers or student news staff members.
- Students employed in jobs which are directly related to their major fields of study and which provide training opportunities.
- Students in documented and approved internship programs which consist of academic components and work experience.
Work Study
The work study program pays 75 percent of an employee's gross salary. The employing department pays the remaining 25 percent.
If a work-study student's employment exceeds eligibility in terms of gross earnings or dates of eligibility, the employer is required to pay 100 percent of the noneligible wages.
Hiring departments may consult the following sources for information about workstudy allocations for student employees:
- Online Temporary Employment System (TEMPS)
Contact Human Resource Services for information about TEMPS training and access; telephone 335-4521.
- HEPPS Administrative Information System
See 85.33 for information about Administrative Information System access.
- Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarship Services
See the Office of Student Financial Aid and Scholarship Services website at:
Work-study employees cannot be employed on a piece-rate basis.
NONSTUDENT EMPLOYEES
Maximum Hours
Nonstudent temporary employment is limited to 1,050 hours of employment in any 12-consecutive-month period. (WAC 357-04-045, WAC 357-19-435) (See above for a definition of consecutive months.)
Monitoring Begin Date
Start counting hours on the Monitoring Begin Date. The Monitoring Begin Date is always the first day of the pay period in which an appointment begins, i.e., the first or the sixteenth.
More Than One Position
Hours worked in all temporary positions that an employee holds at WSU count toward the total hours worked. If an employee has one temporary employment position and accepts another, the hours from both WSU temporary positions count toward the total hours the employee may work during one year.
Overtime
Overtime hours are not included in the 1,050 hours.
Remedial Action
Violations of temporary employment hours limitations can result in remedial action. Remedial action is the awarding of a permanent civil service or collective bargaining unit position which may include retroactive salary, benefits, and seniority. (WAC 357-19-450)
Remedial action may occur when the temporary employee's appointment does not comply with state temporary employment regulations, i.e.:
- The employee works in one or more temporary employment positions for more than 1,050 hours in any 12 consecutive months since the employee's Monitoring Begin Date. (NOTE: Overtime and hours worked as a student are not included in the 1,050 hour limit.)
- The position is subject to state civil service regulations.
- The employee is not part of a willful failure to comply with state regulations.
The employee must file a written request for remedial action with the Department of Personnel within 30 calendar days of the effective date of the alleged violation. (WAC 357-19-448)
Notice of Conditions
Employers are required to give all nonstudent temporary employees written notice of the conditions of their employment prior to the commencement of each appointment and/or upon any subsequent change to the conditions of their employment. (WAC 357-19-444) See 60.27 for information regarding the Conditions of Employment form.
COMPENSATION
Pay
The rate of pay for temporary employees is based on the Temporary Employment Classification and Compensation Plan. Copies of the plan are available in the following locations:
- Human Resource Services; telephone 509-335-4521
- Human Resource Services web site:
- Online TEMPS
Temporary employees are paid on a positive pay basis. See 55.26 and 60.61.
Overtime
Employment of temporary employees is subject to the Fair Labor Standards Act which requires that employees be paid at a rate of one and one-half times their normal rate for work in excess of 40 hours in a single workweek.
Workweek Defined
A normal workweek is the period from 12:01 a.m. Sunday to midnight Saturday.
Benefits
Benefits Received
Nonstudent temporary employees who work 70 hours or more per month for any five months in a 12-month period are eligible for PERS II or PERS III retirement plan participation and will be required to begin participation.
Nonstudent temporary employees who work half-time or more for six consecutive months receive Public Employee Benefits Board (PEBB) medical, dental, life, and long-term disability insurance coverage at the start of the seventh month. Nonstudent temporary employees must continue to work at least eight hours per month to remain eligible for the WSU premium contribution for PEBB insurance.
NOTE: Departments must pay the cost of PEBB medical, dental, life, and long-term disability insurance and PERS II or PERS III retirement coverage for qualifying nonstudent temporary employees.
All temporary employees are covered by worker's compensation.
Nonstudent temporary employees are covered by unemployment compensation.
Benefits Not Received
Temporary employees do not earn sick leave, annual leave, or a personal holiday. They are not paid for holidays.
Student temporary employees are not covered by unemployment compensation.
CHILD LABOR
Contact the Human Resource Services (HRS) to review the position's duties and hours of employment before employing a minor (anyone under 18 years old).
Parental Consent
The employing department is responsible for securing parental consent before hiring a minor. The department obtains a Parents/School Authorization for Employment of a Minor form from the State of Washington Department of Labor and Industries website at:
Select Business Links, then
Select Workplace Rights, then
Select Teen Worker Forms and Publications.The department completes the top portion of the form and routes it to the minor's parent for authorization. After the parent returns the signed form, the department retains the authorization in the employee's departmental personnel file.
Age Limit
WSU units are not to employ anyone under 16 years of age. In unusual circumstances permission to hire 14- and 15-year-old individuals may be granted by HRS on an exception basis. Route detailed written exception requests to HRS.
WSU EMPLOYEES IN TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT POSITIONS
Faculty and Administrative Professional Staff
If a WSU faculty or administrative professional employee accepts a temporary employment position, the restrictions governing extra compensation apply. For faculty employees, see 60.44 for specific restrictions governing extra compensation.
Administrative professional employees are to coordinate temporary employment with HRS since such employment may affect civil service and/or Fair Labor Standards Act exemptions.
Civil Service Employees
If a civil service employee accepts temporary employment, hours worked on the temporary employment assignment are added to hours worked on the civil service assignment for overtime purposes. A scheduled or nonscheduled work week employee earns overtime pay at a rate of time and one-half for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in one week.
Reporting Hours
Differing Work and Pay Rate
If the work differs and, thus, the rates of pay differ, the civil service employee may receive a rate based upon a weighted-average for the overtime hours. The department is to report those hours on a Positive Pay Report or Unit Pay Report. Contact HRS for more information.
Collective Bargaining Unit Employees
An employee covered by a collective bargaining unit agreement must refer to the applicable agreement for restrictions governing temporary employment and for reporting procedures.
NOT TEMPORARY EMPLOYMENT
The following are other employment terms which may be confused with temporary employment appointments as described in 60.26 and 60.27.
Faculty and Administrative Professional Staff
Regular appointments to faculty and administrative professional positions may have an appointment end date but these appointments are not considered temporary employment appointments. See 60.25.
Faculty Timecard
Faculty and administrative professional employees who perform duties or services which are clearly beyond what is reasonably expected in the performance of regularly-assigned duties may hold faculty timecard appointments. Faculty timecard appointments are not considered temporary employment appointments. See 60.42.
Civil Service and Collective Bargaining Unit Employees
Probationary/Trial Service Appointments
Probationary and trial service appointments are not temporary employment appointments. These employees are completing the training and evaluation period within a permanent civil service or collective bargaining unit position.
Grant and Contract Temporary Appointments
Employees appointed to duties included in a civil service or collective bargaining unit position job description for 20 or more hours per week for six months or longer are civil service or collective bargaining unit employees regardless of the source of funds or a specific termination date.
Reporting Hours
Same Job and Pay Rate
Use a civil service or collective bargaining unit employee's regular Time Report as the pay document for extra hours worked as a temporary employee if the employee is doing the same kind of work.
Specify the budget code(s) to charge the additional hours (either regular hours or overtime hours).
Assistants
Students with appointments as teaching, research, or staff assistants are not on temporary employment appointments.