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ITHACA COLLEGE
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VOLUME III
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3.6 Other Employment Policies
Ithaca College welcomes the referral of qualified relatives and friends who wish to work for the College. Applicants should be referred to the Employment and Employee Relations Department of the Office of Human Resources, where the application procedures will be explained. Employees also should inform the director of employment and employee relations when a referral has been made. Normally, the College will not employ a person in a position where he or she would be subject to direct supervision by a relative or someone who is a member of the same household, or where a conflict of interest might occur. (Relatives are persons related by blood, marriage, or legal procedure and include parents, children, husbands, wives, siblings, first cousins, and in-laws or "step" relatives, and any of the foregoing's uncles, aunts, nieces, nephews, grandparents and grandchildren.) "Supervision" refers to both the direct supervisor-supervisee relationship and any work relationship where one of the employees might be involved in a personnel decision concerning the other. Should situations arise where a conflict of interest might occur, employees would be expected to voluntarily remove themselves from participation.
There are limitations on the employment of minors (under 18 years of age) imposed by New York State Labor Law and the child labor provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act, including restrictions on hours and types of work. An approved employment certificate or working papers must be on file in the Office of Human Resources for each person under the age of 18, other than Ithaca College students, employed by the College. No one under the age of 16 may be employed.
Arrest In compliance with the New York State Human Rights Law, the College will neither seek nor use a record of prior arrest pertaining to an individual applicant or employee. Conviction The College reserves the right to inquire into an individual's criminal record. The College will only use an individual's conviction record in making personnel decisions where there is a direct relationship between the offense and the job or where hiring and retaining the individual would present an unreasonable risk, in accordance with New York State Corrections Law 750 et seq.
In general, hiring, evaluation, and other human resource actions under federal, state, or private grants must follow the standard procedures and policies of Ithaca College unless pre-empted by more stringent federal, state or grant limitations. Proposed exceptions require review by both the Office of Academic Funding and the Office of Human Resources. Federal and state government grants and contracts are subject to a variety of limitations on compensation, laws related to notification of drug conviction, documentation of effort, and so on. (See Volume II, section 2.20.6, Policy for Dealing Possible Misconduct in Research Under External Grant or Contract Funding, and section 2.8.8.1, Ithaca College Drug Free Workplace Policy.) Consultation with the Compensation and Organizational Design Department must occur before a grant proposal is submitted if the proposal includes funding for a new staff member, or a significant change in employment status or compensation levels for an existing employee. If the grant is approved, the grant director or principal investigator must work with the Compensation and Organizational Design Department to write job descriptions and determine the appropriate grade and rate of pay for any newly-created grant positions. The contracts must be reviewed by the Office of Academic Funding before being issued. If grant funding will be used to engage a current Ithaca College employee, approval must be obtained from the employee's supervisor, and the director of compensation and organizational design must be consulted prior to making an offer to the employee. If the employee is non-exempt, all hours worked must be reported on the time report form (TRF) in accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act provisions. Faculty hiring under grants is reviewed by the appropriate dean or provost. Please note that federal and state grants generally forbid payment to employees over the level of that individual's base rate. Employees who will be paid with grant funds are subject to the same employment procedures and compensation guidelines as other employees at the College. If the employment offer is for a specified period of time or if there are other special employment conditions, discuss these details with the Employment and Employee Relations Department prior to the recruitment. The offer letter or employment agreement should confirm in writing the duration of the position and any special employment conditions and must be written by or reviewed with the Employment and Employee Relations Department. If employment or the source of funds for a grant-funded employee are scheduled to terminate, both the grant director and the employee should consult at least three months before the termination date to review termination procedures, to examine placement or transfer options, if any, and to clarify any issues relating to benefits or accruals. If an employment commitment spans fiscal years, in most cases it will be appropriate to review the salary during the annual review process. If the same salary is continuing throughout the employment commitment and the commitment lasts longer than the current fiscal year, this salary information should be stated clearly in writing at the offer of employment stage.
Foreign nationals must have special work permits or visas allowing them to be employed by Ithaca College. Hiring supervisors must contact the director of employment and employee relations prior to making any offer of employment to a foreign national. As the College's responsible officer, the director of employment and employee relations oversees the review of work permits and visas to determine the employment eligibility of a foreign national prior to that individual engaging in any work at the College. If necessary, the director of employment and employee relations will work with the foreign national to apply for work authorization. Visas with employment authorization are usually valid for a period of 1-3 years, although they may be valid for a shorter period. The individual's work authorization must extend through the entire contract period. Work authorization must be reviewed annually before a new contract is issued; any rehire contract must contain the same work authorization clause as the original contract. (See section 3.4.2, Offers to Foreign Nationals.) Supervisors need to work closely with the director of employment and employee relations in the Office of Human Resources to provide timely information about the foreign national to assure the work permit or visa authorization forms are completed accurately. Some petitions for work authorization require lengthy waiting periods before approval is obtained and authorization documents are issued. Individuals who are classified as resident alien (or permanent resident) do not require a special visa or work permit; however, there may be an expiration date printed on their documentation (green card). For this reason, the Office of Human Resources must review the original documents and retain photocopies of their documentation prior to their engaging in any work for the College.
Any request for Ithaca College to sponsor a foreign national for permanent labor certification must be approved by the president. At the earliest point such a request is being considered, a department chair or hiring supervisor must contact the director of employment and employee relations for the proper procedure to follow.
An employee must be prepared to devote appropriate time and energy to the employee's position at Ithaca College. If outside employment causes a conflict of interest or impairs an employee's effectiveness on the job, the College will require the faculty or staff member to resolve the problem. Work hours will not be scheduled to accommodate outside employment unless it is in the interest of the College. Faculty, executive officers and directors are asked periodically to submit their own report on any outside employment.
Effective 4/25/2006. While many areas on campus operate from 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday, there are other departments that regularly operate outside of these hours. Employees are expected to work the hours designated for their department unless working under an approved flexible working hours option. A flexible working hours option may include, but is not limited to, a variation of arrival and/or departure time(s) and/or a shortened lunch break (not to be less than 30 minutes). Under this policy flexible working hours may also include a four-day work week. Requests for a flexible working hours arrangement will be considered within the context of coverage requirements for any department or unit. Employees interested in exploring a flexible working hours option or four-day work week should submit “A Request for Change in Work Schedule Form” to their immediate supervisor for consideration. The supervisor will assess the needs of the department in determining if a request for a flexible working hours option or four-day work week is feasible for his/her area. Requests for a four-day work week must also be approved by every intervening supervisor(s) and the appropriate vice president.
Various factors within a department, such as size, staffing configurations, coverage, and the type of working environment may allow for a work schedule outside the regular office schedule of 8:30 a.m. arrival and 5:00 p.m. departure five days per week. All approved flexible working hours and four-day work week arrangements must comply with the Fair Labor Standards Act as well as other state and federal regulations governing pay to employees. Several flex-time schedules for full-time employees are listed below only as examples and do not limit the flex-time schedules that a department or respective work group may design that would best support their environment. Examples of 37.5 Hour Schedules which may be requested:
Examples of 40.0 Hour Schedules which may be requested:
If an employee is scheduled to work a shift that begins before noon and continues later than 7:00 p.m., an additional uncompensated meal period of at least 20 minutes is required between 5:00 p.m. and 7:00 p.m. in the evening. When an employee is scheduled to work a shift that begins between 1:00 p.m. and 6:00 a.m., an uncompensated meal period of at least 30 minutes is required at a time approximately halfway between the beginning and the end of the shift.
Both academic and corporate organizations in the United States have successfully implemented flex-time work schedules and have benefited from lower absenteeism and greater productivity. For Ithaca College and employees, some of the advantages are:
Supervisors may not ask employees to do personal work. All work assigned by the supervisor must relate to College business. Most work can be categorized clearly as appropriate or inappropriate. For example, it is clearly inappropriate to expect an employee to type an invoice for a supervisor's private business or to prepare a mailing to a sports team coached by the supervisor. Some work, however, cannot be so clearly categorized. For example, a supervisor may be asked to represent the College on a community committee and work resulting from this commitment appropriately may be delegated to an employee even though such work does not relate directly to the function performed by the employee's department. Manuscript typing of books and lengthy articles from which the author will receive profit may not be done under College auspices. All manuscript typing requests must be approved by the appropriate dean. Each dean will be responsible for putting in place appropriate guidelines within that dean's area of responsibility. Anyone who needs assistance in properly defining personal work should consult with the director of human resources.
Employees may not use College time or materials for personal work. Any employee wishing to solicit, canvass, or advertise on the Ithaca College campus should adhere to College policy as summarized in Volume II, section 2.12, Advertising and Solicitation Policy. Employees who fail to adhere to these guidelines will be disciplined according to College disciplinary policy.
Before requesting temporary assistance or coverage every attempt should be made to cover the workload with current staff and faculty. If extra help is needed for a short period of time and current employees, colleagues or students cannot cover the responsibilities, contact the director of employment and employee relations or the appropriate dean's office. If there are times when there is a light workload in the department, supervisors should make this known to the Office of Human Resources so available help can be coordinated with the needs in other departments.
Temporary coverage of office and physical plant tasks are usually engaged through the College's arrangements with local temporary agencies. After discussing skills required, duties to be performed, and the dates and times temporary assistance will be needed, the director of employment and employee relations or a designee will contact a local temporary agency. The department supervisor will be notified as soon as a temporary worker is assigned. Temporary agencies charge a minimum of four hours per day for a temporary employee. Temporary workers will perform their duties most effectively when they understand exactly what is expected of them. Good instruction followed by close supervision, especially during the first day, is usually time well spent. A "Check List for Temporary Workers" is available from the director of employment and employee relations or on the Office of Human Resources - Employment and Employee Relations Web page at www.ithaca.edu/hr/acm/checkListTempWorker.pdf. This will assist the department in ensuring the temporary worker has proper and sufficient orientation. Encourage the temporary worker to ask questions if the assignment is complex. Check the work being done. If after adequate instruction, supervision, and a reasonable trial period, the person seems unable to perform the duties, notify the director of employment and employee relations. Arrangements will be made for another temporary worker to replace the unsatisfactory one. Both positive and negative feedback is helpful. Temporary workers who have done well are recommended to other departments. The director of employment and employee relations will request these employees be reassigned to Ithaca College. There may be times when it is appropriate and cost effective to consider hiring a temporary worker who would be put on the College payroll. Since this leads to questions regarding benefits eligibility and could result in incurring unemployment liability, departments considering this will need to discuss the specifics of the situation in detail with the director of employment and employee relations before a decision is made.
Every attempt should be made to cover summer workloads with staff who work only during the academic year or with students who will be returning to the College in the fall. In addition, there may be one or more unassigned staff members who have been working in various campus offices and are familiar with campus procedures. The director of employment and employee relations can contact one of the local temporary agencies for temporary clerical help if no one from the aforementioned College groups is identified. Federal legislation regarding unemployment insurance eligibility for employees of an educational institution requires New York State to disallow benefits for employees who are out of work between semesters or during the summer if the College expects to employ those individuals for the following term. During the spring semester the Office of Human Resources will send to department supervisors a list of staff in their department who are scheduled to work less than 12 months a year. If there are any additional employees not included on the list, the supervisor should notify the Office of Human Resources. "A Return-To-Work Notice" (see www.ithaca.edu/hr/acm/returnToWork.pdf) is completed by the supervisor and given to each employee. A completed copy should be sent to the Office of Human Resources. At the same time, the Office of Human Resources sends to each less-than-12-month employee a notice about summer employment opportunities. A form indicating availability for summer work is available at www.ithaca.edu/hr/acm/availSumEmpl.pdf and should be completed by the employee and returned to the Office of Human Resources. Questions concerning the completion of the Return-To-Work Notice should be directed to the director of compensation and organizational design. Employees should contact the director of employment and employee relations if they have questions about completing the Availability For Summer Employment form (see www.ithaca.edu/hr/acm/availSumEmpl.pdf.) The Office of Human Resources will coordinate efforts to place interested individuals in positions on campus during summer months and semester breaks. The placement priorities are as follows:
Former students, including newly graduated students, are not considered priority candidates for summer positions. Graduated students cannot continue on the student payroll and hiring from this group increases the potential for incurring unemployment insurance costs. The College attempts to keep unemployment insurance costs as low as possible; therefore, whenever possible an attempt is made to match the skills of available employees and current students with coverage needs. Summer vacancies should be handled as follows:
A waiver to posting may be appropriate for special circumstances. (See section 3.1.3.)
Will receive their current rate of pay. If an assignment crosses over two fiscal years and the employee receives an annual increase, the employee will receive the new rate as of the effective date for the new fiscal year salary increase.
Contact the director of employment and employee relations to determine the appropriate process that must be completed to make the temporary appointment. The temporary appointments are non-benefits eligible; therefore, individuals do not accrue or use accruals during the appointed period. A TRF for the first pay period of the temporary appointment will be provided by the Employment and Employee Relations Department. |
Last Updated: April 25, 2006 |
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This document is maintained by the Office of General Counsel. Send comments to: Bonnie LeBlanc |
