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HR policy - Student employment - Student employee guidelines
The purpose of this guideline is to outline the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) provision specific to student employment and to provide guidelines to departments in complying with the ACA.
| Functional Owner | Chief Human Resources Officer |
| Executive Sponsors | Vice Chancellor for Administration & Finance |
| Policy Contact | Assistant Director for Talent Management, Human Resources |
Who this policy applies to:
Student workers, work-study and student help.
Rationale:
The purpose of this guideline is to outline the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) provision specific to student employment and to provide guidelines to departments in complying with the ACA.
The purpose of this guideline is to outline the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) provision specific to student employment and to provide guidelines to departments in complying with the ACA.
Policy Detail:
Definitions:
“Academic Year” is defined as the full nine-month (39 week) period which is the basis for academic year appointments.
“Federal Work Study” means the federally funded, need-based program in which the federal government and an employer share the payroll cost of employing a student to assist students with the costs of post-secondary education.
“ACA” means the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010
Purpose:
The purpose of this guideline is to outline the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) provision specific to student employment and to provide guidelines to departments in complying with the ACA.
Effective January 1, 2016, student workers may work up to the maximum of 25* hours per calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) during the Academic Year. Students may, however, work full time during any week when classes are not in session. Periods during which “classes are not in session” include summer breaks, J-term and spring break. Students enrolled in J-term or summer classes may work full time during those periods. There is a maximum of 1559 total hours a student may work in a rolling twelve-month period. (Until notified otherwise, there is a temporary exception to the hours cap granted for Resident Assistants, Resident Advisors and Resident Counselors.)
Student workers hours are aggregated for purposes of the ACA Employer Mandate and IRS reporting among all institutions in the UW System. Thus, a student worker’s hours will be combined for all employment positions in more than one university department or more than one UW institution.
Hours worked due to a Federal Work Study (FWS) program do not count toward the calculation of hours of service earned for purposes of the ACA.
“Academic Year” is defined as the full nine-month (39 week) period which is the basis for academic year appointments.
“Federal Work Study” means the federally funded, need-based program in which the federal government and an employer share the payroll cost of employing a student to assist students with the costs of post-secondary education.
“ACA” means the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010
Purpose:
The purpose of this guideline is to outline the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse (UWL) provision specific to student employment and to provide guidelines to departments in complying with the ACA.
Effective January 1, 2016, student workers may work up to the maximum of 25* hours per calendar week (Sunday through Saturday) during the Academic Year. Students may, however, work full time during any week when classes are not in session. Periods during which “classes are not in session” include summer breaks, J-term and spring break. Students enrolled in J-term or summer classes may work full time during those periods. There is a maximum of 1559 total hours a student may work in a rolling twelve-month period. (Until notified otherwise, there is a temporary exception to the hours cap granted for Resident Assistants, Resident Advisors and Resident Counselors.)
Student workers hours are aggregated for purposes of the ACA Employer Mandate and IRS reporting among all institutions in the UW System. Thus, a student worker’s hours will be combined for all employment positions in more than one university department or more than one UW institution.
Hours worked due to a Federal Work Study (FWS) program do not count toward the calculation of hours of service earned for purposes of the ACA.
Approval of Additional Hours
With written authorization from the Assistant Director for Human Resources, Talent Management; a student employee, who is not work study, may be permitted to work more than 25 hours per week on a limited basis. When approved, the student may work up to 29.75 hours, inclusive of all positions, (except for work-study positions), during the 39-week academic year. In rare instances, the student employee may be permitted to work more than 30 hours in one week, so long as the hours are adjusted so that the student employee does not exceed 130 hours per month. In all cases, the department is responsible for monitoring the hours of the employee to ensure adherence to the written authorization and shall report such hours to HR each week.
Revision history:
Original approval date January 2016
Clarification added for FWS student workers in August 2020
Clarification added for Approval of Additional Hours (From UW System) in September 2020
Last reviewed was September 2020
Supporting tools:
See "Links to related information"
Responsibilities:
N/A
Links to related information:
- UPS Operational Policy GEN 20: Student Employment: https://www.wisconsin.edu/ohrwd/download/policies/ops/gen20.pdf
- UW System Administrative Policy 205 Student Employment: https://www.wisconsin.edu/uw-policies/uw-system-administrative-policies/employment-of-student-help/
- UW System Administrative Policy 206 Student FICA Exemptions: https://www.wisconsin.edu/uw-policies/uw-system-administrative-policies/student-fica-exemptions/
- UW System Administrative Policy 215 Payment Methods and Timing for Payroll : https://www.wisconsin.edu/uw-policies/uw-system-administrative-policies/payment-methods-and-timing-for-payroll/
- UW System Administrative Policy 235 Personal Services Payments: https://www.wisconsin.edu/uw-policies/uw-system-administrative-policies/personal-services-payments/