Policies and Procedures
College Policy and Hiring Priorities
Work Allotments/Earnings Limits
College Policy and Hiring Priorities
Wheaton College's student employment policy has been shaped in large measure by the growing demands for student employment at Wheaton.
Faculty and staff are asked to support the college's hiring policy for financially-aided students (FWS). Aid recipients have a campus earnings expectation built into their financial aid awards, and therefore, all other things being equal, have priority for campus jobs.
The college has a primary obligation to ensure that positions are available for all FWS students who wish to utilize this part of their aid awards.
Departments should therefore be aware of the priority hiring policy when hiring current student employees for the academic year. The expectation is that departments expend 70% or more of their total student employment allocations for FWS wages. Supervisors may need to adjust the allocation of hours among students to ensure that the departmental expenditures on FWS are at least 70% student employment allocation.
As a result of this policy, departments are at liberty to hire FWS and WW student employees concurrently, maintaining 70% of its SE budget for FWS student employees.
International students who have registered with the Student Financial Services (SFS), (i.e., secured social security numbers and completed work forms) may also apply for job openings with the same hiring preference as FWS students. International students, because of immigration policies, are not eligible to seek work opportunities off campus. They, therefore, must be able to work on campus.
All Wheaton students must be paid through the Student Employment Program for work performed on campus. Students must be authorized to work by completing the appropriate work forms (i.e. I-9, W-4, Work Authorization Form and Direct Deposit Form), obtained in SFS. Please keep in mind that both student employees and supervisors are responsible for submitting and approving hours worked. Supervisors must ensure that student employees submit hours worked in a timely manner. Students should enter hours on the WINDOW timesheet, and supervisors should approve and submit the timesheet to the Payroll Office within the stated Payroll Office deadlines. If students are allowed to work unauthorized, or without submitting hours that exceed one pay period, departments will be charged with the affected wages from their non work-study operations budgets.
Supervisors and students who fail to follow this procedure place the College out of compliance with federal payroll regulations. If audited and cited, the College could face significant fines.
Confidentiality Statement
Student employees may be required to sign a statement of confidentiality by individual departments. As a result of increased use of computer technology in the work place, access to sensitive information about members of the Wheaton community is more readily available to College employees. It is, therefore, critical that confidentiality and privacy of information about others be respected and protected. A breach of the confidentiality statement is just cause for immediate dismissal of the student employee from his/her position.
Off-Campus Employment
Students who wish to obtain off-campus employment are encouraged to use the services of the Filene Center for Work and Learning (FCWL), located in the Kollett Center for Collaborative Learning. Food Services and the Old Town Hall Bookstore are designated as "off-campus" employers, consistent with Wheaton's treatment of all for-profit vendors on campus. Wheaton students who work in food service and Bookstore positions are paid for those positions by each employer, not Wheaton. Therefore, wages earned in a food service or Bookstore position will not be deducted from students' Wheaton work allotments. This means that students who wish to earn more than their on-campus work allotments may do so by working at either employer.
Work Allotments and Earning Limits
Students who have completed an application for financial aid and have eligibility for federal work-study funds (FWS) may receive a Federal Work Study (FWS) award as part of their financial aid package. This award is commonly referred to as a "work allotment" or earnings limit. Most students use this award to cover books, supplies and personal expenses. Students are not eligible to work on campus once they have earned their full work allotments.
Students may not earn their work study allotments during January Break,(except when performing paid community service) Senior Week, Commencement-Reunion Weekend, or Summer Break. During these time periods, students hired by individual departments are paid from the department's operations budget. New Work Authorization Forms (WAF) must be completed so that student workers can be processed on the non-academic year student payroll. Unused work study allotments may not be carried over to the next academic year.
Campus employees may track their student employees work allotments by viewing web Focus reports on the campus community access domain. They may also contact Student Financial Services to obtain this information.
Pay Rates
The Student Employment Office uses the Job Classification Form to determine the classification and pay rate for each position. Student wages are set with certain objectives in mind: equity among students performing comparable tasks, availability of funds, and ease and consistency in administrative maintenance.
Wheaton currently uses a wage system with four levels of pay. The hourly 2008-2009 wage scale is as follows:
Level 1 - $8.00
Level 2 - $8.25
Level 3 - $8.50
Level 4 - $9.25
Supervisors may request a review of the classification and pay of a position at any time.
Students should strive to reach the higher level positions in their departments or elsewhere on campus. Higher level positions not only provide students with additional responsibility and challenge, but also will pay more per hour than lower level positions. Students should be aware, however, that by working in higher paying positions, they may earn their work allotments faster.
Student Life Residential Assistant
Wages students earn in Residential Assistants (RA)positions are not deducted from their annual work study allotments. Therefore, RA's, with the approval of the Director of Student Life, may work in more than one on-campus position without penalty. Wages earned in an additional position will be paid through the College Payroll Office and deducted from work study allotments.
When Problems Arise
Occasionally, problems arise between supervisors and students. When disputes occur, the Student Employment Office urges supervisors and students to have open and candid discussions so that the problem might be resolved quickly.
When a supervisor encounters problems with a student's work performance, the following steps should be taken:
- The supervisor must give the student a verbal warning, disclosing the reasons for dissatisfaction. The purpose of the warning is to initiate discussion so that the specifics of the problem are understood and possibilities for correction and improvement are determined.
- If the verbal warning does not remedy the situation, the supervisor must then issue a written warning containing a statement of the problem and necessary corrections. The students must sign the statement. A copy of the signed warning should be sent to the SEO.
- In cases where the problem recurs after the written warning, the supervisor may suspend or dismiss the student.
When a student violates Wheaton College Policy, employment will be terminated and the employee dismissed. Such infractions include stealing, forgery, intoxication, insubordination, dishonesty, and a breach of confidentiality. Under these circumstances, the supervisor must notify the SEO in writing, citing the reason(s) for immediate dismissal.
Resignation and Termination
When a student finds it necessary to resign, s/he should give supervisors as much advance notice as possible, i.e., at least two weeks. Supervisors must give students at least two weeks' notice before s/he is terminated, except, of course, in cases of dismissal. In either situation, the SEO must be notified in writing. The notice should be signed both by the student and supervisor.