Given the institutional priorities outlined in President Fenves’s March 15, 2020 email to the campus community and the call for supervisors in every college, school, unit and department to support these three main priorities, please consider the following as it pertains to student employees within your unit:
- Student employees should not be required to come to campus. However, based on their job responsibilities, if students are able to telework and perform responsibilities remotely, please allow them to do so. Managers need to establish a regular check-in and virtual meeting structure such as Skype, email, Zoom, etc. The following is link includes information to managers about teleworking and tele-collaboration: https://it.utexas.edu/telework-and-flexible-work-tools
- Supervisors who work with research student staff should follow the general guidance provided by the Vice President for Research in the following two references. https://t.e2ma.net/message/ia09mg/25hw7nb and https://research.utexas.edu/covid-19-research-faq/
- In situations where a student employee’s work supports the three main priorities outlined by President Fenves and they are able to successfully telecommute, the Graduate School, Texas Global, the Office of the Provost, and Enrollment Management Student Success within the Office of the Provost have confirmed that students are able to work up to 40 scheduled weekly hours through the extended Spring Break period (Sunday, March 29, 2020). While Work Study students may also work full time during this period, the employer will be required to pay 100% of the students’ wages over 19 hours.
- Managers should also set expectations for accessing, saving, and storing department work and FERPA-related information on a university supported software such as UT Box. More information of security guidance for working remotely is found here: https://security.utexas.edu/working-remotely
- Students employees should not be required to use their own personal cell phones to conduct University business while working remotely, but may choose to use their personal phones to call into teleconferences, access Workday and other approved university remote access tools, etc.
- Work Study employees who were scheduled to work on Friday, March 13, when the University was closed should report the time they would have worked on their times sheets per the guidance provided in the letter from the US Department of Education on 3/5/20 in this link: https://ifap.ed.gov/electronic-announcements/030520Guidance4interruptionsrelated2CoronavirusCOVID19
Please understand that this is initial guidance and Human Resources will continue to make adjustments as more information becomes available. In the meantime, you can direct questions you may have to work.study@austin.utexas.edu.
Diane Todd Sprague | Executive Director
