Student Employment Handbook - Employment Pay Plan, Payroll and Benefits

Student Pay Plan and Pay Raise Procedures

Pay Plan

• Hourly student employees will be paid in accordance with the Student Employment Pay Plan. Classification level and hourly rate are based upon the nature of the job. While students who are new to a position are generally paid at the minimum for that level, departments have the discretion to set a beginning pay rate anywhere within the appropriate pay range.
• Non-hourly student employees: Due to the type of work performed, a limited number of student positions (i.e. resident assistants) are categorized as non-hourly and students are compensated at a fixed dollar amount for a specific, pre-determined time period.

Pay Rate Exception
Students are not permitted to earn more than the maximum hourly rate for the Highly Specialized Level of the Student Employment Pay Plan. A department wishing to employ a student having special skills or training at more than this amount must complete the Pay Rate Exception Form.  Departments will be notified of a decision within two business days.

Pay Raise Procedures

• Pay raises can be made at the department's discretion, throughout the year, by submitting a Pay Raise Request Form to the Career Services Center. Pay raises are effective on a Sunday, work week begin date.
• Reasons for pay raises include merit, rewarding job performance, change in responsibilities, or any special qualifications or training required to maintain the position.

Direct Deposit, Electronic Pay Stubs, and Bi-weekly Payroll Schedule

Direct Deposit
All student employees are required to enroll in a direct deposit program for their paychecks. Under the direct deposit program, the employee's pay is electronically deposited into the bank account(s) they designate. Student employees who are having difficulty securing a traditional bank account should contact the Payroll Office, 236 Schwartz Center, 330-672-8640, or email payroll@kent.edu.

The Payroll Office is the central check distribution point for all Kent campus student employees who may receive a paper check prior to the set-up of their direct deposit account. The Payroll Office is located in room 236 Schwartz Center. Regional Campus student employee checks will be mailed to the permanent address until the direct deposit account is established.

Sign up for Direct Deposit in FlashLine (go to the My HR tab, then the Employment Details box) or download and complete the Direct Deposit form available at the Payroll Office web site.

Electronic Pay Stubs
All student employees can view an electronic pay stub online in FlashLine, including year-to-date earnings and deductions. Login to FlashLine and click on the My HR tab, then Pay Stub in the Employment Details box.

Bi-weekly Payroll Schedule

• All student employees will be paid according to the bi-weekly payroll schedule established by the Payroll Office.
• Paycheck generation requires that the entire student hiring process be completed by the bi-weekly payroll schedule deadlines, including the upload of job details to Banner. 
• Students will be paid over the available bi-weekly pay dates based on the job begin and end dates, including at least one pay date after the job end date.

OPERS - Public Employees Retirement System, Student Benefits

Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (OPERS)
While student employees of a public university are required to contribute to the Ohio Public Employees Retirement System (in lieu of a contribution to social security), students who meet the credit hour enrollment requirement (6 hours undergraduate or 4 hours graduate) may waive contributions to OPERS and receive their full pay.

Students who choose or are required to contribute to OPERS, will make OPERS contributions based on the schedule below. In addition, Medicare tax will be withheld (1.45%) on gross wages for student employees (except international students) who contribute to OPERS due to less than half-time enrollment.

• OPERS Contribution - Effective January 1, 2008:
  • Student Employee Contribution Rate 10.0%
  • Employing Department Contribution Rate 14.0%
• Medicare Contribution
  • Student Employee Contribution Rate 1.45%
  • Employing Department Contribution Rate 1.45%
• Refund of OPERS Contributions:
  Upon termination of public employment in Ohio, students and alumni can apply for a refund of accumulated OPERS contributions. State law requires that three months elapse from your last day of public service before a refund can be made. However, you can apply for a refund anytime after your last day of employment.
  
  Eligible individuals should visit the OPERS Refund FAQ's to apply online.  Questions?  Contact OPERS at 1-800-222-7377.

Worker's Compensation
Student employees are covered under worker's compensation for accidents or injuries that may occur at work.

Student Employee Contribution Rate None
Employing Department Contribution Rate .40%

Student Benefits

• Student employees do not receive vacation, sick leave, or holiday pay; cannot earn annual longevity step increases, and are not eligible to apply for leave of absence.
• Students may not be compensated for hours not worked, such as in the case of jury duty or emergency university closings (i.e. due to snow, etc).

Standard Workweek and Timekeep

Standard Workweek
The student payroll system is based upon a standard work week that begins at one minute past midnight Sunday morning and extends through a seven day period ending at midnight Saturday night. Work shifts that begin prior to midnight are considered time worked for the day in which the shift began.

Recording Time for Student Employees in Kronos

Most student employees will utilize Kronos for online timekeep. 

• Access to Kronos (via FlashLine/My Action Items) will occur one to two business days after the student and supervisor receive the Job Confirmation email from CampusWorks.
• Students with multiple jobs ONLY must ALWAYS choose to transfer their time to the correct department while clocking into Kronos; otherwise, the student wages may be billed to the wrong department and/or they may be paid at the wrong rate of pay. This also ensures that all supervisors can see their students' timecards. 

The first time a student logs into Kronos, for each new job, they must set up their timecard by selecting the:

- department (ORGN)
- position information (EE-POSN-SUFFIX)
- supervisor (SUPERVISOR-POSN-SUFFIX).

After this initial set up is completed, the student will be able to:

- select the appropriate string of all three numbers when they choose the drop-down arrow in the "Transfer" box in Kronos PRIOR to clocking in (Recording Time Stamp). Transfers must be done when the student is clocking into Kronos, not when they clock out.

If a supervisor does not have the job information required to set up Kronos, they should contact the Payroll Office at 330-672-8640 or at payroll@kent.edu. 

For additional assistance, including a Supervisor Guide, visit the Kronos information website.  Also see tip sheet under Maximum Work Hours for Tracking Work Hours for Multiple Jobs in Kronos.

Approving Time for Student Employees in Kronos

The student employee's supervisor must approve, online (by midnight each Tuesday) all hours worked for the previous work week. 

Student employees must be paid for ALL hours worked.  Supervisors are not permitted to accept voluntary services from paid student employees.  Adjustments to punches in Kronos should only be made to correct errors and not to reduce or increase actual hours worked.  

Students may NOT be compensated for hours not worked due to university closings, etc. (see Student Benefits above).

Student jobs that have ended, or been discontinued, will NOT automatically be removed from Kronos. To remove a student from the supervisor view of Kronos, email a request to payroll@kent.edu.

Any record of time worked is considered an allied payroll document and must be treated with the same regard as any other fiscal record. Willful falsification of timekeep, or destruction of timekeep records, constitutes grounds for immediate termination of employment.

W-2 Forms for Income Tax Purposes

All Kent State employees may access an electronic W-2 form through FlashLine. To receive only the electronic version and have print capability, an employee must choose the consent option through FlashLine (go to the My HR tab, Employment Details box). The electronic version is available each mid-January, approximately two weeks prior to the printed version that is mailed to an employee's permanent address. Employees should verify their permanent address in FlashLine (go to the My HR tab, Employment Details box).

Additional information regarding Federal and State withholdings can be found at the Payroll website.

Students who require a copy of their W-2 should contact the Payroll Office (236 Schwartz Center) at 330-672-8640 or payroll@kent.edu.

Program Overview

Employee Types

Hiring and Supervision

Policies and Procedures

Pay Plan, Payroll and Benefits Pay Plan, Pay Raise Procedures Hourly Pay Levels Direct Deposit, Electronic Pay Stubs, Payroll Schedule OPERS-Ohio Public Employees Retirement System, Benefits Standard Work-Week, Timekeep, Kronos W-2 Forms