Work Hours

1. PURPOSE

Brigham Young University–Hawaii (“BYU–Hawaii” or “university”) provides a number of services to students, faculty, staff, and the general public. In addition to normal business operations, as a residential academic institution, university services include building maintenance, security, food service, recreation, library, and other operations that function outside of typical office hours. In discharging these responsibilities, the university is subject to various laws and regulations that impose employee and/or employer obligations and liabilities based on employee hours worked. These laws and regulations may include, for example, the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA), the Hawaii Prepaid Health Care Act (PHC), the Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act (COBRA), the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA), and United States Citizenship and Immigration Service regulations. Accordingly, the purpose of this policy is to articulate supervisor and employee responsibilities for satisfying these obligations with respect to work hours.

2. POLICY

University management establishes and coordinates work schedules for its employees that assure provision of essential services, comply with the requirements of federal and state law, and create a healthy work environment for its campus community. The implementation guidelines stated in this policy are considered to be an official part of the policy. A failure on the part of an employee to abide by these guidelines may subject them to disciplinary action.

3. IMPLEMENTATION

3.1 Definitions

3.1.1 Exempt

Salaried positions that meet an exemption test provided under the FLSA (executive, administrative, and professional, computer professional or outside sales) are exempt from the overtime provisions of the FLSA. Based on the job obligations of a particular position, an Exempt employee may be required to record and track hours and/or to work a specified schedule. It is a general university expectation that exempt employees work in accordance with standard operating hours and more if needed to complete all assignments, special projects, and/or meet customer needs.

3.1.2 Non-exempt

Non-exempt positions (e.g., technical, skilled trades, semiskilled, manual, and office clerical) are those that, under the provisions of the FLSA, are entitled to time and a half compensation for all overtime hours worked. Non-exempt employees are paid for hours that they are suffered or permitted to work by and for the university.

3.1.3 Overtime

Hours worked by a non-exempt employee in excess of forty (40) in a university Work Week. Overtime will be compensated at one hundred fifty percent (150%) of the employee’s normal hourly pay rate whether the overtime was authorized or not. Vacation, sick leave, holiday, and all other paid time off, are not counted as hours worked for purposes of calculating overtime.

3.1.4 University Work Week

For payroll purposes, the university work week begins at 12:01 a.m. on Sunday and concludes at 12:00 midnight on Saturday.

3.1.5 University Office Hours

Normal office hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday, with a one-hour lunch period. The cognizant vice president may dictate that key offices remain open during the noon hour with at least one person on duty to accept calls, receive visitors, and/or otherwise transact business.

3.1.6 Hours Worked

All time during which the university requires an employee to be on the university’s premises, on duty, or at a prescribed work place, including all time benefiting the university that the university requires, suffers, permits or allows the employee to perform in connection with her/his job. Hours worked includes, for example, time spent preparing for work, setting up equipment, cleaning up, or engaging in any other activities requested by the university, as well as time spent performing the essential functions of a job. For the purposes of this policy, hours worked for the Polynesian Cultural Center (PCC) are considered hours worked for the university.

3.2 University Work Schedule Requirements

Department heads define the normal work schedule for their employees to assure that essential departmental functions are adequately staffed. In developing work schedules, managers and supervisors should take into account the following:

3.2.1 Holidays

When business necessity requires an employee to work on a university holiday, supervisors may schedule an alternative day off (with pay) for such an employee within the pay period that contains the holiday, or, where circumstances do not make this feasible, within a reasonable period, not to exceed 30 days, following the date of the holiday. The following holidays are recognized by the university:

New Year’s Day

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day

President’s Day

Prince Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole Day

Memorial Day

Juneteenth

Independence Day

Labor Day

Thanksgiving Day

Day After Thanksgiving Day

Christmas Eve

Christmas Day

New Year’s Eve

The holiday schedule will be published on the Human Resources website and updated, annually.

3.2.2 Campus Closure

The university president, in consultation with the director of Campus Safety & Security and members of the President’s Council, will determine when severe weather conditions, emergencies, power outages or other safety risks make it unsafe for classes to be held and/or regular university business to be conducted.

If there is a decision to close the campus, available means for communicating this decision to the workforce will be used, but employees have an affirmative responsibility to make contact with public safety dispatch or their management chain to determine how the decision affects them.

When the campus is closed as contemplated herein, non-exempt employees who are prevented from working their normally scheduled work hours may, at their discretion, use available vacation time. Under the provisions of FLSA, exempt employee salaries for the week are not affected.

Non-exempt employees in critical service positions (e.g., campus security, emergency facilities maintenance, food service) who cannot be excused from work during a campus closure event may be paid a shift differential of an additional fifty percent (50%) of their normal hourly rate for hours worked during such a period.

3.2.3 Weekly Devotionals

The Work Hours policy as it pertains to campus devotionals is outlined in the Campus Devotionals policy. 

See Campus Devotionals policy.

3.2.4 University Committees/Project/Special Assignments

Time spent on officially-assigned university committees, projects, special assignments, or in mandatory training is to be counted as hours worked for all affected non-exempt employees.

3.2.5 Volunteer Hours

If a non-exempt employee voluntarily wishes to participate in a community service or charitable project sponsored by the university but unrelated to the employee’s regular work duties and is outside the employee’s department, the time spent in such activity is not counted as hours worked. However, for an employee whose normal job responsibilities are implicated in the volunteer opportunity (e.g., grounds keeper participating in a campus clean-up campaign), such opportunity should be approved by her/his supervisor, and the employee must record the time spent as hours worked.

3.3 Departmental Work Schedules

Unless otherwise required by business necessity, departmental work schedules should observe university office hours and include the break periods specified section 3.7.3 below.

3.3.1 Variations from university office hours

Department heads may recommend individual variations from university work hours when they serve the university’s interests. Any extended variations must be approved by their employee's line vice president. Work schedules may not require employees to work more than six (6) continuous hours without a break.

3.3.2 Remote Work

Remote work is not permitted for non-student employees. Remote work by students should only be approved when it serves the university’s interests. All remote work must be done within the State of Hawaii. Exceptions must have prior written approval of the President’s Council.

3.3.3 On-call requirements

If business necessity demands that an employee responds to on-call incidents, the work schedule must define the nature of this requirement:

a) Engaged to Wait

An on-call arrangement that limits a non-exempt employee’s freedom to engage in personal activities (e.g., requires her/him to stay at home or remain on campus) constitutes scheduled work hours and is recorded as hours worked in the university’s time keeping system when it is worked.

b) Wait to be Engaged (on-call time)

An on-call arrangement that merely requires an employee to be available for duty but, otherwise, does not affect her/his ability to engage in personal activities, does not constitute work hours unless the employee is actually called to perform work. In this case, hours worked would be recorded from the time the employee is notified of the assignment until the task is completed.

3.4 Hire Date

If an employee (including a domestic or international student worker and part-time or temporary employees) completes hours worked prior to the official hire date, those hours will be paid, but the employee will be dismissed from employment in that position and the supervisor who allowed the work will be subject to the discipline described in section 3.9 of this policy. An employee who is terminated from a position as a consequence of violating this hire date rule, may not reapply for the same position.

3.5 Faculty

Faculty members do not report hours worked and do not accrue paid time off for the use of which they must account.

3.6 Exempt Time Reporting

Employees in exempt positions do not generally report hours worked and do not record use of paid time off in increments smaller than a half-day or 4 hours (see University’s Leave policy). If an exempt employee is absent from work for any reason for four (4) hours or more during regularly scheduled work hours, she/he must use a half-day (4 hours) of vacation or sick leave for the absence. If an exempt employee is absent for an entire regularly scheduled work day, she/he must use a full day (8 hours) of vacation or sick leave for the absence.

3.7 Non-exempt Time Reporting

Employees in non-exempt positions must clock in and out of the university’s time-keeping system. This means employees must clock in each time they arrive at work and clock out when they leave work. This includes clocking in and out for lunch breaks.

Supervisors have an affirmative obligation neither to request nor to suffer, permit or allow work to be undertaken by non-exempt employees that qualifies as hours worked but is not reported in the university’s time-keeping system.

Failure to accurately and timely record hours worked in the university’s time-keeping system is a serious breach of this policy and is subject to disciplinary action.

3.7.1 Paid Time-off

Time recorded as paid or unpaid leave, as authorized under the university’s leave policy, is reported in the time-keeping system for payroll purposes but is not considered to be hours worked.

3.7.2 Travel and Conferences

Time spent on official travel during regularly scheduled weekly work hours or during corresponding hours on nonworking days is counted and reported as hours worked. Attendance at lectures, meetings, conferences, training programs, and similar activities should be counted as hours worked unless the activity is outside normal hours, is voluntary, is not job related, and no other work is concurrently performed.

3.7.3 Breaks

Employees may take a paid rest break, not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes in duration, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Work schedules must allow an unpaid meal period, during which the employee is completely relieved from duty, of not less than thirty (30) minutes within six (6) hours of the start of the work day. Employees may not shorten the work day by working through scheduled rest and meal breaks.

3.7.4 Overtime

Supervisors have an affirmative responsibility not to allow a non-exempt employee to incur more than forty (40) hours worked in a university work week without authorization. When employees are called to work outside of normal (working hours, departments are required to pay time and half rate for those hours, where manager’s approval have been obtained. Employees have an obligation to record all hours worked whether or not any hours in excess of forty (40) were authorized. Failure to observe either of these duties may subject the supervisor and/or employee to disciplinary action.

3.7.5 Time Sheet Approvals

Supervisors or delegated time keepers are required to electronically approve non-exempt employee timesheets at the end of each pay period. Their approval verifies that, to the best of their knowledge, the reported time is accurate and complete. Supervisors and time-keepers who fail to comply with this requirement may be subject to the discipline provided in Section 3.9 of this policy.

3.8 Student Employee Work

Supervisors and affected student employees are obligated to comply with the following limitations on Hours Worked for student employees, irrespective of position funding sources, an employee’s immigration work status, or eligibility to waive health insurance coverage:

Full-time students must not exceed nineteen (19) hours worked for the university in a university work week while school is in session. If a student holds more than one job at the university (including a job at the PCC), the combined total number of hours for such jobs cannot exceed nineteen (19) hours in a university work week.

While school is in session, all student employees who exceed 19.5 hours in a university work week, and their supervisors, will receive an email (i.e., a written warning that goes into their file) from student employment outlining the progressive disciplinary plan below. Violations are tracked on a semester basis and will reset at the start of each semester for both employees and supervisors.

All international student employees who exceed 20 hours during a university Work Week while school is in session, will instead receive an email indicating they are “out of status” according to visa regulations and must cease employment immediately. Supervisors will also be notified of this student employee’s status violation and ineligibility to work.

During holiday and university break periods, students who have worked for the university immediately prior to the break and/or are anticipated to work for the university immediately after the break, may work up to forty (40) hours per week for three consecutive university work weeks. Once a student employee has worked for three consecutive weeks over 19 hours, they must not exceed a university work week of nineteen (19) hours.

Supervisors of student employees have a responsibility to actively monitor the number of hours they allow students to work, to communicate with their student employees about keeping hours worked under the established ceilings, and to assure that the limitations on total hours worked are observed by actively and regularly using the time clock submission and approval system in Workday. When student employees have more than one position, supervisors must coordinate with other supervisors who oversee the same students in other jobs.

Student employees who fail to clock-in/out and/or submit their time, and Supervisors who fail to approve their student employees’ time, will receive an email from Human Resources outlining the same progressive disciplinary plan described above.

If a student employee working at more than one campus job records a total of more than the allowed hours worked in any university work week, the student and the supervisor responsible when the extra hours were worked will be subject to the progressive disciplinary plan described above.

3.9 Non-Student Employee Work

Any incident of non-compliance with university policy is subject to disciplinary action as described in the university’s progressive discipline policy. However, given the unique and substantial risks for the university of non-compliance with work hours regulations, failure to observe the requirements of this policy will be further addressed as follows:

Except for legally required coverages, part-time employees, including temporary employees, are not eligible to participate in benefit programs and, unless authorized as provided in Section 3.11 of this policy, part-time employees may not work four (4) consecutive weeks with nineteen (19) or more hours worked in each university work week. During any calendar year, part-time employees may not work more than 999 hours worked.

A non-student part-time or temporary employee who exceeds the permitted number of hours will be given a written warning on the first occurrence. If there is a second occurrence, the employee may be suspended from work without pay for one (1) week. Should there be a third occurrence, the consequence may be termination from employment.

Supervisors (including faculty) of non-student employees have the responsibility to assure that no demands are made on their employees that would result in a breach of this policy. Violations are tracked on a semester basis and will reset at the start of each semester for both employees and supervisors.

Supervisors (including faculty) of non-student employees have a responsibility to actively monitor the number of hours they allow employees to work, to communicate with their employees about keeping hours worked under the established ceilings, and to assure that the limitations on total hours worked are observed by actively and regularly using the time clock submission and approval system in Workday. When non-student employees have more than one position, Supervisors must coordinate with other Supervisors who oversee the same employees in other jobs.

Non-student employees who fail to clock-in/out and/or submit their time, and Supervisors who fail to approve their employees’ time, will receive an email from Human Resources outlining the same progressive disciplinary plan described above.

3.10 Initiative for Imposing Discipline

Except as otherwise provided herein, the responsibility for imposing the discipline defined in this policy lies with management, in consultation with the director of Human Resources (HR) inasmuch as HR processes all hiring and payroll transactions at the university and is positioned to notice any incidents of noncompliance. In exercising this initiative, the HR director (or her/his designee(s)) will,

• Determine whether the facts of the situation actually describe an incident of noncompliance and not a case of simple clerical or inputting error and give the offending parties an opportunity to explain the circumstances surrounding the incident.
• In the case of I-9 violations, immediately inform the offending employee and her/his supervisor(s) that the employee is suspended pending further review.
• Prepare a draft written notice of noncompliance that includes a factual description of the occurrence and specifies the stipulated discipline to be taken.
• Deliver the draft notice to the cognizant university vice president for her/his information and input.
• Place a copy of the final notice of discipline in the employee’s and her/his supervisor(s)’ personnel files and provide a copy to the offending employee and her/his supervisor(s).
• Process payroll and/or personnel actions as required.

In work hour violations involving the HR department and/or a member of the President’s Council, the non-affected members of the President’s Council may be responsible for imposing discipline under this policy.

3.11 Absenteeism and Tardiness

Regular attendance and punctuality are part of each employee’s job responsibility. Employees are expected to be at work on time. When unexpected illness or accident prevents an employee from working a scheduled day, the absent employee should notify her/his supervisor as soon as possible.

Failure to report for work for three (3) consecutive days without notice will result in termination for voluntary job abandonment. If, after making contact with the absent employee, a supervisor concludes that the failure to report was due to circumstances beyond the employee’s control, the supervisor may halt the termination process by submitting a written explanation of the incident to HR.

3.12 Exceptions

Subject to applicable federal and state law and regulations (e.g., requirements of FLSA, Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, etc.), the HR director is authorized to approve reasonable exceptions to this policy or, refer the request to the President’s Council.

4. RELATED POLICIES AND PROCEDURES

• Campus Devotionals
• Conflict of Interest
• Employment Leave
• Progressive Discipline