Department Chair and Program Director Guide

Section Nine – Support Staff Wage and Hour Guidelines

Working Hours and Schedule – 9:1
Meal Breaks and Rest Periods – 9:2
Timekeeping Procedures – 9:3
Overtime for Support Staff – 9:4

The Chair is responsible for supervising the attendance and work assignments of departmental staff. Additional information is available online at: https://gustavus.edu/humanresources/concertFiles/media/Gustavus_Staff_Handbook_12_07_2022.pdf

Working Hours and Schedule – 9:1

Gustavus Adolphus College normally is open for business from 8:00 a.m. to 4:45 p.m., Monday through Friday.

Staff will be assigned a work schedule and will be expected to begin and end work according to the schedule. To accommodate the needs of the College, at some point Gustavus Adolphus College may need to change individual work schedules on either a short-term or long-term basis.

Non-exempt staff will be provided meal and rest periods as required by law.

Meal Breaks and Rest Periods – 9:2

Support staff work schedules normally provide for an unpaid meal break of 45 minutes and one paid fifteen minute rest period for each four hours worked. Supervisors will schedule breaks to accommodate operating requirements. Employees will be relieved of all work responsibilities during unpaid meal breaks. Rest periods (except for adequate time for the purpose of utilizing the nearest convenient restroom) are an employment privilege. Thus, abuse of rest periods may result in loss of the privilege. Employees may elect not to use a paid rest period; however, a rest period may not be "saved" to shorten the work day, extend a meal break, or alter the work schedule. Staff may occasionally be asked to work during a rest period.

Timekeeping Procedures – 9:3

Staff must record their actual time worked for payroll and benefit purposes. Non-exempt staff must record the time work begins and ends, as well as the beginning and ending time of any departure from work for any nonwork-related reason, on forms as prescribed by management.

Altering, falsifying or tampering with time records is prohibited and subjects the staff to discipline, up to and including discharge.

Exempt staff are required to report full and half days of absence from work for personal time away.

Non-exempt staff may not start work until their scheduled starting time.

It is the staff's responsibility to enter time records to certify the accuracy of all time recorded. Any errors in the time record should be reported immediately to a supervisor, who will attempt to correct legitimate errors.

The Department Chair or Program Director designated as staff supervisor must approve time cards by 12:00 pm on Monday. Be alert to email reminders regarding this important task. If approval does not happen on time, the supervisor will need to visit the Payroll Office to sign off on a hard-copy timecard. If you anticipate that you will not be able to approve the timecard on time, please contact Renae Stierlen (rstierle@gustavus.edu or x6314) as soon as possible.

Overtime for Support Staff – 9:4

Gustavus Adolphus College experiences periods of extremely high activity. During these busy periods, additional work is required from all of us. Supervisors are responsible for monitoring activity and requesting overtime work if it is necessary. Effort will be made to provide staff with adequate advance notice in such situations.

Any non-exempt staff who works overtime will be compensated at the rate of one and one-half times (1.5) their normal hourly wage for all time worked in excess of 40 hours each week, unless otherwise required by law.

Staff may work overtime only with prior management authorization.

For purposes of calculating overtime for non-exempt staff, the workweek begins at 12 a.m. on Saturday and ends 168 hours later at 12 a.m. on the following Saturday.