Student Employment Policies

Policies, Responsibilities, and Expectations

Determining Students' Work Eligibility

• All students must be formally hired through JobX, accept their job offer in JobX and complete their employment paperwork in order to begin working. Students may not begin working in any capacity (including training or volunteering) until these steps are completed. There are no exceptions to this policy.
  • You can verify this using the “Search Student” process under the JobX tab on your JobX dashboard. 
  • Students and supervisors must wait until a student's hire status is "active" in JobX prior to the student performing any duties for the College. 
• All students must be active students who are currently enrolled full time at Swarthmore in order to be hired into a student employment position.
  • Students that are currently on a leave of absence or enrolled part-time are not eligible for employment at Swarthmore in any capacity which includes:
    • Student employment positions 
    • Independent contractor positions 
    • Staff positions
    • Volunteer positions
  • Students enrolled at another institution (including tri-co) are not eligible to work in a student employment position. 
• All students must be on campus and perform their work tasks on campus. Remote and hybrid forms of work are not permitted. 

Hiring Priority

• Hiring priority refers to the College’s policy and expectation that supervisors will grant hiring priority to students who have been awarded a campus job monetary expectation as part of their financial aid decision.
  • Notation of this is located in the JobX system when using the “Search Student” process under the JobX tab on your JobX dashboard. The hiring priority is usually the first week of classes. 
• Students who are work-aided are students who have work aid in their financial aid award.
• During this period, students who do not have work-aid will not be able to apply or be hired into any position.  Positions hiring outside of this time frame should still apply a consideration of hiring priority similar to outlined above. 
• All students must be formally hired through JobX in an approved position in order to begin working. If a student is not able to be hired due this hiring priority window, they may not begin working until this hiring priority window has ended and they have been formally hired through JobX. 

Maximum Hours

• Per the U.S Department of Homeland Security (DHS), international students with F-1 or J-1 immigration status are not permitted to work more than a total of 20 hours per week (among all employing departments) during academic terms when they are enrolled. Full-time employment is allowed during official school breaks and earned leave terms. 
• The College suggests that all other students work no more than 20 hours while classes are in session and may under no circumstances work more than 40 hours per week.  During academic year breaks while classes are not in session students may not work more than 40 hours per week. 
• The College suggests that students work an average of 7-8 hours per week.

Work Hours

• Students are prohibited from working student employment position hours while they are also in class. This means that students are not authorized to complete student employment work during their registered class times. 
• Students are prohibited from working more than student employment position during the same day/hours. This means that students are not authorized to log the same hours for more than one student employment position. There should be no overlap between hours. 

Creating New Positions and Reevaluating Existing Positions 

• A new position must be requested using the Student Employment Wage Tool. 
  • You can access this link on the JobX landing page. 
  • Additional instructions can be found on our Supervisor Tips and Tricks page.
• The position will be reviewed and assigned a wage rate based on the College determined student employment wage scale for the current academic year. Please note that departments may not set their own wage rates. 
•  Departments will receive a confirmation via email once the position has been added to JobX.
• Items to consider when creating a new position: 
  • Tasks and responsibilities for students. 
  • Level of supervision needed. 
  • Number of hours per week. 
  • Are there any special skills, experience, certifications, or courses needed?
  • Does this position earn academic credit? Please note the College does not permit students to both receive academic credit and be paid an hourly wage through a student employment position. 
  • Funding source. 
• We recognize that the responsibilities and duties of your positions may evolve over time. If you feel that the wage rate for your position should be reevaluated, please submit it through the wage tool above for review. Please email seo@swarthmore.edu with any questions.
  • Please note that if it is determined that the wage level of your position should be adjusted, all wage adjustments will be made at the start of the following semester. Wage adjustments can not be made once the semester has started. Under no circumstances can the wage adjustment be applied retroactively. 

Job Description 

• All positions must be created in JobX and contain a detailed job description. 
• The job description must include, but is not limited to, the following minimum components:
  • A clear and concise description of the minimum qualifications and the expected duties to be performed.
  • The approximate number of hours that the student can expect to work each week.
• The JobX system will require approval from the Student Employment Office before a job description can be listed. Please note that this may take 24-48 hours.

Updating Position Once Filled

• If you no longer need to hire for the position please make sure that you move the position from “listed” to “review” in JobX.
• This will close the position and not allow for additional applications. You can always re-list the position should you need to hire additional workers.

Termination

• All student employees will be automatically terminated in JobX at the end of the timeframe that they are hired. 
• If a student is no longer working in a position prior to this end date, supervisors must request to have the student employee terminated. Please note that until this is completed students will still have access to their timesheet.
• The link to this form can be found on the JobX dashboard. 

Off Campus Opportunities 

• All student employment positions must be on campus.  Off campus positions or opportunities are not able to be set up as student employment positions through the College. 

Summer Stipend Opportunities

• Please note that a student may not work in an hourly position and a stipend summer position concurrently. 
• However, a student may work before and after the dates of their formal 8 or 10-week summer project or internship. This must be clearly documented in an email to the student so there is a formal agreement and understanding; as well as a record of the dates the student is employed in both positions. 

Pay Periods

• All timesheets must be submitted by both the student and the supervisor by the assigned deadline each pay period.
• Any timesheets that are not completed by the appropriate dates will not be processed until the following pay period. There will be no exceptions to this.
• Bi-Weekly payroll deadlines for the 2023-2024 academic year can be found on the Student Payroll website. 

Timesheets and Compensation

• Once an employee/employer relationship has been established between a student employee and a department, the student must be compensated for each hour worked. 
• A student cannot do volunteer work or serve a preliminary training period without pay.
• Students are to be compensated for all hours actually worked. Students submit their hours worked via the College’s time tracking system. Timesheets must be submitted as a student works. Timesheets cannot be held, nor can payment be delayed.  
  • All timesheets must be submitted by both the student and the supervisor by the assigned deadline each pay period.
  • Any timesheets that are not completed by the appropriate dates will not be processed until the following pay period. There will be no exceptions to this.
• Students may not be excused from class in order to work during scheduled class time.
• Students must be paid by the College’s set hourly wage rates as determined by the wage categorization process. Students may not be paid by stipend or sum amount. Check requests through Accounts Payable will not be processed. 
  • Departments may not set their own wage rates or make changes to determined wage rates. If a department would like to have their position reevaluated, they may complete this form. Please note that this can only be done once per academic year. 

Pay Rates

The pay scale for student employment is set by the College budgeting process each fiscal year.  

For the 2023-2024 academic year, (beginning July 1, 2023) the pay rates are:

Pay level 1	$13.61/hour
Pay level 2	$14.31/hour
Pay level 3	$15.00/hour

 

• Follow all College policies and guidelines as outlined 
• Stay up to date on student employment policies, information and training by frequently reviewing the SEO website and Supervisor FAQ page. 
• Ensure that all students have done the following prior to completing any training or work: 
  • All employment paperwork is completed.
  • Students are formally hired through JobX and have accepted their position. 
• Inform their student employees about their responsibilities for time tracking and ensure that time is being entered on a daily basis and that time sheets are submitted each pay period with accurate hours worked.
• Supervisors are accountable for ensuring the compliance of their student employees to enter their hours in the college time and tracking system each shift they work. 
  • If the person approving the time sheet is someone other than the assigned supervisor in JobX, it is the supervisor’s responsibility to ensure that the approvers are reviewing time sheets for accuracy and approving them by the deadline for that pay period.
• Supervisors are responsible for setting up a proxy to ensure that they have a back-up when they are not available to approve timesheets.
  • See Proxies section of Web time Entry for Approvers User Guide for instructions on setting up a Proxy.

• Completing all employment paperwork and receiving confirmation from the Student Payroll Office prior to applying or working in any position at the College. 
• Accepting position via the JobX position once hired by your supervisor. 
• Reporting to work on time and completing your scheduled shift.
• Working your schedule as agreed upon when hired, which may include working the days surrounding or during study and exam weeks, fall and spring breaks, and College holidays/vacations.
• Asking permission (in a timely manner) from your supervisor for planned or unexpected absences. Tardiness and unexcused or excessive absences are grounds for disciplinary action or dismissal from the job.
• Following department rules concerning appropriate dress, use of office equipment and supplies, use of phones and computers, etc.
• Completing job duties as assigned and requested, and not conducting personal business (homework, email, texting, phone calls, web use, etc.) unless first approved by your supervisor.
• Enter your hours worked on a daily basis, using the College’s time tracking system.
• Student employees are required to record ALL hours worked each day in the college time and tracking system in order to ensure they are compensated accurately for all hours worked
• Submitting your time weekly, and confirming your supervisor's approval, prior to the bi-weekly payroll deadline.