March 16, 2020
Given the CDC guidelines and the State of Illinois announcement that have encouraged organizations to increase social distancing and decrease location density, the university will implement remote work options to the extent possible while continuing to ensure the continuity of operations and minimal disruption in the livelihoods of faculty, staff and student workers.
The potential for remote work is variable among our workforce and may pose a particular challenge for our non-exempt hourly workforce and our student workers. The jobs of non-exempt hourly and student workers generally fall into three categories:
- Jobs that can be handled remotely (e.g., administrative assistant). Any worker whose job can be handled remotely will be expected to do so.
- Jobs that cannot be done remotely because they require workers to be on premise (e.g., public safety officer). Any worker whose job cannot be handled remotely should make special arrangements with their manager to work on premise while ensuring that they follow the guidelines for protecting their health.
- Jobs that cannot be done remotely and are also significantly reduced due to the onset of remote operations at the university (e.g., front desk receptionist or food service worker). Any worker whose regular job cannot be done remotely and is reduced by the onset of remote operations will be considered for alternative job duties and tasks elsewhere within the university, if feasible.
The following provides general guidelines for the university's approach to paying faculty, staff and student workers during this unprecedented time:
Faculty:
- Full-time faculty will be expected to teach their scheduled course loads and will be paid their salary in accordance with the regular payroll schedule.
- Adjunct faculty will be paid at the compensation rate established for the course(s) they are scheduled to teach. If a class is cancelled for any reason, the policy for course cancellation will be followed and these faculty will receive the designated fee for the course cancellation.
Staff:
- Staff who are classified as exempt will be paid their salary in accordance with the regular payroll schedule.
- Staff who are classified as non-exempt, paid on an hourly basis, and whose work can be handled remotely should record their work hours (up to 7 hours per day or 35 hours per week) on a timesheet and submit them through Campus Connect. (No overtime should be worked or recorded during this period of remote work.)
- Staff who are classified as non-exempt, paid on an hourly basis, and whose work cannot be handled remotely will be considered for alternative duties and tasks within their departments. They will be paid the difference between actual hours worked and their regularly scheduled hours up to Friday, May 1 at which time the process will be reevaluated.
Student workers:
- Student workers whose work can be handled remotely should record their hours on a timesheet and submit them as usual through Campus Connect. Students should only enter the hours that they are regularly scheduled to work. (In no instance should the recorded hours exceed the hours that a student worker is normally scheduled to work.)
- Student workers whose work cannot be handled remotely will be considered for alternative duties and tasks across the university. These opportunities will be posted on the "Campus Job Board" website for students to take advantage of. Student workers will be paid the difference between actual hours worked and their regularly scheduled hours up to Friday, May 1, 2020, at which time the process will be re-evaluated.
For more specific guidance on the reporting of hours worked and paid time off, please consult the
instructions from payroll services.