Additional Laws & Regulations for Student Employment

Student Handbook

Additional Laws & Regulations for Student Employment

Firearms or Weapons
See Board of Trustees Ordinance 18.00 Firearms or Weapons

Workers' Compensation
Student employees receiving wages from University funded accounts are covered under Workers' Compensation if they are injured on the job. This includes "medical coverage" and "disability wage loss". See On-the-Job Injuries for more information.

Immigration Reform And Control Act Of 1986
The Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 makes it unlawful to knowingly hire aliens who are unauthorized for employment in the United States. All individuals, including students, who are hired must verify their identity and work authorization by completing an INS I-9 form, or the employer will be subject to civil fines and penalties and also criminal penalties and injunctions. The Act also prohibits discrimination in employment based on national origin or citizenship status.

Unemployment Compensation

Certain services performed by students are excluded from coverage under the Michigan Employment Security Act (MESA).
Section 43 (1) (i) of the MESA was amended April 11, 1976, to read as follows: "Except as otherwise provided in Section 42 (6) the term "employment" shall not include:
- Service performed in the employ of a school, college, or university, if the service is performed by a person who is primarily a student at the school, college or university. For the purpose of this subsection a person is deemed to be "primarily a student" if the individual is enrolled in an institution, is pursuing a course of study for academic credit and while thus enrolled normally works 30 hours or less per week for the institution.
Any specific questions related to student employees and unemployment compensation should be addressed to Human Resources, 1407 S. Harrison Rd., Suite 110.

Family And Medical Leave Act of 1993
The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993provides eligible student employees with up to twelve weeks of unpaid, job-protected leave. To be eligible, a student employee must have been employed by MSU for at least 12 months and have at least 1,250 hours of service in a twelve-month period. Leave is granted to care for an employee's child after birth, or placement for adoption or foster care; to care for an employee's spouse, son, daughter, or parent, who has a serious health condition; or for a serious health condition that makes the employee unable to perform the employee's job. Questions may be directed to Solutions Center at 517-353-4434 orSolutionsCenter@hr.msu.edu.

Severe Weather
In the event of severe weather conditions, only student employees whose services are required for maintenance, food service and other essential operations should report to work. Supervisors must advise student employees of reporting requirements at the time they are hired. Students should be paid at their normal rate for the hours they actually work during a period of severe weather. Students who do not work will not be paid.

Driver And Chauffeur Licenses

There are several student employee job descriptions that require driver and/or chauffeur licenses for student employees. All departments should review the duties being performed by their student employees as far as driving motor vehicles is concerned and, where necessary, require that student employees obtain a chauffeur license. In addition, when recruiting to fill vacancies, requisitions should clearly state those instances where chauffeur licenses are required.
Where an employee is required to operate a motor vehicle for the purpose of transporting merchandise or persons on a regular basis, that employee should be required to possess a chauffeur license. A chauffeur license should be required where a primary responsibility is the operation of a motor vehicle with a seating capacity of twelve or more persons or which is regularly involved in the delivery of goods and materials on the public highway.

Summer Hiring

An individual may be considered a student employee if s/he has been assigned a student number, has attended NSO, and/or has been admitted/readmitted for fall semester, and is enrolled for summer or fall semester classes.
A student hired for summer semester cannot begin working until the semester officially starts if s/he was not enrolled spring semester, or, if a new student, until they have gone through NSO and have signed up for fall classes.
The procedure for processing student employees will be the same as during the academic year.
Students who are to continue working during the summer in the same job they held spring semester do not need to be reprocessed for employment.
Students may work up to 40 hours per week during summer semester. However, departments will only be reimbursed for 29 hours per week for Work-Study students.
Students must be paid time and one-half for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week. The additional straight hours are paid by the department where the hours were reported and the overtime premium is split proportionately between the units based on how many total hours they have worked in each department.
A student who graduates or is not returning to classes Summer or Fall Semester may stay on Student Employee payroll until the second week of June(exact date will be communicated via MSU Pathways).
A student employed on the Graduate Assistant and Student payrolls may not exceed 40 hours a week for all students including international students on the combined payrolls.

Go Back to the Student Employment Manual Index