ATTENDANCE AND WORK ROUTINE
Recording Time/Attendance
Payroll Services provides wage employee timesheet information with instructions for completing timesheets and calculating overtime for hourly employees. In accordance with the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), employers must maintain an accurate record of hours worked for each non-exempt worker. These records are subject to yearly audit.
Workweek
The university's standard workweek begins 12:01 a.m. Sunday and ends at 12:00 midnight Saturday. Core business hours are from 8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Monday through Friday. Wage employees may work varying hours within the workweek to provide adequate coverage and service to the university community.
Wage employees shall be paid only for hours worked and cannot accrue paid leave, compensatory time or overtime leave credits. Wage employees are not eligible for paid holidays or any other paid time off.
Wage employees shall be allowed time away without pay for military service. When a wage employee returns from active military service, reemployment will be granted under the terms provided for in the United Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act (USERRA).
Break Time for Nursing Mothers
In accordance with The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, which amended section 7 of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), James Madison University employees will be allowed reasonable, unpaid break time to express milk for a nursing child for up to one year after the child’s birth, each time such employee has need to express milk. A specific location will be provided, other than a bathroom, which is shielded from view and free from intrusion from co-workers and the public. See JMU Policy 1341 – Break Time for Nursing Mothers.
Meal Breaks
Employees who work at least six consecutive hours may be afforded a meal break of at least 30 minutes, except in situations where shift coverage doesn’t allow for such meal breaks. Meal breaks may be staggered to provide departmental coverage. The meal break does not count as time worked.
Rest Breaks
Supervisor’s may grant employees who work an 8-hour day or longer a maximum of one 15-minute rest break before and one 15-minute rest break after the meal break, but are not required to do so.
- Rest breaks must be taken separately.
- Rest breaks, if taken, do not count as time worked.
Late Arrivals or Absences
Occasionally, unplanned circumstances may occur that cause employees to arrive late or to miss work. It is expected that late arrivals and absences will be kept to a minimum. It is the employee’s responsibility to inform their supervisor when they will be late or absent as soon as possible, prior to the beginning of the shift. At the start of employment, the supervisor will communicate requirements for reporting late arrival or absence, including whom to contact should the supervisor not be available.
During normal work hours, an employee should not leave their work area for personal matters (other than lunch or breaks) without permission from the supervisor or the supervisor’s designee.
Overtime and Compensatory Leave – Provisions for Granting JMU Policy 1303
The provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cover all JMU employees. FLSA establishes rules for minimum wage, overtime pay, equal pay, child labor and recordkeeping; and, it defines exemptions from overtime pay regulations.
Overtime is required to be paid when non-exempt employees physically work over 40 hours in a WEEK (not a pay period). Even though JMU pays semi-monthly, hourly pay periods 1st -15th and 16th-31st, overtime is calculated by the number of hours worked Sunday through Saturday, unless your work-week has been designated differently and approved by HR. Additionally, overtime is not contingent on the budgetary constraints of the department. If more than 40 hours are physically worked Sunday - Saturday, the non-exempt employee must receive overtime compensation accordingly.
Closings, Class Cancellations and Exam Postponements Due to Inclement Weather or Emergencies JMU Policy 1309
Decisions to close all non-essential university operations will be made by the Senior Vice President of Administration and Finance. For information regarding late openings or official closings, listen to local television and radio stations, visit the JMU website or call 540-433-5300. Employees can also authorize JMU to provide emergency notifications via text message or voice message to the employee's cell phone through MyMadison.
Part-time employees who hold a job classification that is deemed as "designated" and therefore whose work is essential to university operation by this policy, shall receive an additional half-hour pay for each hour they work during an authorized delay or closing.
Holidays JMU Policy 1102
The president of the university signs into effect each calendar year a schedule of official university holidays and pre-determined closings. The holiday schedule includes New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr Day, Memorial Day, Juneteenth, Independence Day, Election Day (a floating holiday for full-time JMU employees) and Thanksgiving. Pre-determined closings usually include the day after Thanksgiving, and a winter break. It may also include time for spring break and other appropriate holidays, up to the number set by the Commonwealth of Virginia as holidays for state employees. For a list of holidays during which the university will be closed, refer to JMU’s Holiday Schedule and University Closings.
Wage employees shall be paid only for actual hours worked and are not eligible for paid time off, such as holiday pay. Refer to JMU Policy 1325 Wage Employment.
Family and Medical Leave JMU Policy 1308
The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) requires the university to provide eligible employees up to 12 weeks of job-protection for the:
- The birth and care of a newborn child within one year of birth;
- The legal placement of a child with the employee for adoption or foster care within one year of placement;
foster care of a child
- serious health condition of the employee
- serious health condition of the employee’s immediate family member (child, spouse, or parent)
- qualifying exigency as defined by the Department of Labor (a call to active duty of a spouse, son, daughter, or parent; or having been notified of an impending call or order to active duty in the Armed Forces in support of a contingency operation; or caregiver leave for a seriously ill or injured service member that is a spouse, son, daughter, parent, or being the nearest blood relative to the injured service member)
To be eligible for job-protected time away, wage employees must have been employed at least 12 months and worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period prior to the leave request.
The 12-week period is calculated starting from the date the employee begins FMLA time away. If time away is taken under FMLA, the employee has a guaranteed right to return to his/her prior job, or in unusual cases, a job with equivalent status and pay.
To take FMLA, 30-days advance notice must be given to the supervisor when it is foreseeable for the birth of a child, placement of a child for adoption or foster care, or for planned medical treatment. When it is not possible to provide advance notice, the employee must notify the supervisor as soon as practical.
Intermittent time away that is medically necessary may be taken without the supervisor's approval for each absence. Proper notice should be provided to the supervisor and supervisors must approve requests for intermittent time away if used for the birth, adoption or foster care placement of a child.
Certification from the family's health care provider must be provided to Human Resources to support FMLA.
For complete information on FMLA, please contact a Benefits Specialist, benefits@jmu.edu, 540-568-3593.
