State Personnel Act
EPA:
EPA employees are those exempt from the State Personnel Act and include instructional,
research and some administrative positions.
SPA:
SPA employees are those subject to the State Personnel Act and include most support
positions.
FLSA – Fair Labor Standards Act
FLSA Exempt:
In order to be classified as (Exempt) from overtime, there are several thresholds that must be met, including a minimum
pay threshold which equates to $455/week regardless of the number of hours actually
worked. That is an annualized wage of $23,660/yr. This is the first threshold that
must be met.
If the pay threshold IS met, further criteria with regard to duties and responsibilities of the position must be met in order to be EPA exempt.
Detailed guidelines can be found at the DOL (Department of Labor) web site.
If the FLSA threshold is NOT met, the employee is not exempt from FLSA minimum wage and overtime provisions.
FLSA Subject:
At WCU, employees that do not meet FLSA exemption guidelines, must be classified as FLSA Subject employees – subject to the minimum wage and overtime provisions and required to maintain a timesheet record.
Types of Employment at WCU
Permanent Full Time:These employees have expectation of continued employment and work a minimum of 9 months per year at .75 FTE (fulltime equivalent) –30 hours per week and are benefits eligible.
Example EPA – 9 month faculty
Example SPA – Office Manager working at least 32 to 40 hours a week.
NOTE: Permanent 9 month faculty employees are paid over 12 months, however they are free agents during the summer months. Those who teach for WCU during the summer are considered adjuncts, but since they are permanent WCU employees paid over 12 months with the expectation of returning in the Fall, their benefits are not interrupted during summer
Permanent Part Time:
These employees have expectation of continued employment and work less that 9 months
per year or less than .75 FTE (full time equivalent) – less than 30 hours per week.
These positions typically are eligible for limited benefits on a prorated basis.
Example: EPA – 12 month Academic Advisor working 25 hours a week.
Example: SPA – 12 month Departmental Administrative Assistant working 20 hours a week
Temporary Full Time:
These employees do NOT have the expectation of continued employment and are EPA employees
typically on a one year fixed term contract teaching a full academic year. These
employees are benefits eligible for the fixed term. These are EPA Full time Temporary Employees.
Temporary Part Time:
These employees do NOT have the expectation of continued employment and work either
full time or part time hours for a specific period of time and are not benefits eligible.
Example EPA - Temporary Part time instructional employees who typically teach one semester are EPA adjunct employees
Example SPA - Temporary Part time non-instructional employees are typically SPA hourly employees and include support type positions.
Other Temporary Part time employees include those working for a semester or more and working with or supervising WCU Students Temporary EPA employees. These are not benefits eligible.
Temporary/Intermittent:
These are EPA employees who work for WCU for a specific short period of time, usually
less than one semester, not involving teaching or supervising of WCU students, one
time events, for a set dollar amount. They have typically worked for WCU in some
capacity in the past and perform the same type of work for WCU intermittently. An
example would be workshop facilitators and presenters.
NOTE: A Temporary/Intermittent SPA employee would be SPA hourly. Example might be painter for the resident halls hired to work for two weeks during semester break.
Student employees:
Student employment is handled through the Career Services Office or Graduate School
Office.
Non–WCU employees include:
Dual Employment:
Dual employment is a situation in which a full or part time employee from another
state agency comes to WCU to work and is paid from their parent institution. In this
case, WCU reimburses the home institution for the time the employee worked for us.
Dual employees in this case are not WCU employees and therefore are handled through
the controllers office.
Independent Contractor:
Independent contractors are individuals that do work for WCU for short periods of
time, but are not employees of WCU. These individuals do the same type of work for
other entities besides WCU. Examples might include software consultants and specialized
workshop facilitators. Please see the controller web site for specifics on what qualifies
someone to be an independent contractor.