Kent State University student employees will now be limited

to work a maximum number of 28 hours a week, taking effect on

May 12, the first day of the summer employment period.

This policy is being implemented in order to fulfill the regulations

of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, widely

known as “Obama Care.” The act, effective on Jan. 1, 2014, requires

all employers with more than 50 full-time employees to purchase

health insurance for their workers or pay a tax.

“We are making every effort as a university to avoid incurring additional

operational costs that impact student fees and tuition rate,” said

Ann Motayar, director of Career Services. “We know that employment

on campus is a great asset to students and we really rely on the contribution

students make to the workflow of each department.”

Any additional changes to the policy will be based on the final

regulations of the federal government, which will most likely be

released sometime in June.

“Career Services will be monitoring closely the number of

hours worked by students,” Motayar said. “We will also heavily

rely on supervisors and students to keep track of their hours.”

Violating this new policy will result in a one-time warning, which

will be in the form of an email to both the student and their supervisor.

Continued violation of the policy will result in the termination of employment

and the student’s eligibility for further student employment.

“With the summer and fall employment coming up, we want

to give students as much information as possible,” Motayar said.

“We are all going to be working together to monitor this with individual

students and supervisors.”

Students currently can work up to 32 hours a week. The limit is

a combination of all hours worked at every job that is held on campus

and applies to break periods as well as summer employment.

“First and foremost, everyone is a student. We are here to support

students,” said Greg Jarvie, vice president of Enrollment and Student

Affairs. “We aren’t dropping any hours, we are still going to be supportive

of students with the amount of hours and budget we have available.”

If students have any additional questions, they can go to the

Kent State Career Services website or look at the Student Employee

Handbook for the new policy and/or any additional changes.

Contact Celia Fernandez at [email protected].