Frequently Asked Questions - Guide to Managing Human Resources

Student employees who hold casual-restricted appointments are excluded from the provisions for limited appointments.

Please refer these types of questions to your Departmental HR Manager, departmental benefits counselor, or departmental HR assistant.

Student jobs are restricted to UC Berkeley students who are registered for the current academic semester, or in the grace period immediately before or after academic semester registration (grace period defined as a semester or summer, whichever is before or after the period of enrollment).

Graduate students are not allowed to work over half-time per week on average over the period of the term, unless a waiver is granted by the Graduate Division.

Campus Jobs: Undergraduate students are allowed to work over half-time per week on average over the period of the term. However, departments should remember that student's primary obligation is to their studies and the number of working hours should take into consideration the student's academic workload.

Work-Study: There is no restriction per federal or state guidelines. However, employers should be aware that students may accrue eligibility for benefits when working at half-time or better during any given payroll period. These benefits must be paid from employer funds only.

Campus Jobs: Student campus jobs are listed on the Career Center's website via Handshake, the on- and off-campus jobs resource for all UC Berkeley students. Review the Guidelines for UC Berkeley Campus Employers for Handshake registration and job posting information. For any questions, contact the Career Center at 642-0464 or jld@berkeley.edu.

Work-Study Campus Jobs: Job requests may be posted online. Go to the Work-Study website and follow the instructions to obtain an employer ID and password. Jobs may be listed, modified or purged at your convenience. For questions, contact the Work-Study Office at 642-5625.

The normal hiring salary is within the range for comparable staff work, and normally the entry salary is at the lower end of that range, unless there are unusual skills, knowledge, ability, or experience that supports a higher level. If there are no comparable campus positions, contact your departmental compensation consultant.

Students should be placed in an appropriate Student Assistant level based upon the nature of the work, level of assignment, and complexity of the work performed. The four Student Assistant levels have been previously mapped to staff titles based on these criteria. Look up the title that most closely fits the nature of the student's work and find the comparable Student Assistant level. If the nature of the student's work does not fit any of the titles that have been mapped, call Human Resources Compensation Unit (642-2799) for assistance.

Campus Jobs: Please use the appropriate Student Assistant series level title for all official paperwork purposes. (e.g.- use "Assistant I" rather than Clerk, "Assistant II" rather than Senior Clerk/Secretary, "Assistant III" rather than Resident Advisor). You can also use a working title to help advertise for the position opening and to describe the position to applicants if the working title is more descriptive of the work.

Work Study Jobs: In the case of a student continuing employment from a previous period, refer to the former working title. Use the "Assistant I, II, III, or IV" title that is appropriate. In the case of a new student, use the same working position title as was used when hiring students in previous similar employment. Again, find the appropriate "Assistant I, II, III, or IV" title at the above website.

The Student Assistant series is intended to provide a simple mechanism for campus departments to employ students, considering the unique working conditions of students and their purpose and intent in relation to employment on the campus. It also allows the campus to more easily distinguish students from career and limited-term support staff, since the titles and title codes for students are not used by other staff employees; conversely, all students should be placed in these three titles and not in any other staff title.

The three-level Student Assistant series has broad salary ranges which are intended to give departments great flexibility in setting their student employees' salaries and minimizes the administrative burdens of student employment. The appointment type is "casual-restricted" which is used only for UC Berkeley students. "Casual-restricted" employees are not represented by a bargaining unit, but are covered by the Personnel Policies for Staff Members.

Employers are not expected to establish any hiring practices that conflict with the principles of sound personnel management. No one should be hired unless there is a basis for believing the individual is the best-qualified candidate. In fact, affirmative action calls for the hiring of qualified people. "The goal of any affirmative action plan should be achievement of genuine equal employment opportunity for all qualified persons." (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 41, Part 60-3.17.4)

Yes. Quotas are rigid and exclusionary; they imply, "This is what you must achieve, no matter what." Goals are flexible and inclusive; they imply, "This is what we think you can achieve if you try your best." Goals are simply program objectives translated into numbers. They provide a target to strive for and a vehicle for measuring progress. The campus does not use quotas, but sets goals for those job groups where underutilization of minorities and women is identified.

No. Affirmative action policies provide equal opportunity to those groups which have been systematically denied it. Affirmative action is not the source of discrimination, but the vehicle for removing the effects of discrimination. A recent Labor Department report found fewer than 100 reverse discrimination cases among more than 3,000 discrimination cases between 1990 and 1994. Discrimination was established in only 6 of the 100 cases or .02% of the total number of discrimination cases in this period. The report found "many of the [reverse discrimination] cases were the result of a disappointed applicant...erroneously assuming that when a woman or person of color got the job, it was because of sex or race, not qualifications." (S.F. Chronicle, 3/31/95)

No. As a federal contractor, and under the terms of SP-2 and Proposition 209, the University must comply with federal laws and regulations regarding affirmative action. The University must continue to develop and implement affirmative action plans that identify areas of underutilization of minorities and women. Hiring authorities should demonstrate good faith efforts to eliminate underutilization through actions such as target recruitment to underutilized groups.

Employees may request correction or deletion of a record containing information about themselves. Policies and contracts specify method, time frame, and to whom requests should be addressed.

You should not charge for the first copy of an employee's own record; a fee of 10 cents per page may be charged for additional copies (no charge for time spent locating or assembling the file).

Normally in the Department Personnel Office or the supervisor's office.

Before you place any documentation in a personnel file, have a conversation with the employee. The employee should receive a copy of all material placed in the file.

The employee or designated representative, the employee's supervisor, a prospective hiring department, Employee Relations and Labor Relations staff and other UC offices with a specific need.

As soon as is practical, but no longer than 30 days after making the request, as described in policy and contracts.

A historical body of information on an employee from date of hire to present, maintained by the person's name or by some identifying number or symbol.

Anything not directly related to the job, including pre-employment information, reference information, grievances, outside agency complaints, affirmative action/EEO data, credit reports, and garnishments. Workers' Compensation records stay in the file, but should be removed before a file is shown to a potential hiring department.

• Job related items, including job descriptions, HCM Transaction Notices, where appropriate, and Emergency Data records.
• Selection records, including application, resume, tests, and offer/acceptance letters.
• Employee development records, including education updates, classes, degrees, and completed training.
• Performance records, including performance appraisals, counseling memos, disciplinary letters, commendation letters, and Special Performance or Achievement Awards.
• Separation records, including resignation letters, termination checklist, and exit interviews.

These cases are the most difficult to resolve. A thorough investigation is critical.

• A single unwelcome sexual comment or advance.
• A supervisor who makes a few mild advances for a few minutes, stops, and apologizes with apparent embarrassment.
• A small number of minor incidents is less likely to constitute actionable sexual harassment.

It depends on the seriousness of the incident. The appropriate corrective action may include a strong verbal warning, written warning, transfer, administrative leave, suspension, demotion, firing. Generally, you would take the same types of action taken for other forms of employee misconduct.

• A supervisor makes sexually explicit comments and propositions the employee.
• A female custodian is subjected to derogatory and vicious jokes, pornographic and demeaning cartoons, and naked photos with her name written on them, posted in public view.
• A supervisor offers an employee a better job, extra help, or reclassification in return for sexual attention or threatens to take adverse action for refusing.
• A coworker repeatedly asks an employee out on a date and makes sexually suggestive comments to the employee.

No. Normally only one representative is allowed in a meeting between you and the employee. Ask the employee to clarify for you which individual will be the representative before you schedule a meeting.

In non-grievance meetings with one employee and a representative, your Employee Relations Consultant will be present to represent campus management interests. In grievance meetings, or in meetings with groups of employee and union representatives, a Labor Relations Specialist from Human Resources will represent the University.

No. For example, a union representative is not appropriate in meetings to give work assignments, coaching sessions, or performance evaluation discussions. However, employees have a right to have a representative present if they reasonably believe that disciplinary action will result from a meeting.