Payroll Guidelines

Harvard students are valuable employees, keeping University offices, libraries, labs and facilities operating smoothly. Similarly, Harvard employment often becomes an important part of student's lives, not only as a source of income but as way to expand their knowledge, skills, experiences, and friendships.

Here is a brief guide to the administrative ins-and-outs of student employment at Harvard.

Student employees are enrolled Harvard students with a valid Harvard ID number and card, who are paid weekly on Fridays based on hours reported on a paper or online form. This information does not apply to teaching fellows.

In order to be paid, student employees:

• May work at a given job for as long as they are students at Harvard
• May work more than one job at a time
• Are not eligible for paid sick, vacation, or personal time
• May not work more than 20 hours/wk while enrolled and 40 hours/wk when classes are not in session (true only for students on the Federal Work-Study Program (FWSP), but a good guideline for all students.)
• Must submit an FWSP referral form or a Faculty Aide card (if applicable) at time of hire

*Must have an I-9 and W-4 on file in the Payroll Office in Holyoke Center, 3rd floor.

Important note: If your student worked at Harvard within the last 12 months, then he or she will have an I-9 on file. If he or she did not, you can download an I-9 here: http://able.harvard.edu/forms/i-9.pdf and have your student bring you the required identifying documents (usually a passport or a driver's license and Social Security card). (Many student will have completed I-9s at registration.) The completed form must then be sent to the Payroll Office. Time worked cannot be entered into the payroll system until Payroll has the I-9 form.

Additional Rules for non-U.S. citizens

Students who are neither U.S. citizens nor permanent residents must do the following the first time they are hired:

• Complete a FNIF (Foreign National Information Form) http://able.harvard.edu/forms/fnif.pdf
• Complete a W-4. Instructions for nonresidents are available at http://able.harvard.edu/forms/How_to_Complete_W-4_for_NRA.pdf.

Reporting hours

All student employees are paid by the hour and must report the hours they work. Different departments manage time reporting in different ways, and the student's supervisor is responsible for telling students how they should enter hours for their job(s).

Here are the basic rules for reporting hours:

• Make clear to your student employee how to fill out a paper timesheet or use the online time-reporting system.
• Whatever method of time reporting is used, students' hours must be reported and approved by a supervisor.
• Hours must be reported on a weekly basis for regular paychecks. Submitting multiple time cards complicates the process and can result in incorrect pay.
• The workweek, like the calendar week, is Sunday through Saturday. Student employees are paid on Friday for work done the week before.
• Departments have their own deadlines for time entry. However, these deadlines will be no later than noon on the Saturday of that week.
• If there is a holiday on Monday, time needs to be entered earlier than usual, generally on Thursday.

Students entering time in the online Time and Labor system in PeopleSoft should know the following:

• The site is harvie.harvard.edu
• If they have more than one job, make sure they know the "empl rcd nbr" (employee record number) for which they are entering hours.
• If the student is not eligible for Work-Study, the time type is REG
• If the student is eligible for Work-Study and he or she is working on-campus, the time type is WST.
• If the student is eligible for Work-Study and is working off-campus, the job code depends on the position. Contact Lauren Valente.

Paychecks and Taxes

Taxes

State and Federal taxes may be withheld from students' pay, depending upon how much they earn and their tax filing status (e.g., marital status, number of exemptions claimed). Most undergraduates do not claim exemptions, since their parents claim them as dependents.

Full-time students working on-campus do not contribute to FICA (Social Security) during the school year. However, off-campus term-time wages and summer wages are subject to the FICA tax at the rate of 8% for academic year 2006-07.

Direct deposit

The best way for student employees to get their pay is through direct deposit to their bank account. We reccommend Harvard University Employees Credit Union. Student temps who use direct deposit will be eligible for additional benefits.

To see what Harvard University Employees Credit Union offers click on www.huecu.org

Students who do not have direct deposit will have their paychecks mailed to their local residence address. If Student Services does not have the correct address, students should contact Student Financial Services (student_billing, 5th floor Holyoke Center, 495-2739.)

What if there's a problem?

Students can view their paychecks online before payday, usually by noon on Wednesday, so they will know if there are any potential problems. Here's how:

• Launch Internet Explorer and go to harvie.harvard.edu
• Click "Log in to PeopleSoft"
• Username: Student's Harvard ID number
• Password: Student's Harvard PIN
• Navigate the following path: Self Service > Employee > View > View Paycheck (selecting View > Personal Information will tell you where your paycheck is slated to be delivered)

If there is a problem with the student's pay, the supervisor may contact the local payroll coordinator. If the coordinator cannot resolve the issue, you may call the Payroll Hotline at 495-3001.

Leaving a job

• When a student leaves a job at Harvard, the supervisor must remove that job from the student's record. This is especially important if the student has more than one job.
• When a student leaves Harvard, make sure he or she leaves a correct forwarding address on file for you.