Categories of Employment

Date: October 2019

Philosophy and Purpose: A faculty or staff member may be employed in any one of a variety of different categories that determine pay, benefits, and other terms and conditions of employment. An employee's status may not change from one category to another without written confirmation from the College. All exempt employees (except faculty) and non-exempt employees, regardless of category of employment, are employees at will. All employees receive coverage under the College’s Workers Compensation insurance, unemployment coverage, and participate in the Social Security program, which are legally mandated benefits.  Casual employees are not eligible for College benefits. The following terms are used throughout this handbook, and the definitions will be helpful in understanding how College policies apply to each employee:

Benefits eligible employee: an employee with a regular schedule of at least 20 hours per week over the course of an academic or full year.

Casual employee: an employee working in a position that requires occasional duty on an as-needed basis. The hours worked may vary from week to week based on operational need and total hours must take into consideration all casual assignments across the College. Possible situations are:

1. Has a varying schedule of less than 20 hours per week for all assignments worked in departments across the College and works less than 1,000 hours total per fiscal year;
2. Is hired for a limited time period with a set start and end date not to exceed 16 weeks, consecutively or cumulatively, and may work varied hours per week (e.g., coverage for a leave) without possibility of renewal;
3. Casual employees are not eligible for College benefits.  In addition, years of service in a casual position do not count or accumulate towards benefits eligibility or entitlement;
4. Benefits eligible employees, including retirees, who leave the College and have interest in working as a casual employee may be considered for re-hire after consultation with HR to determine return date eligibility after a break in service, but generally no sooner than six months after their last day worked.
5. Paid internships for non-Bowdoin students fall under this category of employment.

Exempt employee: an employee whose position satisfies federal wage and hour law criteria for executive, professional, or administrative jobs and is, therefore, ineligible for overtime pay. Exempt employees are paid on a salaried basis. All faculty members are considered exempt employees (please refer to the Faculty Handbook for more information regarding faculty appointments).

Non-exempt employee: an employee whose position is subject to overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. A non-exempt employee is paid on an hourly basis and is eligible for overtime pay for hours worked in excess of 40 per week.

Full-time employee: a non-exempt (hourly) employee with a regular schedule of at least 37.5 hours per week, or an exempt (salaried) employee with a regular schedule of five full days or 40 hours per week.

Part-time employee: a non-exempt (hourly) employee with a regular schedule of at least 20 hours per week, but less than 37.5 hours per week, or an exempt (salaried) employee with a regular schedule of at least 20 hours per week, but fewer than five full days or 40 hours per week.

Full year employee: a regular employee who is scheduled to work on a year-round basis, or at least eleven months of the year.

Academic year employee: a regular employee who is scheduled to work over the course of an academic year, generally for nine months or a 38 week appointment. Faculty members appointed on at least a half-time basis for one or two semesters are eligible for College benefits.

Adjunct Faculty employee: a faculty member appointed for a limited number of classes for a single semester. Adjunct faculty are not expected to work more than 20 hours per week and are not eligible for College benefits.