Student Additional and Sporadic Employment

Overview: 

Students can have any number of jobs as long as the overall scheduled weekly hours does not exceed the student work hours limits. If a student would like to perform work that would put them over their work hours limit, they need additional approvals before they can begin working. 

COLA does not currently have "college-specific" instructions in this area, but please refer to the current semester's guidance for reference on COLA's general Workday BP expectations. 

For additional questions, please contact cola_HR@austin.utexas.edu.

Relevant Definitions: 

Additional Employment: Additional work performed by an employee in the same OR different department. Additional work can be done in the same department, but above and beyond their regular duties. Additional work can also be done outside the department and be completely different (i.e. usher) or similar to their regular job (administrative).  

Additional Employment – Sporadic: Temporary work that will be performed inside or outside an employee’s department for a limited time period when the student is already assigned to their maximum scheduled weekly hours., as determined by student job family 

• Above 40 Scheduled Weekly Hours (SWH) for undergraduate students 
• Above 30 SWH for 2nd year graduate students 
• Above 20 SWH for 1st year graduate students 

Student Sporadic Employment Limits: Work is not to exceed 120 hours per fiscal year (9/1-8/31) per student employee. Limited to a compensation cap of $25,000 per fiscal year. 

Process: 

Employees in any student title are not allowed to be paid via a one-time payment. The only exception is for awards related to their employment.

If a student employee needs to be paid for performing additional, sporadic, and/or temporary work inside or outside their current department, they need to be appointed to an additional job in Workday. If they are already assigned to their maximum allowable scheduled weekly hours, see the Undergraduate Student Sporadic Jobs or Graduate Student Sporadic Jobs sections on our Upcoming Semester Student Guidance wiki page for additional guidance.

Undergraduate Students 

Undergraduate student sporadic employment must be approved by Central HR’s Student Employee Excellence and Development (SEED) before the student can be hired for any type of sporadic employment. 

1. Requesting unit must request approval from Student Employee Excellence and Development (SEED)(SEED@austin.utexas.edu).
2. Requesting unit’s HR Partner must complete Student Sporadic Additional Job Form. 
3. Attach completed form to the Add Job BP.  

Graduate Students 

Graduate student sporadic employment must be approved by the Graduate School (GS-Approvals@austin.utexas.edu) before the student can be hired for any type of sporadic employment. 

1. Requesting unit’s HR Partner must complete Student Sporadic Additional Job Form.
2. Email completed form to GS-Approvals@austin.utexas.edu accompanied by a petition from the student’s program adviser supporting the work above the 20/30 Hour Limit.
3. Attach completed form to the Add Job BP and note in comments the date of the Graduate School’s approval. 

Related Policies: 

• HR – Limits on Work Hours for Student Employees 

Other Related Links: 

• Student Sporadic Additional Job Form 

• Student Employee Additional and Sporadic Employment Decision Tree 
• Sporadic Employment Overview for Students 
• Additional Employment Definitions