Information for Employers

On this page:

How Does it Work? | Submitting a Project Application | Accepted - Now What? | How Much Will I be Reimbursed? | Payroll Procedures | How to Receive the Reimbursement | How to Ensure Reimbursements Will Process

How Does it Work?

McGill faculties, departments and administrative units wishing to hire McGill students may be eligible for subsidies under the Work Study program. Students with financial need apply independently for Work Study through Minerva and potential employers must also apply for Work Study approval EACH YEAR by submitting a Project Application.

In order to be approved, a Work Study project must:

• Be on the University campus, or in facilities owned, leased or rented by the University
• Be flexible in order to accommodate students' academic schedules
• Pay an hourly rate equivalent to or greater than minimum wage (see AMUSE Agreement, Article 22.03;22.08)
• Be adequately supervised
• Not contravene any labour agreements

Once a project application has been received:

• Letters will be sent to the employers. If approved, the project will be posted on the Work Study website’s Job Postings. Students then apply for work directly through the employer.
• The employer verifies whether or not the student has been approved for Work Study by verifying the Accepted/Refused Student List.
• The employer then completes the Work Study Job Assignment form and forwards it to the Scholarships and Student Aid Office (fax: 514-398-7352).
• The employer pays the student regularly and then receives a pre-determined subsidy via reimbursement through the Scholarships and Student Aid Office. Reimbursements are generally processed every couple of months.

Term Dates

The Work Study work term dates for the 2012/13 academic year are:

Submitting a Project Application

Click here to submit an online project application.

Applications will be accepted throughout most of the year but it is highly recommended that employers apply in the summer for the coming academic year. Applications can be submitted starting in July for each academic year and are assessed on a rolling basis within two weeks except during peak periods when recommended submission dates apply:

Recommended Submission Dates

Project applications will be reviewed and applicants will be notified by letter about acceptance results and funding levels.

Each position must be submitted on a separate application clearly stating the conditions and duration of the position along with the required duties and skills.

New project applications must be submitted with each new academic year. If your project has already been approved for the fall and/or winter terms in a given academic year and you would like to extend it to include subsequent terms within that same academic year send an email request to work [dot] study [at] mcgill [dot] ca (Work Study) ; there is no need to submit a new application as long as we are in the same academic year for which your original project was approved.

Each project must have a Project Supervisor and a Payroll Person who will share responsibility for:

• Interviewing and hiring Work Study students.
• Liaising with the Scholarships and Student Aid Office.
• Completing Work Study documentation.
• Providing supervised employment in accordance with a pre-determined job description, which has been approved for Work Study.
• Ensuring that the student is placed on payroll and that bi-weekly payroll reports are submitted, covering the actual hours worked in a given pay period.

Accepted – Now What?

Your project will be advertised on the web. Click on Job Postings to view your job ad. Students interested in your project will contact you directly. Be prepared to receive phone calls and schedule interviews as of the posting date.

To ensure you are interviewing an approved Work Study student, visit the Accepted/Refused Student List to verify the student's status. The student's Faculty and the dates the student is authorized to hold a Work Study position are indicated. No wage reimbursements will be made for hours worked outside of the student authorization dates and/or project approval dates.

Remember, Work Study students need to work in order to finance their education, therefore, prompt hiring decisions are appreciated. Hiring decisions are at the employer's discretion, however, the subsidy is available only when Work Study students are hired. Employers may hire one or two students per project - job sharing is a good alternative for students who are unable to make the entire time commitment to a project. When two students share one job, it is important to remember that they also share the total amount of approved hours for the project.

Once you've decided to hire:

1. Complete the Work Study Job Assignment form with the student. The Job Assignment form is an integral step of the reimbursement process!
2. Keep a copy for your records; provide a copy to the student and send a hard copy by fax or mail to the Scholarships and Student Aid Office. This important step matches the student to the project AND removes your filled position from the list of available jobs.
3. Place the student on University payroll following Work Study Payroll Procedures. Special instructions must be requested by departments that do not use the university payroll system - send request to work [dot] study [at] mcgill [dot] ca (Work Study).
4. Ensure that the student possesses, or has applied for, a social insurance number (required to be paid by the University). For information about hiring international students, refer to the International Student Services website.

The above steps should be completed for each student hired on each project. It is possible for more than one student to be assigned to the same project.

How Much Will I be Reimbursed?

Each project may be subsidized to a maximum of 250 hours per semester. Unused hours from any given semester cannot be rolled over to the next semester.

Regular Subsidy

Our regular funding will subsidize $5.00 of the student's hourly wage. The maximum subsidy is $1250.00 per semester (i.e., 250 hours at $5.00 per hour).

AUS Subsidy

Additional funding has been made available as a result of a referendum of the Arts Undergraduate Society to create career-related Work Study positions in the Faculty of Arts. This funding allows the Work Study program to subsidize selected research positions in the Faculty of Arts that are filled by ARTS UNDERGRADUATE students at $10.00 of the student's hourly wage. The maximum subsidy will be $2500.00 per semester (i.e., 250 hours at $10.00 per hour).

Please note that the additional Arts funding is NOT sufficient to fund all Arts jobs at the $10.00 per hour subsidy and will therefore be distributed among participating project supervisors. Please pay special attention to your acceptance letter which will indicate the approved subsidy of your project per semester.

SUS Subsidy

Additional funding has been made available as a result of a referendum of the Science Undergraduate Society to create career-related Work Study positions the Faculty of Science. This funding allows the Work Study program to subsidize selected research positions in the Faculty of Science that are filled by SCIENCE UNDERGRADUATE students at $10.00 of the student's hourly wage.  The maximum subsidy will be $2500.00 per semester (i.e., 250 hours at $10.00 per hour).
Please note that the additional Science funding is NOT sufficient to fund all Science jobs at the $10.00 per hour subsidy and will therefore be distributed among participating project supervisors. Please pay special attention to your acceptance letter which will indicate the approved subsidy of your project per semester.

Payroll Procedures

Until further notice, POPS 6 is the required method for processing payroll requisitions of Work Study students. Appointment forms will NOT be accepted.

Once you have hired a Work Study student, you need to place the employee on McGill payroll. You are responsible for keeping track of students’ work hours on a weekly and cumulative basis to ensure that your total project allocation per semester is not exceeded. You must submit bi-weekly work hours to the Payroll Person who is responsible for submitting casual payroll requisitions. It is not acceptable to prepay students for hours not yet worked OR to pay students in lump sums.

The following procedures must be followed:

• Complete a Personal Data Form for students who have never been on McGill Payroll.
• Ensure the student is paid every two weeks at the approved hourly rate.
• On POPS 6 - in the Non-Academic Payments screen, choose "Work Study" in the Govt Prog drop-down menu; and enter your 5 digit (NO SPACES OR CHARACTERS) "Work Study Project Number" in the Ref. field.

For more information about POPS and Banner for Payroll click here.

How to Receive the Reimbursement

Subsidies are reimbursed to departments using the payroll records of Work Study students. The reimbursement process is dependent on bi-weekly payment of student wages and on Work Study students being clearly identified on payroll reports. Reimbursements are processed on a regular basis - funds will be transferred by journal entry to the FOAPAL from which the student's wages are paid. You will be notified each time a reimbursement is credited to your FOAPAL. Discrepancies should be reported immediately to the Scholarships and Student Aid Office.

See our section How to Ensure Reimbursements will Process (immediately below) for information on processing and correcting payroll records for Work Study students.

Deadline for Reimbursements

• No reimbursements will be made after January 31st for fall projects.
• No reimbursements will be made after May 31st for winter projects.
• No reimbursements will be made after September 30th for summer projects.

How to Ensure Reimbursements Will Process

Below is an image of PYAPOPS. This form can be used to verify all requests that have been submitted by the payroll person.

Modifications can be made to Gov Prg and/or Gov Prg ID ONLY IF the WS Status at the bottom of the screen DOES NOT show RP (Reimbursement Processed) OR A value in Hrs App PLUS a WS Status of ZP (Zero Hours Reimaining on Project - for given term).

Keeping track of students' dates and hours

It is important to keep track of the pay period dates. The Work Study dates may differ from Payroll dates.

The pay period must:

• begin on or after, and not surpass the approved date indicated on BOTH the employer's letter of approval for the Work Study Project and the student's approved work period found on the Accepted/Refused Student List.

For job endates:

• ALL Fall jobs must end by December 30, 2012
• ALL Winter jobs must end by April 27, 2013
• ALL Summer jobs must end by August 31, 2013

If the student's pay period exceeds the approved end date in a given term, a reimbursement CANNOT be made.

You may need to divide the student's pay into 2 requests to complete the process. (See example below.)

Approved hours for a Work Study Project

Each project has been approved for a given number of hours PER TERM. It is important to track these hours as the reimbursement can only be made if the exact number of hours can be applied.

EXAMPLE

If a project is approved for 225 hours in the Fall term and the student has worked 18 hours per week, by the 12th week the total hours worked by the student will be 216. In the next pay period if the payroll request is for more than 9 hours (225 approved hours - 216 already worked) - the reimbursement cannot be processed.

You must submit one payroll record for 9 hours with the Work Study indicators AND a separate payroll request for the balance of hours worked by the student WITHOUT any Work Study indicators.

Making modifications in PYAPOPS

To make modifications in PYAPOPS, please press F7 or click on the icon to execute a query. Type 'T' in Status box and tab to the McGill Id box and enter the McGill ID number for the student you want to verify or make changes.

Making Changes

Provided the WS Status does not show 'RP', (Reimbursement Processed) OR A value in Hrs App PLUS a WS Status of ZP (Zero Hours Reimaining on Project - for given term) you can:

• add or remove 'W' to the Gov Prg (it must have a 'W' for you to enter a Project ID number in the next field)
• correct/add the Work Study Project ID number in Gov Prg ID (enter in a 5 digit number - no symbols or text)

You can remove a record from the reimbursement process by deleting the data in BOTH Gov Prg ID and the Gov Prg.

List of Work Study Status Codes in PYAPOPS

CP - WS Project # has been cancelled - no reimbursements can be made
DP - WS Project # pay date - either from or to are outside the approved period - per session
DS - Student's pay date - either from or to are outside the approved period - per session
EP - WS Project # had ended - max WS hours have been reimbursed
ES - This is triggered by the Student Aid Office - it will be applied to payroll records that have been submitted in error
IF - The FOAPAL is no longer active - derived from FTMFUND - Fund validation
IP - WS Project # is not currently active for reimbursements
IS - Student # is not on approved list for WS
MA - Work Study Authorization was submitted for a different session - i.e. student matched for fall session but continues to work in winter
NA - No Work Study Authorization has been sent to our office matching student to job
NP - WS Project # not valid
NS - Student # not found in Banner SIS and Work Study
RP - All hours from the payroll record have been used for reimbursement
SI - Combination of student's approved dates & project's approved date - the pay period straddles between 2 sessions
ZP - WS Project # has been reimbursed for the number of hours approved - May also contain Hours in the Hrs App field