What constitutes full-time?

woodsa

Are there any federal or state (NE) laws/statutes that determine how many hours an employee must work to receive benefits? Or is this something our college must decide with a policy?
We have a ft employee that currently has benefits that is out of all paid leave, how many hrs. must he work per week/month to stay eligible for benefits?

And we have an employee that will doing 2 part-time jobs that thinks they should get benefits. Our position is that you were hired for a part-time job with no benefits, that hasn't changed just because we hired you for another pt job with no benefits.

I believe our TIAA/CREF retirement plan document states that we have to give them the opportunity to contribute to our 403b if they work more than 1,000 hrs in a calendar year. But this doesn't qualify them for other benefits, right?

Sorry for the long question, thanks for your help!

Brad Forrister

Eligibility for benefits is mostly a matter of employer policy, or in some cases a contractual matter with the provider of benefits (health insurance, for instance; insurers typically have a minimum number of hours an employee must work to be eligible).

Brad Forrister
Director of Publishing
M. Lee Smith Publishers

Pearce

Your medical insurance (fully-insured or self-insured), life insurance and accidental death and disability insurance [not an all encompassing list]all generally have provisions related to leaves of absence and clearly state how long an employee may be considered "active" and receive benefits. Read your plan documents, contracts and summary plan descriptions.

These same documents should clearly state how many hours of regular work per week are required for an employee to be covered. Read your documents. It is possible that unless you have specific categories of employees clearly excluded from your plans an employee working from 30-40 hours per week whether at one job or two may be eligible for your benefits.

CM_D

How many hours constitute full-time employment?
The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires payment of overtime when non-exempt employees work in excess of 40 hours per workweek, but the FLSA doesn't define full-time or part-time employment. It's generally up to the employer to decide how many hours per week employees must work to be considered full-time; employees who regularly work fewer hours than the employer's chosen threshold number can be considered part-time. As long as the employer designates a threshold up front and applies it uniformly to all employees, the employer can grant or withhold employer-provided benefits on the basis of their own definition of full-time and part-time employment. Exception: If your state has a mandatory health insurance benefits law, it may require employers using certain insurance programs to provide coverage to all employees working over a certain number of hours per week
Many employers define full-time as the number of hours in their standard operating schedule — 35 or 40 hours per week. Some employers permit part-time employees to work as few as 20 hours per week; others find it's only practical to employ part-timers if they put in 30 or 32 hours per week.
An employee's status as full- or part-time shouldn't be confused with eligibility for the leave under the federal Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) or state leave laws. To be eligible for FMLA leave, for example, an employee must have worked for a covered employer for a total of 12 months and for at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months. That 1,250-hour threshold can be met whether an employee works full-time or part-time. Check your state's leave laws (Family and Medical Leave, Jury and Witness Leave, Voting Leave) for specific eligibility rules.

It is my understanding that if an individual works for a company in two part time jobs that total full-time hours, he/she should be eligible for benefits. I could be wrong but since the individual is working say, 35 hours a week for your company, it doesn't matter what duties he or she is involved in.