Beginning May 11, student workers will no longer be able to work more than 20 hours a week at the university if a recent proposal by Provost John Nicklow becomes policy.

Toni Vagner, student employment manager, wrote in an email obtained by the Daily Egyptian April 22, “The provost is recommending changes to the maximum number of hours a student employee may work in the Student Employment Program.”

The proposal suggests the student employment hour cap be reduced to 20 hours per week. Vagner’s email states the proposal will be sent to Chancellor Rita Cheng for approval.

Misty Whittington, the SIU Board of Trustees executive secretary, wrote in an email Friday she is “not aware that this issue has been discussed with the Board; however, this appears to be an issue that would be a campus matter and (she does) not believe it would be an item to come to the Board.”

USG President Adrian Miller said he has received numerous complaints about the proposed hours from students although not many students work more than 20 hours a week. He said almost 80 percent of students work on average 20 hours or less per week.

“477 students work 20 to 30 hours and 7 students work 31 (hours) or above,” he said.

Miller said SIU students work 17.8 hours a week on average.

“The parameters we have in place, which is the 29.5 (hours), is higher than our peer institutes,” Miller said. “A lot of our peer institutes are at the 20-hour mark.”

Rae Goldsmith, chief marketing and communications officer, referred questions in an email Friday to Kevin Bame, vice chancellor for administration and finance.

The email stated, “I understand that you’ve also contacted the provost, but Kevin will be on point as he oversees our personnel policies.”

Bame said the University of Illinois, Western Illinois University and Chicago State University are also considering capping its students at 20 hours per week if they do not already.

“We’ve been working with our consultants and with the other public Illinois universities trying to implement policies and procedures relating to the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “It’s taking quite a while to get a full understanding and appreciation of that piece of legislation.”

Bame said the ACA played a role in the administration’s decision to reduce the student work cap.

The university is required to provide a health insurance plan to student workers who exceed 30 hours a week during SIU’s measurable period, which is from October 2013 to September 2014, he said.

The measurable period is used to determine how many hours a student works per week on average.

The federal government will fine the university $2,000 for every full time employee who works more than 30 hours a week on average, Bame said.

“Assuming that we would have 5,000 employees on the Carbondale campus, we could be looking at a $2 million fine,” he said.

Bame said the Student Health Center insurance plan does not cover the ACA requirements regarding work hours because it is not an employer sponsored plan. He said no workers to his knowledge were involved in the conversation determining the cap.

Luke Nozicka can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter @lukenozicka, or 536-3311 ext. 268.