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Temporary/Casual Position Guidelines

Temporary/Casual positions, formerly known as "Wage Positions", are non-benefits eligible and formerly defined in the System Regulations 33.99.01: Employment Practices. Such positions will fit within one of two categories: (1) a student position which requires student status as a condition of employment; or (2) a temporary position created to accommodate short-term labor needs, such as work of an intermittent nature or having a brief, fixed duration. Positions created with this worker sub-type will route to the Faculty, Research, or HR Partner depending on the job profile selected. This website pertains to the second category of wage employment described above and therefore does not apply to employment in titles that require student status, such as student assistant or graduate assistant titles.

A Temporary/Casual employee is one who works at 50% or more FTE (20 or more hour per week) for 4.5 months. These positions should not work past 4.5 months at 50% or more FTE. When temporary/casual employees work past 4.5 months at 50% or more FTE, they will become benefits eligible and the Teachers Retirement System (TRS) will draw funds back to the original start date. Consult with the HROE Classification and Compensation Office in advance, if the temporary/casual employee will continue employment at 50% or more effort (20 or more hours per week) for 4.5 months or more. Employees in the temporary/casual employee type are paid hourly, are eligible for overtime pay, and are non-exempt.

When a temporary/casual employee works past 4.5 months at 50% or more FTE they are in violation of the System Regulation 33.99.05: Part Time Employment. All part-time personnel employed to work 50% or more effort for 4.5 months or more in a fiscal year should be placed in a budgeted position or terminated. If the department has a need for a part time employee to work 50% or more FTE for more than 4.5 months, they need to create a budgeted staff position through Workday. The position will be reviewed and approved by the Classification and Compensation Office and the department will need to create and post a job requisition. If the department would like to keep the current temporary/casual employee this individual will need to apply for the budgeted staff position, go through the hiring process, and if selected as the best candidate, be hired into the budgeted staff position. This temporary/casual employee cannot be internally promoted or transferred (IPT) into the budgeted staff role and they need to be treated equal among other applicants.

  1. Departments must create the new position through the Create Position business process or reclassify a vacant temporary/casual position in Workday through the Edit Position Restrictions business process. Visit the Job Changes page for information and resources on creating a position and reclassifying a position.
  2. The action will route to the HROE Classification and Compensation Office for review and approval. There is a minimal review, but the required education, required experience, job duties, and pay rate must be listed. It is recommended the department uses the Workday PD Template for consistency.
  3. To meet the posting requirement for non-faculty temporary/casual positions, departments must submit a Job Requisition once the new position has successfully been approved and completed in Workday.
  4. The Job Requisition must stay open for a minimum of five calendar days.
  5. The department must contact Recruitment and Workforce Planning to close the Job Requisition (stop the flow of new applicants). Please contact Recruitment and Workforce Planning at (979) 845-5154 or jobs@tamu.edu for questions on posting temporary/casual positions.
  1. The title used for the temporary/casual position depends on the type of position needed.
  2. When the position has the same duties of an existing title in the System-Wide Pay Plan Titles, the department should use that existing title, qualifications, duties, and a salary range within the lower band (or commensurate) to advertise the vacancy. Use of a specific appropriate title will assure that consistent minimum education and experience requirements are used to screen applicants and the appropriate pay rate is used.
  3. The title Program Aide may be used if the minimum education and experience requirements and the duties do not fit with an existing System-Wide Pay Plan title. The title Task Worker may be used if the minimum education and experience requirements and the duties do not fit with an existing System-Wide Pay Plan title and the employee is paid on a "piece work" or individual task basis.
    • The Workday Position Description Template for a Task Worker should have an indication of the number of hours required to complete each task and the number of tasks performed per week. Departments need to ensure that the Task Rate will cover minimum wage when divided by the hours required to perform the task.
  4. If the title used for the temporary/casual position is typically exempt (salaried) when full-time but will not meet the minimum salary requirements for exemption from overtime, a title that is nonexempt (hourly) and accommodates an hourly rate must be used.
  5. For assistance with choosing a title for a commonly-used temporary/casual position in your department or other questions about title and pay options for temporary/casual positions, please contact Compensation and Compensation at (979) 845-4170 or hrcomp@tamu.edu.
  1. The department must be able to demonstrate that a non-discriminatory process was followed in the hiring of temporary/casual positions.
  2. Every offer of employment for a temporary/casual position should be conditioned on verification by the hiring supervisor or appropriate person of any relevant job-related credentials.
  3. The department must change statuses in Workday for those applicants that are interviewed as well as those offered the position.
  4. A Criminal Background Check is required for all new hires. If hiring through a job requisition, the background check will be handled via the normal recruiting process. No form is required.
  5. When using the recruiting process to hire an employee into a temporary/casual position, the recruiting process itself will either generate the Change Job (if employee is being internally hired into a new position) or the Add Job (if employee is being put into a Dual Employment scenario) process. There is no need for the department to initiate these processes.

If certain criteria are met, workers in a student status (graduate or undergraduate) may be placed in a temporary/casual position without posting. Each component must be met:

  • The student employee can no longer be employed in a student title due to graduation or other circumstances that prevent a student title from continuing to be used, and
  • The employing department has a business need to continue the former student's employment in the same capacity without a break in service, and
  • The employment is in a temporary/casual position not to exceed duration of 4.5 months.

If graduating, students must be moved off student title codes no later than the Monday following the latest commencement ceremony of the term. Departments do not need to create or transfer an employee to a Program Aide position. Instead, this request will be processed using the Change Job business process and selecting Data Change – Position Title Change for the reason. The Job Profile will need to be updated to Program Aide, and the Worker Sub-Type will need to change to Temporary/Casual. Departments should update the annual work period to cover the appropriate time period worked. Workday will require that the department indicate an end date on which the temporary employment will close. The graduating student can only work in this Program Aide role for a maximum of 4.5 months, no matter the hours worked. In these instances, a Criminal Background Check is not required. In the Comments box, Department will indicate why they are making this change for documentation purposes.

Graduating students can remain in student title codes if:

  • They have already registered for the upcoming semester or
  • They communicate intent to register for the next upcoming semester, such as showing proof of acceptance. Once the graduating student has worked their 4.5 months as a Program Aide, a Termination action needs to be processed so they do not exceed the 4.5-month duration.

Note: Workday separates out both the worker and position. We are only changing the employees title, not reclassifying the position. Once the student employee in the Program Aide title leaves the University, the position's title will revert to the previous student status title.

For student title code use and examples, see the Jobs for Aggies Scholarships & Financial Aid webpage.