The Kern Community College District Board of Trustees held a meeting on Feb. 6, in which Shelby Sward, acting president of the Student Government Association, filled out a request to speak and address a revision that the district is considering making to the current student worker hour policy.
The item, however, had been pulled off of the agenda during the board’s closed session, according to Sward.
“All I could do was go up there and thank them,” she said.
Sward had originally had a speech prepared in which she would offer SGA’s proposal for a compromise on student worker hours.
As of now KCCD’s policy is that they may not exceed 19 hours during a school week, unless there is a “designated” recess such as winter, spring or summer break.
The revision that the council is currently considering would eliminate the ability for student employees to work more than 19 hours, even during the designated times of exception.
Obama’s recent healthcare reform dictates employers are required to provide health insurance for employees working more than 32 hours per week. If the school doesn’t place a cap on hours, it could be held subject to the policy.
“They don’t want to be fined, so they’d rather just limit [hours],” Sward added.
Bakersfield College President Sonya Christian had also been present to the same board meeting in which the revision was to be discussed.
Christian added that the reason the board had removed the item was to further investigate and consider SGA’s proposal of reaching a compromise, and not because they had reached a conclusion.
She also said that the good consultation process shows off the way different groups –such as SGA in this case—can really place a constraint and change the way a decision is made by the chancellor and the board.
As far as the SGA’s proposal goes, its ideal number would be 25 hours. It would not supersede the federal limit nor curtail student worker paychecks as badly.