Remote work allows employees to work at home, on the road or in a satellite location for all or part of their workweek. The University of Colorado Boulder campus (CU Boulder) considers remote work to be a viable, flexible work option when the employee and the job are suited to such an arrangement. Remote work may be appropriate for some employees and jobs but not for others. Remote work is not an entitlement, it is not an organizational benefit, and it does not change the terms and conditions of employment with the University of Colorado (University).
Supervisors and Managers should also review the Remote Working and Alternate Work Schedule Manager Guidance.
Guidance
The Work Modalities presentation provides four steps to the decision making process:
- Evaluate
- Test Your Thinking
- Utilize Tools
- Review, Assess, Gather Data
View the full Work Modalities presentation to learn more.
Considerations for Departments
It is the responsibility of the department to determine the suitability and frequency of remote work modalities and alternate work schedules. In reviewing the appropriateness of remote work or alternate schedules, departments should consider the following:
- Nature of work performed by the employee
- Size of the work unit
- Ability to ensure coverage for functions typically handled by the employee without placing undue burden on other employees in the unit
- Establishing schedules based on customer service needs and peak workloads
- Attendance at mandatory departmental and unit meetings
- Consistency (to the extent possible) in determining which staff can participate in remote work modality
- Impact on employees whose positions are not appropriate for remote work modalities
- Manager’s ability to evaluate performance based upon results or outcomes
- Whether the employee is a supervisor or in a management position, in which case they may need to be available to their staff in person
An alternate work schedule refers to any one of a variety of work arrangements different from traditional modalities. For example, different from Monday-Friday, 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m., on-site work.
Some hypothetical examples of alternate work schedules for campus employees might include:
- Working the same set hours each day, but with their schedule varying from standard office hours. For example, an employee works 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in an office that is usually open from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
- Working different hours each day but with some “core” business hours established by the supervisor, during which time the employee must be working. For example, where core business hours are from 9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., an employee may work 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on one day and 9:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. on another day.
- Working a compressed work week, that is, longer days in lieu of the typical 8 hours per day in order to work fewer total days. Three examples of a compressed workweek are:
- 4/10 schedule - A full-time employee works ten hours per day for four days which results in completion of the 40 hour workweek.
- 4 ½ day schedule - A full-time employee works four nine hour days and one four hour day within the standard workweek.
- 9/80 schedule – A full-time employee works four nine hour days and one eight hour day in one week, and during the following week, works four nine hour days with one day off. For Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) purposes, the 9/80 schedule requires an adjustment of the defined workweek.
Remote employees are subject to the same federal, State of Colorado, state of remote location, and Regent laws, policies and procedures applicable to employees at the regular university worksite. The additional policies below shall also be followed.
Inclement Weather
When emergency dismissal and closure procedures are in effect at the employee’s traditional worksite all employees, even those working remotely, will be granted administrative leave for the duration of the emergency closure. For purposes of time tracking, employees should follow the guidance below:
- If you are a regular employee already on approved sick, vacation or other types of leave when there is a closure, administrative leave cannot be substituted for the approved leave.
- If you are an essential services employee who is required to work during a closure, administrative leave cannot be granted to be used on a later date.
- If you are eligible for overtime, you must enter administrative leave for the inclement weather closure on your timesheet in My Leave.
- If you are not eligible for overtime, do not enter administrative leave for the inclement weather closure.
- You are not eligible for paid administrative leave if you are a temporary employee, retiree working in a temporary position or student employee.
Time Worked
Remote work employees who are not exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act will be required to accurately record all hours worked using CU’s time-keeping system. Hours worked in excess of those scheduled per day and per workweek require the advance approval of the remote worker’s supervisor. Failure to comply with this requirement may result in the immediate termination of the remote work agreement.
ADA compliance
All employees including remote work employees are eligible for accommodations under the Americans with Disabilities Act. The employee must complete the ADA interactive process with CU Boulder ADA office and have an approved accommodation in place. Please reach out to adacoordinator@colorado.edu for any requests under the ADA.
Classified Staff Residency
The Colorado Constitution, Article XII, Section 13 requires that applicants for state classified government jobs be residents of Colorado, unless the work to be performed is primarily within 30 miles of the State of Colorado’s border, or waived by the State Personnel Director or the State Personnel Board.
If the residency requirement has been waived for an announced vacancy, it will be noted on the job announcement and applications will be considered from individuals who are not residents of Colorado. Non-classified positions not governed by State Personnel Rules may consider applications from individuals who are not residents of Colorado.
https://careers.colorado.gov/how-to-apply
International Tax
All international employees and stipend recipients are required to meet with an International Tax Specialist to ensure accurate taxation of their pay and to review for potential tax treaty benefits that might be available to them. Appointments should be scheduled as near the hire date as possible, and within the calendar year of hire, to avoid retroactive corrections to withholding and year-end tax reporting documents. More information for international employees can be found on the Employee Services International Employees webpages.
Form I-9
For employees in hybrid or on-campus work modalities, the I9 should be completed on the CU Boulder campus. The Form I-9 is to verify the identity and employment authorization of individuals hired for employment in the United States. All U.S. employers must properly complete Form I-9 for each individual they hire for employment in the United States. Section 1 is completed on or before the first day of employment. Section 2 must be completed within 3 working days to be in compliance.
In HCM, the primary address must be a non-Colorado address for these to apply.
Form I-9
Employees who are working out of the area or out of state will need to email the I-9 office at i-9forms@colorado.edu to receive remote instructions and assistance. Employees will be able to designate an authorized representative in their remote location who is willing to assist CU Boulder with the verification and recording of documents and to sign Section 2 of the Form I-9 as an Authorized Representative for the university.
Taxes and other legal implications
The employee must determine any tax or legal implications under IRS, state and local government laws, and/or restrictions of working out of a home-based office. Responsibility for fulfilling all obligations in this area rests solely with the employee. Additionally, employees should update their mailing address in the CU Portal to ensure appropriate taxation.
Benefits
Some benefit plans are not available outside of Colorado or have limited coverage outside of Colorado. Please visit Employee Services to review benefit plans and contact benefits@cu.edu for any questions.
International Tax
All international employees and stipend recipients are required to meet with an International Tax Specialist to ensure accurate taxation of their pay and to review for potential tax treaty benefits that might be available to them. Appointments should be scheduled as near the hire date as possible, and within the calendar year of hire, to avoid retroactive corrections to withholding and year-end tax reporting documents. More information for international employees can be found on the Employee Services International Employees webpages.
Risk Management/ Workers Compensation
Risk Management looks at every claim on a case by case basis. Employees who work remotely in Colorado are treated the same as employees who work remotely in another state. The state in which they are working isn’t necessarily a deciding factor in coverage but circumstances around the injury, the position they have with the university, and the alleged causes of said injury are the biggest determining factors.
In HCM, the primary address must be a non-US address for these to apply.
Prerequisites for Hiring an Employee Working Internationally
It is the hiring department's responsibility to notify Employee Services, Export Controls and the Boulder Information Security Officer, to ensure remote work outside of the United States is in compliance with all applicable laws and policies.
Form I-9
International employees who are working outside of the U.S. will not be required to complete the I-9 form unless and until they arrive in the U.S. and begin working on U.S. soil. International employees should notify the I-9 office, i-9forms@colorado.edu of remote work status outside of the U.S.
Benefits
Please visit Employee Services to review benefit plans that are available internationally and contact benefits@cu.edu for any questions.
Risk Management/ Workers Compensation
An international workers’ compensation claim is investigated similarly as to how a domestic claim is handled, however, CU is not self-insured for international workers’ compensation claims and those claims are handled by an external commercial insurer. University Risk Management is active with the commercial insurer and assists with the coordination of communication and benefits.
Export Controls
The Office of Export Controls should be notified and will conduct reviews of remote work activities that are performed outside of the U.S. to determine if an export controls license is required to perform the work.
Working with foreign national collaborators, institutions, or students may fall under the purview of various federal export control laws. In general, these regulations involve military technology (including nearly all space-based research), “dual-use” technologies (including a wide range of equipment from distillers to lasers), as well as nearly any kind of financial transactions with certain embargoed countries or individuals.
These impacts are not limited to the physical export of equipment or software; “deemed exports” include dissemination of technical information to foreign persons, whether it occurs within or outside the US. This may occur in the context of presentations, emails, personal conversations, site tours, or in training of foreign national research personnel. Penalties for violations can be severe and accrue to individual investigators as well as the University, so it is important for investigators and administrators to be aware of their responsibilities.
For export controls, the host department and supervisor are asked to contact exportcontrolshelp@colorado.edu as soon as possible to work through any issues before international employment can occur.
Cyber Security
This guidance is primarily targeted at student employees/employees of CU, who are unlikely to have access to a CU-issued device and may encounter CU data in the course of their work. The scope of this is for Public or Confidential data handling or processing on a personal computer. We recommend that a CU-issued device is used, if available, though we understand this is not always possible.
Access applications or documents to work “in the cloud” and avoid downloading sensitive information to your personally-owned device, when possible. Some great campus services make this easy: Sharepoint, OneDrive, Google Docs, etc. More information can be found at:
https://oit.colorado.edu/services/messaging-collaboration. The guidance provided in this document includes a combination of free CU-supported services and recommendations for free software that is not affiliated with or officially supported by CU.
In the event that the following list of Highly Confidential data is accessed, stored, processed, or transmitted as part of regular day-to-day operations, this document is not applicable. Please contact the Office of Information Security at security@colorado.edu for further guidance.
Common Highly Confidential Data Types:
ITAR/EAR Proposals, ITAR/EAR Research Plans and Results, Grievances/Disciplinary Actions, Disability, Race, Ethnicity, Citizenship, Legal Presence, Visas, Religion, SSN, NID, Financial Aid (except work study), Loan and Bank Account Numbers, Health Information, Sexual Orientation, Taxpayer ID, National Origin, Any Business Document Containing Highly Confidential Data
Additionally, the following fields are considered Highly Confidential if they relate to any or all CU employees: Age, Sex, Marital Status, Disability, Military Status, Veteran Status, Dependent Information
More information about data classification can be found at:
- https://www.cu.edu/ois/data-classifications-impact
- https://www.cu.edu/ois/use-guidelines-student-data
- https://www.cu.edu/ois/use-guidelines-employee-data
Application Access Limitations
Some countries have strict censorship restrictions and may restrict access to some of applications commonly used at CU (e.g. Google). These limitations could also restrict an employees ability to access areas of the MyCUInfo Portal through two-factor authentication.
Paychecks
To get individuals paid that are working outside of the US and/or do not have a US bank:
Email Diane Wiederspahn (diane.wiederspahn@cu.edu) and Melissa Kent (melissa.kent@cu.edu) and include:
- Employee Name
- EID
- Foreign Address
- Speedtype to charge for postage*
- A paper check will be mailed. It is the department's responsibility to pay international postage.
Taxes and other legal implications
The employee must determine any tax or legal implications under IRS, state and local government laws, and/or restrictions of working out of a home-based office. Responsibility for fulfilling all obligations in this area rests solely with the employee. Additionally, employees should update their mailing address in the CU Portal to ensure appropriate taxation.
Employees in on-campus positions will be provided with the tools, furniture and equipment necessary to complete all functions of their position on campus. All university-owned tools, furniture and equipment provided to an on-campus employee must remain on university property unless specifically authorized by the employee’s supervisor.
Employees in remote positions will be provided with the technological equipment necessary to perform the functions of their position from any location, which could include a computer, laptop, and/or a portable electronic device. Departments and units have discretion and authority to determine whether any of the following equipment is necessary for a remote employee based on departmental budget and business needs: monitor(s), keyboard, mouse, headset, desktop telephone, or camera.
Employees in hybrid positions will be provided with the technological equipment necessary to perform the functions of their position from any location, which could include a computer, laptop, or a portable electronic device. Departments and units have discretion and authority to determine if any of the following equipment is necessary for a hybrid employee to perform essential functions of their position: monitor(s), keyboard, mouse, headset, desktop telephone, or camera. When working on campus, hybrid employees will also have access to a workspace including a work surface and chair, as needed.
CU Boulder will not provide any of the following items for remote work by remote or hybrid employees:
- Internet service or set up
- Routers
- Utilities
- Landline Telephone Service
- Remodeling costs related to remote office space
- Lighting for remote office space
- Monitor arms or keyboard trays
- Furniture (e.g. desks, chairs, footrests, plastic carpet protectors, ETC.)
- Storage for consumable office supplies (e.g. filing cabinets, bookshelves etc.)
The standard set of equipment designated for all positions is subject to change based on availability and budget. Department and/or manager approval should be obtained before any purchase is made or expense incurred.
Technological equipment provisioned for remote use is to be used for CU Boulder business purposes and is subject to the same standards as equipment provisioned for use on-site. Equipment supplied by CU Boulder will be maintained by CU Boulder.
CU Boulder accepts no responsibility for employee-owned tools, furniture, equipment, or supplies that are damaged while being used to conduct CU Boulder-related business.
Employees working remotely or in a hybrid scenario should arrange technological equipment pick-up/drop-off with their department. Departments may, at their discretion and following university fiscal rules, cover the cost of shipping technological equipment necessary to perform all functions of the position to and from employees who are working remotely and live more than 100 miles from the CU Boulder campus. IT hardware must be shipped to a campus location; the PSC is unable to ship products directly to an off-campus address.
Each department is responsible for keeping an accurate inventory of university tools, equipment, and supplies that are provided to individual employees. Upon termination of employment, all university tools, equipment, and supplies in an employee’s possession must be returned to CU Boulder within 10 business days, unless other arrangements have been made.
Supplies
Departments may supply the employee with appropriate consumable office supplies (pens, paper, etc.) to be used when working remotely and these may be shipped from a campus location. Manager approval should be obtained before any purchase of supplies is made or expense for supplies is incurred.
To enable the most effective communication when working remotely, please refer to the following OIT guidance:
Employees working in remote and hybrid work modalities are responsible for ensuring they have access to a reliable internet connection during working hours.
Workers’ Compensation
The University of Colorado provides workers’ compensation coverage, as required by State regulation, for employees who are injured during the course and scope of employment.
- Injury to employee while at home
- Injuries sustained by the employee in a home office location and in conjunction with their regular work duties may be covered by the company’s workers’ compensation policy. The employee must report work-related injuries immediately to the supervisor and will comply with all University reporting requirements established for the purpose of reporting such claims.
- The University is not responsible for injuries unrelated to such work activities that might occur in the defined off-site work location or elsewhere.
- Injury while commuting to work or meeting
- Each potential work-related claim is investigated according to State of Colorado statutes and rules to determine compensability. Travel to and from work is generally not compensable; however, each situation needs to be investigated. If you believe you suffered a work-related injury, please contact University Risk Management to discuss and/or file a claim.
- Reporting Workers’ Compensation Claims
- Timely completion and submission of a claim form is important. State of Colorado statutes require written notice of a work-related injury or illness be given to the employer within 4 working days of the incident. Incident procedures and Employee’s Injury Report Form can be found on the University Risk Management Workers’ Compensation website.
- Out of State
- Risk Management will always have to look at every claim on a case by case basis. Employees who work remotely in Colorado are treated the same as employees who work remotely in another state. The state in which they are working isn’t a deciding factor in coverage but circumstances around the injury, the position they have with the university, and the alleged causes of said injury are the biggest determining factor.
Property Insurance
University insurance will not cover any personal property that is used at home and will only cover university owned or leased equipment.
Liability
The employee remains liable for injuries to third parties, including family members and visitors at the remote working location. CU Boulder is not liable for damages to the employee's personal or real property except to the extent of liability under State of Colorado statutes in the regular/traditional office.
Homeowners/Renter’s Liability
It is recommended that the employee notify their personal homeowners/renter’s liability insurance company regarding their use of home space as a remote working location. The employee is responsible for any damage and/or theft of university property that has been provided to them for remote working.
If the department is providing reimbursement or payment towards such travel, all university procurement policies and procedures must be followed. Visit the Procurement Service Center website for more details.
On-campus: Employees are not eligible to be reimbursed for parking on-campus or for mileage between the Boulder campus and their home. Employees may be reimbursed for parking and mileage for work-related travel to other destinations, such as other campuses if the distance is longer than their commute to the Boulder campus.
Hybrid: Employees are not eligible to be reimbursed for parking on-campus or for mileage between the Boulder campus and their home. Employees may be reimbursed for parking and mileage for work-related travel to other destinations, such as other campuses if the distance is longer than their commute to the Boulder campus.
This applies regardless of the frequency of the hybrid schedule.
The employee assumes the cost of travel to satisfy the hybrid schedule, including required department events or meetings.
Remote: Employees are eligible to be reimbursed for travel expenses including air or ground travel to the Boulder campus, lodging (if needed), on-campus parking and/or mileage and tolls to attend a required event or meeting on the Boulder campus. These events and meetings should be infrequent (i.e. no more than 1-2 times/year).
Parking
Additional FAQ’s: https://www.colorado.edu/pts/fall-2021-parking-faq