Glossary

A

Absence Without Approved Leave (AWOL): Absence without prior approval from a supervisor or failure to inform a supervisor regarding an absence. Being absent without approved leave may result in disciplinary action up to and including termination or may be considered job abandonment. An employee may be terminated for being absent without approved leave two or more times in a 12-month period, or if he or she has exhibited a pattern of being absent without approved leave.

Accountable: The responsibility assignment matrix (RACI) for which the Competitive Recruitment guide follows, describes the participation by various roles in completing tasks for the Competitive Recruitment process. The Accountable role in RACI is the individual who is ultimately answerable for an activity or decision. This includes “yes” or “no” authority and veto power.

Accountability: The responsibility for achieving results required of the position, whether it is primary, shared, or indirect accountability.

Accrue: To accumulate or have due after a period of time.

Acting (See also Interim): The status of an individual officially designated by an authorized university official to maintain a certain position, role, or duties outside of his or her regular position during a departmental contingency, typically until such a contingency ceases.

Analysis for Use of an Existing Classification: Comparison between the duties of the proposed position and the existing classifications within the university to determine if an existing classification description is appropriate.

Applicant: An individual who applies to a posted position via our online applicant tracking system, PeopleAdmin, and satisfies the stated minimum qualifications of the position outlined in the classification description.

Attribute: A quality or feature regarded as a characteristic or inherent part of someone (e.g., flexibility).

B

Banner: Banner is an administrative software application developed specifically for higher education institutions by Systems and Computer Technology Corporation (SCT). Banner maintains student, alumni, financial aid, and human resources data.

C

Candidate: An applicant who meets the stated minimum qualifications for an announced position and receives consideration for employment by the hiring department. Evaluations made in determining who is a candidate must be based on job-related criteria and departmental need.

D

Department Banner Organization Code: The Organizational Code, sometimes called the Banner Home Index, is a six-digit number that identifies specific units of the university. It is used in conjunction with the Project, Task and Award (P/T/A) when processing certain financial transactions, such as Payroll.

Designated Employees: Groups of or individual employees specifically classified for organizational processes within the university. Examples include groups designated to take leave in a particular way or to be compensated in a particular way.

Disaster Recovery Plan: A document that describes how the university plans to deal with potential disasters.

District of Columbia Parental Leave Act (See Parental Leave Act)

E

Effective Date of Transfer: The date on which the employee starts the new position and is no longer performing the duties of the prior position.

Effective Date of Termination: The employee's last day of employment with the university.

Equal Employment Opportunity (EEO) Occupational Category: Each classification is assigned the appropriate EEO occupational category, which is used to provide reports required by federal and local laws and regulations.

Exempt Employee: Exempt employees, based on their duties and the responsibilities of the position, are not subject to the minimum wage or overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) or other applicable state law. They are paid on a salary basis for the duties they perform, not for the number of hours they work.

F

Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): A federal law that, among other things, sets the criteria to determine which employees are entitled to overtime. Unless an employee is exempted from the FLSA's overtime provisions, based upon criteria set forth in the FLSA, he or she must be paid at least one-and-a-half times his or her regular hourly rate for any hour worked in excess of 40 in a work week.

Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA): Federal and DC laws that protect an individual's employment when he or she has met certain criteria and takes leave for reasons specified in the statutes.

Fiscal Year: A 12-month period for which an organization plans the use of its funds. At GW, the fiscal year is July 1st through June 30th.

G

Garnishment: A court order to the university as an employer to withhold all or part of an employee's wages and to send the money to the court or to the person who won a lawsuit against the employee.

GWMail Policy: The GWMail email policy is in place to govern usage of the GWMail email system. It sets forth the eligibility for an email account, the policies regarding privacy and applicability of laws and policies to the email system, user ID and password standards, and supported clients. It also details the policies on unsolicited email, mass emails, message relaying, backups, virus protection, and inactive accounts. In addition, it sets forth the maximum recipients for an email message and the disk space quota for GWMail users. Finally, it details what is considered inappropriate usage of a GWMail account.

H

Home Institution: The institution to which the student is currently and primarily enrolled. Even if a GW University student spends a semester abroad with another institution, that student's home institution is GW.

I

Incumbent: An individual who currently holds a given position.

Interim: (See also Acting): Refers to the status of an individual officially designate by an authorized university official to maintain a certain position, role or duties outside his or her regular position during a departmental contingency, typically until such contingency ceases.

Introductory Employment Period: Newly hired employees, or employees who transfer into a new position, are subject to the Introductory Employment Period (IEP). Employees subject to the IEP are informed in their offer letter that the new position includes an IEP. The IEP begins on the first day of employment in the employee’s new position and continues for 6 months (and may thereafter be extended).

J

K

L

Labor Distribution: Refers to the extent to which a given employee's effort is distributed among various department banner organization codes. For example, if an employee works a 40-hour week and his or her effort for code A is 8 hours each on Monday and Tuesday, and then his or her remaining effort is for code B for the rest of the week, then the employee's labor distribution would be 40% to code A and 60% to code B.

Lockout (See also Tagout): Refers to the procedures established for Control of Hazardous Energy as described by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Act under Federal Registry 29 CFR1910.147. To achieve system lockout, all energy sources are turned off or disconnected, and stored energy is released, restrained, or dissipated. A lock or lockout device applied to each energy source prevents accidental startup.

M

Market Analysis: Collection and analysis of available market salary data.

Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS): Documents which provide detailed information about a chemical's hazards and how to work with each chemical safely. Each chemical manufacturer or importer is required to provide MSDS's for all of their chemicals. Employees have the right to immediately access MSDS's for chemicals used in the workplace.

N

Nonexempt Employee: Employees that are subject to the minimum wage and overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The university adheres to the District of Columbia's minimum wage requirements, regardless of where the nonexempt position is located. The District of Columbia's minimum wage is $11.50. Overtime pay is 1.5 times the employee's regular hourly rate for any work done in excess of 40 hours in 1 work week. At GW, the work week is Sunday (12:00 a.m.) through Saturday (11:59 p.m.).

O

Occupational Safety and Health Act (OSHA): In 1970, Congress passed this comprehensive law designed to reduce workplace hazard, and to improve health and safety programs for workers. It broadly requires employers to provide a workplace free of physical dangers and to meet specific health and safety standards. Employers must also provide safety training to employees, inform them about hazardous chemicals, notify government administrators about serious workplace accidents, and keep detailed safety records.

Official Employee Record: Documentation which includes information related to the employment history of a given employee. It is the property of the university.
 

P

Parental Leave Act: A D.C. law that provides an employee who is a parent, guardian, custodian, aunt, uncle, grandparent, or spouse of any of the aforementioned, with a total of 24 hours of leave during any 12 month period to attend or participate in school-related events for his or her child. A school-related event is an activity sponsored b either a school or an associated organization such as a parent-teacher association.

Pooled Position: Refers to the concept that multiple employees may be assigned to the same position number. The use of a pooled position number is typically limited to temporary positions.

Position: A group of specific duties, tasks, and responsibilities assigned to one employee. A position is assigned a grade status, Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) status, work schedule, and benefits eligibility status.

Position Number: Identifier assigned by applicable centralized finance office for every position upon the approval of the establishment of the position.

Policy Center: University web site responsible for providing guidelines, directions, and general policy for the management and maintenance of the university.

Poor Work Performance/Habits: Unsatisfactory fulfillment of job duties and responsibilities, lack of effort, or other unacceptable approaches to tasks that will merit disciplinary or corrective action ranging from a warning to some other admonishment..

Premium Pay: Amounts, other than compensation paid for overtime, which are paid to employees in specified positions in addition to the base rate/salary. They may include, but are not limited to, shift differential, weekend differential, and on-call pay.

Progressive Discipline: A process that may involve, but is not limited to, oral or written warnings, probation for poor work performance/habits, disciplinary suspension, and termination. The university reserves the right to terminate the employment relationship without engaging in progressive discipline.

Q

R

Reasonable Accommodations: Accomodations, or efforts at facilitation, made for employees or potential employees with disabilities, which assist them to reach their performance potential to the most normal extent possible with respect to the essential functional of the position.. Employees or potential employees who choose to seek accommodations can meet with the Disability Services Coordinator in the Office of Equal Employment Opportunity and together and in consultation with others as appropriate, they will determine what reasonable accommodations to request based on the needs of the employee or potential employee, and the demands of the job or tasks.

Recruiting Department: The department in which the available position is located.

Regular Employees: Employees who are in full-time or part-time regular positions with the university and are eligible for benefits, which may be prorated on the basis of the number of hours they are scheduled to work per workweek.

Regular Hourly Rate: Amount of pay provided, per hour, that does not include overtime or premium pay and on which overtime pay is calculated. When an employee has multiple jobs and overtime pay needs to be calculated, the regular hourly rate is determined by taking into account all regular pay provided to the employee by the university for the workweek.

S

Salary Grade: A salary grade for a classification is assigned on the basis of the university's evaluation of the duties and responsibilities of the classification and other relevant factors, such as prevailing salaries in the market area. Each salary grade has a minimum and maximum salary.

Salary Grade Ranges: A group of salary grades that comprise the pay structure for the university for a classification, or parts thereof.

Strategic Plan: The university's strategic plan includes identified areas of improvement for academic excellence and an improved business and service model.

System Access Policy: The guidance for and effort by the university to protect its network and associated systems, such as BANNER, Enterprise Accounting, and GWMail.

T

Tagout (See also Lockout): Refers to the procedures established for Control of Hazardous Energy as described by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) Act under Federal Registry 29 CFR1910.147. Tagout refers to application of warning tags to energy sources to ensure the equipment is not restarted until service has been completed. Tags may be used with locks for enhanced safety assurance where lockout is not possible tagout may be an alternative. Tagout alone is not as secure as is lockout.

Telephone Usage Policy: The guidance for and effort by the university to protect its telephone network and associated systems.

Temporary Wage Account Position: A non-student position without university benefits that an individual is hired into for a brief period of time.

Terminated for Cause: The conditions under which an employee is terminated for a specific reason when the employee has committed some act or exhibited some behavior contrary to what is acceptable.

U

University Dress Code: The attire acceptable for wear while representing or working for the university.

Unpaid Leave of Absence: An excused period of absence during which the employee will not receive pay from the university. Unpaid leaves are typically granted when the employee is not eligible for certain types of unpaid leave (e.g., FMLA leave) or the leave request does not fall under any of the university’s other leave policies.

Unscheduled Leave: Time away from work that is not scheduled and approved in advance by the supervisor. It does not relieve an employee from contacting his or her supervisor for coordination and approval. Employees may use annual or sick time for these unscheduled absences or take unpaid leave.

UserID Individual Accounts Policy: The direction and guidance provided by the university relating to security in the usage and maintenance of GW UserID accounts.

V

W

Web Content Policy: The guidance for and effort by the university to protect and safeguard its network and associated content.
 

X

Y

Z