CHROs,
I wanted to share the attached advisory memo from the Office of State Human Resources (OSHR) regarding out-of-state employees working for State Government for your information. It contains some valuable guidance. Since the UNC System Office has been asked about this issue on multiple occasions regarding University employees, here is our current stance on this matter –
As far as remote faculty and staff who do not live within what would be considered a reasonable commuting area of the institution (which could reasonably cross state-lines depending on the institutions proximity to a bordering state), the current guidance is to substantially limit the occurrence of fully remote hires to situations where there are no reasonable (e.g. more local) alternatives. Therefore, employing individuals who work remotely (typically out-of-state) and do not reside within the institutions commuting area should be avoided and only pursued in highly exceptional circumstances approved by the institutions chief human resources officer. Legitimate exceptions include employees whose job requires an out-of-state duty station to conduct University business or that staff remote University work sites which might include remote research stations. It is acknowledged that there are legitimate temporary situations (e.g., 6 to 12 months) where an existing employee may relocate out of state and their services may be needed for transition purposes and cannot otherwise be locally and immediately replicated. But this should not be routinely accomplished, must be time limited, and also approved by the institution’s chief human resources officer. As far as faculty for purely on-line instruction, this is recognized to fall under a differing set of circumstances given the very nature of remote instruction and the hiring of fully remote faculty for on-line instruction is left to the discretion of the institution’s chief academic officer. However, any such arrangements must take into account the institutions capacity to support out-of-state employees in terms of payroll, worker’s compensation, and other similar compliance matters. Given the current COVID-19 event, it is also acceptable that some permanent hires may be given an extended period of time to relocate and therefore may begin work assignments remotely with the understanding that when public health conditions permit, they will commit to relocate to the institution’s commuting area as a condition of continued employment. In these instances, the written job offer should include such stipulations.
We are working on drafting a formal teleworking regulation which will incorporate these and other relevant provisions. We will circulate this regulation for feedback once a draft is available. In the meantime, I hope the attached OSHR memo and the above guidance is helpful as you address questions in this area.
Regards,
Matt Brody