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SCOPE

These interim guidelines shall be effective beginning July 1, 2021. As President Eli Capilouto communicated to the university on June 10, 2022, these guidelines remain in place as a Work Location Workgroup continues researching and exploring ideas as well as providing recommendations on how work location can support our institutional mission and efforts to advance the state. 

These guidelines apply to employees who have received University of Kentucky approval to work remotely from a location within Kentucky. For information on out-of-state remote work arrangements, which have additional tax and legal implications, please contact your business officer about updating your work location in myUK and completing a Local City Tax form.   

The guidelines apply to staff positions.  

The university will develop a separate application and approval process for remote work requests.  

DEFINITIONS

Central workplace. The university workplace where the employee normally is located. Most commonly this is the Lexington campus. 

Remote work. A work arrangement where the employee enters into a formal agreement with the university to perform his/her usual job duties in a location other than the central workplace. The most common alternate work location is the employee’s home. Remote work includes hybrid arrangements where an employee works defined days of the week at the central workplace and the other days of the week from an alternate location.   

REMOTE WORK AGREEMENT

Generally. Remote work arrangements must be documented as approved through a Remote Work Agreement. The Remote Work Agreement establishes the specific conditions that apply to the employee’s remote work arrangement. The Remote Work Agreement must be approved and reviewed through the decision and approval process established by the University and employee’s unit. 

Term. A Remote Work Agreement typically will be effective for one year, with a renewable term, but an agreement may be made for a shorter term.  Renewal is not guaranteed. 

Exceptions

Occasional remote work. Occasional remote work arrangements are approved on a case-by-case basis, are infrequent, and not regularly scheduled. In such cases, the formal Remote Work Agreement is not required, but the approved remote work should be documented for department files by memorandum or email, specifying work expectations and duration. Occasional remote work is not appropriate as a substitute for sick time off and should not be used when the employee’s own or a family member’s illness or injury interferes with the employee’s ability to perform their work.

Suspended Operations. The university may declare a temporary suspension or modification of any or all university operations due to an emergency situation that adversely affects university operations, public health, or the well-being and safety of employees and students. During suspended or modified operations, the formal Remote Work Agreement is not required and remote work while providing dependent care may be permitted. 

Modification and Early Termination.   

By university. The supervisor may modify or terminate the Remote Work Agreement at any time with a 30-day written (e.g., email) notice. Performance concerns, changing operational needs or any other non-discriminatory reason, including failure to meet the conditions stated in the Remote Work Agreement and these guidelines may result in modification or termination of the Remote Work Agreement.

By employee. Any employee request to modify or terminate the Remote Work Agreement must be communicated at least 30 days in advance of any change, discussed with the supervisor, and documented to the supervisor in writing (e.g. email). The supervisor has the authority to either grant or deny changes and modifications.  

GENERAL EXPECTATIONS AND CONDITIONS

Job Duties. Employees remain subject to all existing terms and conditions of employment, including but not limited to position description, salary, overtime utilization, benefits and leave per HR Policy and Procedures #80-#88.       

Hours of Work and Accessibility. Employees must abide by the work schedule set forth by their supervisor and department. Employees should maintain a presence with their department or unit using technology as directed by the department or unit. Occasionally, employees may be expected to be present at the central worksite, upon request and with reasonable notice. Employees are expected to maintain the same reasonable response times as if they were working at the central worksite. Employees are expected to discuss with their supervisors any concerns the employees have with their ability to be fully accessible and maintain a presence during normal business hours or their regular work schedule. Supervisors should provide the employee with as much flexibility as reasonably possible in the event of a public health or other state of emergency to attend to personal needs. 

Remote Work Location. Employees are required to keep their work address up to date in myUK. 

Performance Evaluation. Employees will continue to receive performance evaluations in the same manner as other employees. Employees should work with their supervisor to establish or maintain appropriate performance metrics. 

Non-Exempt Employees, Breaks and Overtime. Employees who are not exempt from the overtime requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act must follow all expected rest periods and enter all work hours in accordance with the myUK Time Approval process. Additionally, non-exempt employees may work overtime only when approved in advance by their Supervisor and working overtime without such approval may result in disciplinary action.   

Weather and Emergency Closings. In the event of a weather- or emergency-related university closing or delay, remote work employees will be expected to work as normal and will not receive Emergency Closing hours as compensatory time or pay, unless their job duties depend upon other employees or departments to complete their work. A remote work employee whose job duties are dependent upon other employees or departments to complete work falls under the Emergency Closing hours guidelines (employee is not working until the university re-opening) and will receive Emergency Closing compensatory time or pay for hours of emergency closure. A remote work employee whose work does not depend upon other employees or departments would work as normal (their working from home is not impacted by Emergency Closing) and not receive Emergency Closing hours as compensatory time or pay. Specifics on the employee’s schedule and Plan B designation will be determined by the employee’s supervisor. 

Travel and Reimbursement. Employees may be required to make trips to the central worksite for meetings, special projects, trainings and equipment repair. Employees will not be reimbursed for those travel expenses. However, employees may be reimbursed for travel expenses to other designated areas for which employees working at the central worksite are reimbursed. 

Caregiving. Remote work shall not be in lieu of extended and regular child or elder care. Employees are expected to make appropriate child-care and elder-care arrangements during their work hours. 

University Policies. Employees working remotely are subject to the same university regulations, policies and procedures as employees working in the central worksite, including policies relating to information security and data protection (see Section VII below). 

Professionalism. Employees working remotely are expected to conduct themselves and interact with other members of the university community in the same professional manner as they would when working at the central worksite. See UK’s Work Anywhere site for tips and best practices. 
 

FURNITURE, EQUIPMENT AND SUPPLIES

Furniture. Employees are responsible for establishing and furnishing a safe and ergonomic remote work area. If a unit agrees to allow university-owned furniture to be obtained by an employee, the employee and their supervisor must complete the university’s Off-Campus Equipment Form

Equipment. The university may allow employees to obtain the equipment necessary to complete their assigned duties from a remote location, such as a computer (stationary or laptop), monitor, keyboard, mouse, docking station and footrest.  Remote work employees may be supplied with a printer, printing supplies, and/or additional equipment with supervisor and director-level approval based on the employee’s job duties. If a unit allows the employee to obtain university-owned equipment for use in a remote location, the employee and their supervisor must complete the university’s Off-Campus Equipment Form.   

University-owned equipment obtained by an employee is the sole and exclusive property of the university and is subject to all policies and restrictions related to use of state-owned property. Employees should not move university-owned equipment from their remote work area, except as may be necessary to perform job responsibilities as defined by the university. 

Office Supplies. The university will provide employees with such office supplies (e.g. file folders, pens, pencils, writing pad) as is necessary to perform the functions of their job. Employees are responsible for providing other supplies that are not necessary to performing the functions of their job. 

Returning University Property. If an employee separates from their position with the university, they must deliver promptly to their supervisor and/or the appropriate university department all files, supplies, documents, software, equipment, handbooks, reference materials, computerized information and any other university-owned property at their remote work area. Any equipment that has reached the end of its useful life, even if the employee continues working remotely, must be returned to the unit head to be repurposed or surplused. The rights and obligations of this Section V shall survive termination of the employee’s Remote Work Agreement or employment with the university. 

Tracking furniture and equipment. On an annual basis, employees with university-owned equipment at their remote work location are required to validate that the equipment is in the employee’s possession. The preferred method of validation would be for the employee to bring their equipment back to campus so the asset tags could be scanned. If this is not feasible, the unit should require an alternative method of validating the equipment such as taking a picture of each asset and asset tag, when applicable, including a note with the day’s date hand written on it. Employees should email these photos to their college or area’s inventory coordinator.  
 

INTERNET AND OTHER COSTS 

Internet. Employees must maintain sufficient bandwidth internet connection to allow for a productive remote work experience.  The university will not reimburse internet and/or phone services while the employee is working remotely.  

Other Costs. The university will not be responsible for operating costs, home maintenance, or any other incidental costs (e.g. utilities, telephone, insurance) associated with the use of the employee’s residence for remote work, unless specifically provided otherwise in these guidelines. 
 

DATA PROTECTION AND INFORMATION SECURITY 

Protected Data. The university must grant permission, according to university procedures, for employees to work on protected data as defined by AR 10.7 at an alternate work location. Remote work employees must agree to follow university-approved security procedures in order to ensure confidentiality and security of data.  

Data Protection Policies. Employees must safeguard university information used or accessed during remote work in accordance with these guidelines, Administrative Regulation (AR) 10.1 (Use of Technology Resources), AR 10.7 (Security of Data) and other applicable information technology policies. 

Documents. Work performed for the university at a remote work location is considered the university’s property.  All records, papers, computer files, and correspondence must be safeguarded.   

Information Security. 

University-owned devices.   
Employees must not allow anyone access to a university-owned computer who is not authorized to do so by the university. Employees should log off or lock the university-owned computer when not present.

Employees must not alter university-owned equipment from the standard set-up (e.g., install non-supported software/applications, change the operating system configurations, upgrade operating systems, or install new operating systems) without express permission from their departmental system administrator, with oversight from ITS.  The employee must immediately notify their supervisor if any university-owned equipment is lost, stolen or damaged. If a university owned computer (tablet, laptop, tower, storage device) is stolen this should be immediate reported to cybersecurity@uky.edu

Personal Devices. Employees performing official university business on a personal device are required to comply with the following procedures.  

A separate and secure login for university work should be created using the university’s official authentication policy. This login should only be used for official university business.

Data must not be stored locally without approval from Information Technology Services (ITS), Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, and Policy. If data is to be stored locally (including external storage devices such as thumb drives), it must be encrypted and approved by Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, and Policy. Contact college and/or department information technology employees for assistance on encrypting data. Encryption information will need to be logged and registered with Cybersecurity, Data Privacy, and Policy.

Operating systems and application software must be updated to the latest stable version approved by ITS. All currently available security patches must be applied on a schedule appropriate to the severity of the risk they mitigate. 

Antivirus software must be up-to-date and running.  Software must run in real-time scanning and/or scan the device regularly.

Devices must be configured to “lock” or log out and require re-authentication if left unattended for more than 15 minutes, unless the device has alternate controls, such as physical access restrictions.

Services not required for the device and/or user functions should not be installed and not be running.

If an employee is unable to meet these requirements, they must connect to a secure virtual environment. 

Network Connectivity. If an employee has network connectivity issues, they should:  

1. Attempt to reconnect. 
2. Call ITS Customer Services 859-218-HELP (4357) or email: 218help@uky.edu
3. Notify their supervisor of issue. 
 

SAFETY 

Maintenance of Work Area. Employees must maintain their remote work area so that it is free of safety hazards and other dangers, and use and maintain university-owned equipment and supplies in a safe, clean and appropriate manner. 

Reporting of Accidents. If an employee is injured while working remotely, they should follow the same, standard protocol as if they worked at the central workplace:  

If a work injury is life-threatening or results in serious bodily injury, immediately call 911.

For non-urgent injuries, employee should report the injury to their supervisor and to CorVel’s 24/7 Workers Care hotline at 1-800-440-6285.

Additional information is available on HR's Workers' Compensation page. 

A university representative or its agent may need to visit an employee’s remote work area to investigate any reported injuries. 

Workers’ Compensation Liability. The university assumes no liability for injuries an employee may sustain outside the remote work area, outside the scope or practice of their job duties, or outside of their working hours. In addition, the employee is wholly liable for injuries to other persons on the employee’s remote work area and damages to any property other than equipment furnished by the university.  

Responsibility for Injuries. Employees are responsible for injuries to persons and/or members of their family on the employee’s remote work area. They are also responsible for any and all claims, demands or liabilities (including any related losses, costs, expenses, and attorney fees) resulting from, or arising in connection with, any injury to persons (including death) or damage to property caused, directly or indirectly, by the services provided remotely by the employee at the remote work location. The obligations of this Section VIII shall survive termination of the employee’s Remote Work Agreement and employment with the university.