Work Hours and Leave¶
This page covers standard work hours, external employment, remote work, sick leave, vacation, and leaves of absence. It was formerly split across three separate pages (Standard Work Hours, External Employment Policy, and Remote Work/Sick Leave/Vacation); those have been consolidated here since they all answer variations of the same question: when and how much are you expected to work, and what happens when you can't.
Standard Work Hours¶
Graduate Students¶
For graduate researchers, work hours are flexible with the following conditions:
- Completing projects and meeting deadlines on time.
- Making steady progress on your research.
- Working 37.5 hours per week.
- Working during the core work hours of 10am - 4pm (this may change depending on everyone's working hour preferences), where it's reasonable to assume that you will take a lunch break of 15 min - 1 hour somewhere in that time frame.
- Attending all group meetings unless your supervisor(s) gives explicit permission otherwise.
Undergraduate Students¶
For undergraduate researchers being paid under USRA or USSRF, you must keep regular working hours (i.e., 9am to 5pm) for 16 weeks during the summer. You must attend all group meetings unless given explicit permission from your supervisor(s).
External Employment¶
Graduate Students¶
Graduate students can take on external employment outside of their commitment to their research work under very specific circumstances:
- Students wishing to take on external employment must notify their supervisor(s) before applying for and committing to external employment opportunities. Supervisors retain the right to prohibit students from obtaining external employment.
- The external employment commitment, in addition to any teaching assistantships held by the student, does not exceed 10 hours a week. Going over this limit is strictly prohibited in the case of those who are funded via NSERC programs and can cause the loss of your funding. For further information about the 10-hour rule, please consult the website of the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies at http://cou.on.ca/policy-advocacy/graduate-education/policy.
- External employment must not interfere with student and lab responsibilities. Employment must be held outside of business hours (9 am to 5 pm).
Conflict of commitment
Taking on external employment without satisfying these criteria is deemed a Conflict of Commitment and runs counter to the Conflict of Interest and Commitment Policy at Queen's University.
External employment is neither recommended nor encouraged unless it meaningfully contributes to your research project or is relevant to your career trajectory.
Undergraduate Students¶
Funded undergraduate researchers are not permitted to undertake external employment during their assistantship.
Remote Work¶
Graduate Researchers¶
Most of the work conducted at MItHRIL requires that members work in the labs. Thus, the policy is that graduate-level lab members must come into the lab to work whenever their work requires it, and at minimum four days a week. However, it is highly encouraged that lab members come in as often as possible, as the lab is meant to function as a collision space that allows lab members to dynamically discuss ideas, projects, and render aid to other lab members. That said, working from home or remotely is allowed as long as you do not need lab hardware to complete tasks relating to your research, and you can function productively away from the lab environment. For example, if you are writing a manuscript or thesis chapter, it is fine to write from home if that's where you feel most productive and focused. Note that this policy is at the discretion of the lab director, and may be cancelled or modified at any time.
Be sure to update the lab calendar if you plan on working remotely.
Funded Undergraduate Researchers¶
Undergraduate researchers hired during the summer are not permitted to work remotely. Work must be performed in the lab.
Out-of-Office (Part-Day) Policy¶
Graduate Researchers¶
If you are away for part of a day due to doctor's appointments, coursework, personal meetings, etc., you don't have to notify Matthew or any of your co-supervisors unless there are conflicts with lab-related responsibilities, meetings, and/or events.
Funded Undergraduate Researchers¶
Any absence from the lab must be preceded by approval from your direct supervisor. You will be asked to make up this time as stipulated in your contract.
Sick Leave¶
If you are sick, stay at home. Do not come to the lab (especially if you have COVID). Please e-mail Matthew, co-supervisors, and others with whom you have meetings to notify them of your situation. Please keep these people notified of developments and note your absence due to illness in the lab calendar. This applies equally to graduate researchers and funded undergraduate researchers.
Vacation¶
Graduate Students¶
For graduate students, the official Queen's University Graduate Student vacation policy can be found at https://www.queensu.ca/sgs/vacation-guidelines. In summary, full-time graduate students will be able to take up to 15 business days of vacation during the academic year (September 1 to August 31), over and above statutory holidays and/or periods when the University is officially closed (i.e. the period between December 25 and January 1), provided that the time off:
- Does not compromise the progress of a student's studies;
- Does not compromise the progress of the research; and
- Is negotiated and agreed upon by the student and their supervisor well in advance (usually one month).
As a member of MItHRIL, you must keep Matthew and any co-supervisors apprised of any vacation that you'll be taking:
- If you are planning short vacations (less than a week), please let Matthew and any of your co-supervisors know at least two weeks in advance, and also indicate the vacation on the work/lab calendar. Please also leave a phone number in the calendar event that you can be contacted at in case of emergencies.
- To help with work planning, please notify Matthew and any of your co-supervisors at least one month in advance of any vacations that are one week or longer (ideally as soon as you know dates for the planned trip).
- When there are time-sensitive research activities (e.g. human subject experiments that are limited in a certain timeframe), discuss time requirements as early as possible with your supervisors, such that any vacations may be planned around such activities.
Funded Undergraduate Researchers¶
Undergraduate researchers can take up to five days of vacation during the summer, over and above statutory holidays and/or periods when the University is officially closed, provided that the time off:
- Does not compromise the progress of the research; and
- Is negotiated and agreed upon by the student and their supervisor well in advance (usually one month).
As a member of MItHRIL, you must keep Matthew and any co-supervisors apprised of any vacation that you'll be taking:
- If you are planning short vacations (less than a week), please ask Matthew and any of your co-supervisors for approval at least two weeks in advance, and also indicate the vacation on the work/lab calendar. Please also leave a phone number in the calendar event that you can be contacted at in case of emergencies.
- When there are time-sensitive research activities (e.g. human subject experiments that are limited in a certain timeframe), discuss time requirements as early as possible with your supervisors, such that any vacations may be planned around such activities.
Requesting Leave¶
Submit all vacation and away-day requests through the form below. Matthew will review each request, and approved leave is added to the lab calendar.
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Leave of Absences¶
Any leave of absence of a month or longer due to medical or parental leave will require a change in registration status, and for you to notify your supervisors as early as possible. A leave that changes your registration status to "inactive" stops the clock for the period of time for which the leave has been granted; in other words, the terms spent inactive are not counted in the number of terms taken to complete your degree. Also, your eligibility for financial support through the School of Graduate Studies will be extended by the period of time taken for the leave, since awards from internal sources are suspended during the period of the leave. Note: in most cases, graduate student stipends and funding will be paused for the duration of the leave.
If you are taking parental leave, provide the completed form to the Director, Admissions and Student Services, by email, or drop it off at the School on the fourth floor of Gordon Hall, 74 Union Street.
Migration note: this page consolidates the former Standard Work Hours, External Employment Policy, and Remote Work/Sick Leave/Vacation pages as part of a wiki reorganization; no content was dropped in the merge.
