Employment of a casual research assistant

This advice does not take the place of UWS policy and procedures for employment of casual staff and is only for guidance in the process. This advice is provided for researchers who wish to employ someone casually (hourly basis only), rather than on a temporary or short-term contract (set hours, fixed duration). Further information can be found at the Office of Human Resources (requires staff log in).

• Which HEW Level?
• Casual Employment Calculator
• Filling in a Casual Employment Authority form
• Authorising Casual Research Employment

Which HEW Level?

The choice of an appropriate HEW level is a matter of marrying together qualifications and appropriate kinds of tasks. The HEW level/rate of pay for general staff is listed at the UWS General Staff Salary Schedule.

1. Basic research assistance - undergraduate degree - starts at HEW Level 5 step 1  (example of tasks might be: photocopying, document searching, filing and sorting, data entry, literature searching under direction, preparation of annotated bibliography).
2. Staff with an Honours degree or equivalent would start at HEW Level 5 Step 3 (examples of tasks might be: literature searching under supervision, preparation of critical readings of literature, data collection under supervision, data analysis under supervision).
3. Senior Research Assistant - Masters Degree or equivalent and would generally start at HEW Level 6 Step 1 (the equivalence may be other postgraduate qualifications as well as significant professional experience that assists the project in achieving a high level of success).
4. Senior Research Assistant or Research Associate - PhD and would generally start at Level 6 Step 4 or, depending on experience, could start at Level 7 Step 1.  At these middle levels, research assistants often make intellectual contributions to the project: providing critical readings of literature, identifying methodological issues, and making insights into data analysis. Researchers should discuss acknowledging that contribution beyond the traditional footnoted 'thanks' - see UWS Research Code of Practice.

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Casual Employment Calculator

Check that the Budget for the project includes an allocation for casual research assistance since using funds for purposes not in the approved budget is not normally permitted. To assist in calculating the costs involved in the employment of a casual research assistant refer to our Casual Research Assistant Employment Calculator (PDF, 560Kb).

Note:

• Some internal research grants, e.g. Seed Grants do not normally include approval for the employment of a research assistant.
• Research assistants funded by one project should not work on other projects.
• Check that there are funds available using the Finance Web Reports, this is the Chief Researcher's responsibility.

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Filling in a Casual Employment Authority form

Print and fill out the Casual Employment Authority (CEA). Refer to the guidelines on how to arrange for the employment of a casual employee.

Approval Number - each CEA requires a unique approval number, which is issued by the academic unit. If the work supervisor is a member of a University Research Centre, the Approval number will be from the Centre, otherwise contact the School Administrative Officer.

The Cost Centre consists of the Oracle number for the School or Centre and the Research Project number together. The cost centre will have been issued to the CI by Research Services on approval of grant and ethics approval where required (in the case of external grants, the cost centre will only be issued after the Agreement is finalised and signed by partners/agencies and the University).

The Account for general casual salaries is 5210.

For Campus code refer to the Campus Code Listing.

The Entity code is 31 for the University of Western Sydney. For other entities refer to the complete listing.

The Type is 00. Further information can be found at the Finance Office.

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Authorising Casual Research Employment

Within Colleges, the Executive Dean is the delegated officer for approvals to recruit and then appoint for both Academic and General staff. This includes fixed term contracts and casual appointments. Please also refer to the Human Resource Delegations Policy.

Note:

• If the person commences work without a current CEA, there are legal implications
• Keep a copy of all forms
• Your College may have internal processes - check with College Manager
• If legal Agreements/ MOUs etc., have not been finalised, the project funds will not be available for payment
• If ethics clearance has not been obtained and is required, the project funds will not be available for payment

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