Human Resources Guideline

Bridging of Prior Service

Scope

This instruction sets forth the policy by which the University will give service credit to employees previously employed by the University who are subsequently rehired within two (2) years.

Terms

Temporary Employee - Employee hired by the University for a fixed period of time and whose letter of agreement states the assignment is temporary.

Regular Employee – Employee hired by the University for an indefinite period of time and whose letter of agreement contains an effective date of hire and no specified ending date.

Bridging - The act of combining two separate periods of employment for the purpose of determining years of service for benefits purposes.

Part-time - Service that is less than full-time but equal to or greater than half-time for the employee’s job classification. (Service credit for part-time work will be prorated accordingly.)

Eligibility

Regular Employees shall be entitled to bridging as outlined:

  1. A Temporary Employee who is subsequently hired as a Regular Employee within fourteen calendar days (Day 1 of the count being the day following the last day in which the Temporary employee worked for AU) of terminating a temporary assignment with the University will be granted a date of hire equal to the date on which s/he began the temporary assignment. If the Temporary Employee had several temporary assignments, credit will be allowed for “continuous” service so long as there is no break between assignments of more than fourteen days. Should such a break occur, service shall be deemed “non-continuous,” and therefore ineligible for bridging, at that point.
  1. A Regular Employee with two discontinuous periods of employment, interrupted because of termination associated with University downsizing, shall immediately be entitled to bridging for total years worked, assuming the interruption does not exceed two years. Service interrupted for longer than two years shall be considered ineligible for bridging.
  1. An Regular Employee with two discontinuous periods of employment, interrupted for a period not exceeding two years and for a reason other than termination associated with a University downsizing (except that associated with termination for cause), shall be required to serve two continuous years in the subsequent employment in order to be eligible for bridging.

Calculation

Bridging as referenced in Example 3 shall be calculated as follows:

Employee X is hired on January 25, 1996 as a regular, full-time employee and subsequently terminates on October 20, 1998. X is then rehired as a regular full-time employee on May 28, 1999.
1. Calculate Prior Service:

Jan 25, 1996 – Oct 20, 1998 = 2 years, 8 months, and 26 days.
2. Calculate Bridged Service Date:

May 28, 1999 + Two Years Additional Continuous Employment = May 28, 2001. On this date, the employee will be credited with2 years, 8 months, and 26 days of prior service, resulting in a BridgedService Date of September 2, 1996. (Note that the most recent Date of Hire will remain the official Date of Hire.)

Benefits and Bridging

To the extent to which dates of employment will be used to determine benefits and benefits eligibility, bridging information will apply.

Miscellaneous

  1. Employees terminated for cause shall not be eligible for bridging.
  2. Part-time employment, as defined in the introduction, shall be prorated for purposes of calculating service.