Overview
Employment Service Agreements (ESA) are used to pay employees for certain academic assignments that are not part of their regular load, adjunct, or overload work (which require CCCCO faculty minimum qualifications).
Professional Expert Agreements (PEX) are used to pay employees for non-academic, non-classified services on a short-term, temporary basis for specific projects that require professional expertise.
ESA or PEX – Which Do I Use?
Refer to our ESA/PEX Quick Reference Guide or review our flow charts to figure out whether to use ESA or PEX.
If you're unfamiliar with the ESA/PEX process, then review the ESA/PEX Presentation or email Human Resources to request an ESA/PEX workshop.
Hiring Forms
If you are hiring someone under an ESA or PEX assignment who has previously worked for Los Rios under an ESA or PEX, then Human Resources will review the employee's personnel file and let you know if any documents are missing.
If you are hiring an employee under an ESA or PEX who has never worked under an ESA or PEX before, then new hire paperwork is required.
Additional Resources
Flow Charts
Use the following charts to determine whether an employee should be paid under an ESA, PEX, independent contract, or temporary classified assignment. Board members, managers, and regular classified employees are not available for ESA/PEX.
- New Hire from Outside Los Rios ESA/PEX Flow Chart
- Adjunct Faculty ESA/PEX Flow Chart
- Student Help/Federal Work Study ESA/PEX Flow Chart*
- Temporary Classified ESA/PEX Flow Chart*
- Tenured/Tenure-Track Faculty ESA/PEX Flow Chart
* These employee types are not eligible for concurrent assignments.
60% Rule and 67% Law
Learn about the difference between the 60% rule and the 67% law and how each applies to certificated employees.
- 60% Rule and 67% Law Information
- Adjunct Faculty College Service and Professional Development Program – Pilot Program
- Ancillary Activities List P-99 – examples of common ESA and PEX assignments
- FTE Calculator
Paying ESA/PEX Employees
An ESA employee's salary is based on class/step placement, while a PEX employee's salary is based on level of expertise.
Documents
Adjunct Senate College Service Forms
Frequently Asked Questions
The benefit rates are different based upon whether the services are considered academic or classified. Please refer to the standard benefit rates for guidance.
An ESA that is eligible for STRS credit will be assessed a benefit rate that includes STRS. However, the distinguishing factor is the nature of the service being performed. That will determine the object code as well as the appropriate benefit rate.
No, the FTE earned from ESA work is only used for calculating the 60% load limit/law (if applicable – some ESAs are subject and some are not). However, because of a “quality of teaching” issue, we always check the FTE for full time faculty members (except for adjunct faculty evaluation ESAs & FDIP mentor ESAs).
No, ESA wage are not subject to the annual retroactive salary payment.
Contact the Administrative Services Analyst at your campus, or, call or email the Fiscal Services Accountant at (916) 568-3066.
Faculty stipends are paid on an ESA. The rate can change each fiscal year so it’s important to make sure that you’re using the correct LRCFT faculty stipend salary schedule when preparing the ESA. Please include the title or description of the stipend in the body of the ESA document.
Office hours appear on the employee’s payroll warrant as an ESA payment because Human Resources uses the ESA pay group to input the information into PeopleSoft; however, an ESA does not need to be prepared. The college instruction offices will complete the information for Human Resources.
Yes, you must wait until the work is completed. ESAs can be paid monthly, with the payment being made the 10th of the month following the month that the services were performed. These payments should reflect the amount of time or percentage of completion of the assignment. Lump sum payments or stipends are a one-time payment, paid after the work is completed.
For example, if the ESA has a beginning date of July 1 and an ending date of February 12, with a lump sum payment of $1,000 specified, the $1,000 payroll line will appear on the February variable worksheets and if the hours are entered, will be paid on March 10. The payroll is generated by inputting 1.0 in the hour’s field. The District does not pre-pay for any services.
Yes, Adjunct Performance Reviews are paid with an ESA and the faculty member performing the review receives a $50.00 stipend for each review. Most of the time, the employee who is being paid for performing the review is a full time faculty member. However, adjunct faculty members can also perform an adjunct performance review as long as he/she has gained preference. (See appendix F of the LRCFT contract)
The general rule is that ESAs should not be submitted for employees performing classified services. An employee hired for any assignment that is currently defined within existing classified job descriptions or that is clearly not services typically performed by faculty under ESAs, must be paid using classified employment documents and salary schedules. Some exceptions exist such as community services assignments where all services are paid from ESAs or for assistant coach stipends which are paid from ESAs. In addition, an employee who has both a regular classified assignment and a faculty assignment may be paid from an ESA for services that typically would be on an ESA.
As answered above, student help and/or Federal work study (STU) and temporary classified (TCL) employees must be paid using classified employment forms and salary schedules. In addition, they cannot work concurrently as a TCL or STU while having an ESA.
The ESA should be sent to HR prior to the first day of the assignment. This enables HR to validate all employment documents as well as ensuring that the work is properly coded and the employee meets the qualifications to perform the services. To avoid challenges and to respect those assisting HR on ESAs, please submit all ESAs on time. It will delay payment to the employee and can cause problems if the ESA is received after the work has been performed. Please remember that ESAs need to go through your instruction office first. You'll need to allow extra time so that they can complete their part of the process before they forward the ESA to Human Resources.
Yes. Retirement is considered a “break in service” and an employee returning to work on an ESA has the same requirements as an employee returning to work on a TCS which may include fingerprinting, TB clearances and a “Freedom from Disabling Disease” form which must be completed by his/her physician.
The STRS law and the 60% law are different laws. However, 90% of the time if the work being performed is subject to one, it would also be subject to the other.
Yes. The college department responsible for reporting payroll services for ESAs should have documentation supporting the time worked or completion of the assignment (in the case of project based services). The timesheets must be approved by authorized signers and retained per applicable record retention requirements.
The dollar amount in the Distribution Amount field should equal the Total Cost of the ESA. If two budget strings are used, then each line should have the appropriate dollar amount and the total of the two should equal the total cost of the ESA.
You can make a photo copy of the original ESA and hand write the changes. Please make sure the changes are legible and that they are sign off by an authorized signer. Please remember that revised ESAs, just as original ESAs need to go through your instruction office.
All ESAs need to go through the instruction office at your campus. If the NCR ESA form is being used, Human Resources should receive the Human Resources and the payroll copies. If the PDF form is being used, only one white copy should be sent to Human Resources.