Purpose
Oregon State University supports flexible work arrangement agreements (FWAA) involving international work locations when it supports business strategy, including academic and research priorities.
Approval Process
Due to differing safety regulations, payroll taxes, and labor laws associated with employees working internationally, the Employee & Labor Relations FWA team reviews and provides consultation for each international FWAA request.
Exceptions
The following situations do not require an International FWAA.
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Academic faculty who are on sabbatical and are traveling outside of the U.S. as part of their sabbatical.
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Employees on a 9-month appointment and traveling outside of the U.S. during the summer.
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Academic faculty and graduate employees traveling internationally on short-term field research or on business trips to collaborate or consult with international partners outside the U.S.
Questions about a specific situation can be sent via email to flexibleworkarrangement@oregonstate.edu.
Instructions
Please follow these instructions when requesting an International FWAA:
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Discussion: Employee and supervisor meet to discuss the specifics of the flexible work arrangement and determine whether a flexible work arrangement is suitable for the employee's specific position, the unit's business needs, and if additional approval is needed from unit leadership.
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Initiate FWAA Request: FWAA with international work locations should be submitted three (3) months before the employee's proposed flexible work arrangement start date.
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Employee Tasks: The employee initiates the digital Outside Oregon FWAA form by completing designated fields. Once designated fields are complete, the FWAA form will automatically route to the supervisor.
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Supervisor Tasks: The supervisor reviews the FWAA form, completes designated fields, attaches the employee's position description, and signs the FWAA form. The FWAA form will automatically route to the Employee & Labor Relations FWA team.
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ELR Consultation: ELR reviews FWAA form and initiates contact with Professional Employment Organization (PEO) to gather a summary of possible costs, employment considerations, regulations, and responsibilities associated with the work location country.
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ELR will schedule a consultation with the supervisor to review the PEO's summary. Possible cost considerations for international work locations can include:
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Costs associated with engaging outside counsel, a third-party accounting firm, and/or PEO working in the destination country to address compliance.
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Costs associated with appropriate work visas, provisioning health and other insurances, reimbursing employees for incremental tax obligations incurred by working outside of the U.S., and for the expense of specialized tax preparation to calculate these obligations.
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Costs of compliance, which may be ongoing and subject to change, depending on tax and employment law changes within the destination country, are the responsibility of the employee for situations when the employee requests the work location as opposed to when the employee's unit or College/Division requests the work location.
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Approval: Supervisor sends ELR an email to acknowledge participation in the ELR consultation and to accept all costs and compliance expectations associated with the work location country.
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With receipt of the supervisor's email, ELR completes designated fields and signs the FWAA form. The FWAA form will automatically route to the supervisor, and, if applicable, unit leadership, who will approve the FWAA request.
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b. Upon approval, implementation of the international FWAA will be monitored by the supervisor and other applicable offices.
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Archive: The completed FWAA form will automatically route to University Human Resources. UHR will update Banner appropriately and file the FWAA form in the employee's personnel file.
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Annual Renewal: Supervisor and employee should review, update, and resubmit FWAA forms annually.
The digital FWAA form can be found at: Outside Oregon
Questions
For additional information, contact [email protected].