General Employment Rules

Travel Expense Guidelines
Employees are to be reimbursed for out-of-pocket expenses incurred while on authorized District business.  Authorized travel expenditures include mileage, parking and toll road charges, convention/seminar registration fees, and meals that have not been included in the convention or seminar registration package. 

Mileage, Parking and Toll Road Charges
Mileage is reimbursed at the approved rate per mile.  Consult the Business Office for the District approved mileage reimbursement rate when using a personal vehicle.  Daily miles traveled must exceed the employee's normal daily driving distance between home and the regular work location and reimbursement will be for the excess distance traveled (home to location minus home to work mileage).  Refer to Approved Mileage between Lone Star College System locations, in the Business Operating Manual for mileage calculations.

Faculty who have teaching assignments away from their office location must complete travel reimbursement forms as noted above.  Travel expenses incurred will be reimbursed from the budget of the location where the actual teaching occurs.

For mileage incurred on behalf of a grant, the grant will designate the mileage allowance.  For reimbursement, a College District Personal Car Mileage Reimbursement Form (sample form available in the Business Operations Manual Forms Appendix 5.6), should be completed.

Additional information on out-of-district travel is available in the Business Operations Manual.

Open Records Request
As a public entity, Lone Star College System is subject to the state’s Open Records Act.  All open records requests related to employees and former employees will be forwarded to the VC/HR&GC and requests for student educational records will be forwarded to the Associate Vice Chancellor for Student Information.  In all other matters, the nature of the information requested will determine the department who will respond to the request.  The District will determine the appropriate costs involved for duplicating as the individual situation dictates.

Employee Information / Confidential Information
The System Office Human Resources office is responsible for the development and maintenance of a centralized personnel record for all employees.  Employee information is collected from each individual at the time of employment.  Employees are responsible for promptly notifying the College HRM or District Benefits of any changes in personal data:  Legal name change, mailing or residential address, telephone number, marital status, number of dependents, and insurance and retirement beneficiary(ies) for income tax and/or group insurance purposes.

Only information specified under the Texas Open Records Act that is not of a personal, confidential nature, or information authorized by the employee, will be released.  Current or former employees have the right to review all information relevant to employment that is in the personnel file maintained in the System Office Human Resources Office.  Each employee’s home address, home telephone number, social security number, and information about family members is considered public information unless the employee provides a signed statement to the Human Resources office choosing not to allow public access to the information.

Employees who have access to confidential information regarding students, fellow employees, or others must safeguard such information.  Confidential information should not be discussed except in the line of duty and with specific authorization.

Disclosure of Interest in Property
If an employee has a legal or equitable interest in any property acquired with public funds and has actual notice of the acquisition or intended acquisition of the property, the employee must file an affidavit with the appropriate county clerk. (Lone Star College System Board Policy Section DBD).

Purchasing and Contracting
As a public community college, Lone Star College System and all of its employees are subject to detailed laws regarding the purchases of goods and services and the propriety of taking action to bind the District in contract.  Each manager is responsible to ensure that the purchasing and contracting practices of their department is consistent with Board Policy and campus practice.

Purchases
All purchases must comply with the State of Texas purchasing laws and Board Policies CF and CFA implementing those laws.  Purchasing is usually initiated by preparing a Purchase Requisition and submitting it to the appropriate administrative staff person, Dean, or Director. The System Office Director of Purchasing is the only purchasing agent for the District and is responsible to conduct the processes to identify goods and services that best meet the District’s needs at competitive prices and appropriate and legal business terms. The Director of Purchasing will conduct processes, including requests for proposal, bids, requests for information, and other public processes to provide qualified providers an opportunity to compete for the District’s business.  

As a general rule, the Lone Star College System Board of Trustees must approve in advance purchases that exceed $25,000 for the aggregate of all purchases District-wide over a twelve-month period.  A competitive process that meets the requirement of the purchasing laws must be conducted through the purchasing department.

Violations of the purchasing laws, including but not limited to splitting purchases to stay below mandatory purchasing processes, are enforceable criminally.

Emergency purchases must receive advance budget approval in writing by the appropriate director in order to assure reimbursement.  Unauthorized purchases are the final responsibility of the originator.  Authorized purchases of less than $75 may be reimbursed through petty cash.  The appropriate Director as well as the appropriate Vice President must approve capital expenditures.

Due to possible conflicts of interest, purchases are not authorized from members of an employee’s family, nor are purchases authorized from a company in which an employee or his or her family member owns a five percent (5%) or greater interest.  For purposes of this policy, a family member means a spouse, child (natural, foster, or step), in-law, sibling, or grandparent. A purchase from an employee’s family may be allowed if the award results from a competitive sealed bid process and the family member’s bid is the lowest price bid that meets all bid specifications. (Lone Star College System Board Policy Section CF)

Lone Star College System is exempt from state sales tax.  Necessary forms needed to claim state sales tax exemptions are available in the Business Office.  (For detailed instructions and procedures please refer to Lone Star College System Business Procedures Manual, Section 4 – Purchasing).

Personal Telephone Charges
Lone Star College System employees must reimburse the college for the cost of long distance telephone charges incurred for personal reasons.  It is a violation of District procedures to use District resources for personal gain.  District resources, materials, and supplies may not be used for personal gain or for purposes unrelated to official District work. Reimbursement should be made to the College Business Office for credit to the appropriate cost center for credit to the appropriate cost center.