GA/TA Appointment Guidelines for Departments

GA/TA appointments will be created as a " job requisition" in UWinsite People. Contracts ("notice of appointment") will no longer be uploaded into the GA/TA Workflow (with the exception of supersede or cancelled contracts – see section titled ' supersede or cancelled contract' below)

1. Create student job requisition for hiring in UWinsite People for GA and/or TA positions - follow the Step-by-Step Instructions for Hiring a GA/TA in UWinsite People.
2. Match successful student applicants to a requisition.
3. Complete a job offer for a specific student (normally by graduate secretary or dept. admin staff). (If applicable, attach a TAIII memo and/or Grace Term form to the job offer - p.71 of the Training document for Hiring a GA/TA in UWinsite People). The student must be registered before a job offer is submitted.
4. Department Head Approval of job offer. The job offer must be approved by the Department Head (as per the GA/TA processing dates)  
5. Send an email communication to students to let them know that they are being offered a GA/TA appointment - refer to section titled 'student communication' below for details.
6. Approval of job offer by Graduate Financial Aid Assistant, Graduate Studies.
7. Approval of job offer by Dean of Graduate Studies (or designate).
8. Approval of job offer by Human Resources.
9. The approved offer is sent back to the graduate secretary/ dept. admin staff who extends the approved offer to the student.
10. Employment offer must be accepted by the student. 
11. The accepted offer goes to HR for review.
12. If HR determines employment documentation is missing, the student will be required to submit to HR. Students are not eligible to work until all required documentation has been received by HR.
13. The student will receive email confirmation of the approval of their appointment from Human Resources.

Departments will be able to view the status of a contract within the workflow. Weekley reports will also be made available.

After you have completed the 'job offer', advise the student that a “job offer” for GA or TA appointment will be coming from UWinsite People. 

Students are not permitted to begin their work duties until the student has accepted the offer, submitted all required documentation in UWinsite People, and received the HR authorization to work email.

Human Resources asks that departments include the language below along with the email notice to advise student has been hired as a GA or TA:

Information for GAs and TAs from Human Resources to be communicated by the Department to the student:

• With the launch of UWinsite People, the University's Human Resources and Payroll System implemented in early January 2025, new hire processes have been updated.
• Required documents must be submitted through UWinsite People. Please do not email hrstudent@uwindsor.ca your hiring package contents.
• You will be receiving emails from the HRIS system to your UWindsor email with required tasks to complete.  Complete the tasks as soon as possible as to not delay processing time.
• New students cannot be issued employee IDs without completion of the required journeys within the system.
• It should be noted that the University of Windsor requires personal devices to meet Conditional Access security standards. If a personal device is not compliant and/or enrolled in device administration, employees will not have access to UWinsite People. Learn how to register your device.
• Please note that before you begin work as a GA/TA, you must complete the new hire journey if this is your first employment contract, or it has been over a year since your last employment contract with the University. If you are a first-time employee, or a former employee who has not worked at the University in over a year, you need to provide an update to expired/expiring SIN or work/study permit documents, and complete the mandatory training. The mandatory training must be completed within the first two weeks of your contract.  
• Once your appointment is approved by Graduate Studies and is then processed by Human Resources, you will receive an offer of employment with your start date. 
• After you 'accept' the offer, you will receive email confirmation from Human Resources. 
• If HR determines employment documentation is missing, you will be required to submit the missing information to HR. Students are not eligible to work until all required documentation has been received and approved by HR.
• If HR determines no employment documentation is missing, you will receive email confirmation of the approval of your GA/TA appointment from Human Resources.
• Students are not permitted to begin their GA/TA work duties until they have accepted the offer, submitted all required documentation in UWinsite People, and received the HR authorization to work email.

Students who have questions about their employment contract or HR processes can book an in-person or virtual appointment with Human Resources here:

https://outlook.office365.com/owa/calendar/HumanResourcesBookings@uwindsor.ca/bookings/

The term start date for the Summer 2025 is May 5, 2025. The start date of all appointments should reflect the date the student is expected to begin working and cannot be any earlier than May 1, 2025.

While there is some flexibility in setting the start date of the GA/TA appointments, the end dates for full-term appointments must align with those set by HR for Sessional Appointments to ensure the exam and marking period is covered. Normally the end date is the last day of the month the student is expected to work i.e. August 31st for full-term Summer appointments.

The job offer must be created in UWinsite People AND approved by the Department Head within the specified GA/TA processing date, to allow for processing and student documentation submission.

GAs and TAs must not begin work until the student has received the HR approval email. If the offer has a start date that is past the respective submission deadline, a change in start date may be required. The student offer will be sent back to the Department for an adjustment.

Late student documentation submission to HR will result in the appointment start date being amended by HR to a later date. 

View a complete list of GA/TA Processing Dates for the term. If GAs and TAs are to start work supporting instructors in the first week of Summer 2025 classes (May 5th), departments need to complete submission no later than the April 14th deadline as specified in the list of GATA processing dates.

Weekly GA/TA employment status report will be sent to Department/Faculty.

Status of eligible student employment is available.

Reports should be viewed weekly to confirm the status of the contract in the workflow.

A shared folder has been set up for each Department and shared with individuals responsible for processing GA/TA contracts.

An email is sent each week once the weekly report has been updated.

Training and Resources can be accessed through the UWinsite People website. 

Questions or assistance on completing requisitions or individual student hiring in UWinsite People can be directed to Human Resources at hrstudent@uwindsor.ca

• View training documentation in the Step-by-Step Instructions for Hiring a GA/TA in UWinsite People.
• Find a list of currently active GA/TA positions in UWinsite People (MS Excel).

If GAs and TAs are to start work supporting instructors in the first week of classes (May 5th), departments need to submit contracts no later than the April 14th deadline as specified in the list of GATA processing dates.

The GA/TA contracts and SharePoint workflow will no longer be in operation EXCEPT in cases where Departments are submitting a supersedes or cancelled contract. 

Please note that supersedes/cancelled contracts are only required if there are changes to GA/TA level, start/end date, hourly rate of pay, and number of hours. For students changing from one course to another, a supersedes contract is not required unless there are changes made to those noted earlier. If nothing is changing except for the course the student is supporting, the only update that would be needed is completing a new "Form I" (Outline of duties and hours) with the new course instructor.

For supersede or cancelled contract departments should use the "Notice of appointment to assistantship" contract form (PDF).

Only a supersede or cancelled contract is to be submitted via the previous SharePoint GA/TA workflow at https://uwin365.sharepoint.com/sites/GATAAppointmentApprovalProcess/. Review the SharePoint workflow instructions - for submitting supercede or cancelled contract only.

Should departments need to add or remove access for anyone in the Department, the Graduate Coordinator or Graduate Secretary should send an email to gradaward@uwindsor.ca to make the request.