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Standard & Procedure Name:Continuing Education
Scope:Reliant Employees 
Revision Date:January 19, 2023
Last Review Date:June 7, 2023


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Standard

Reliant encourages our employees to

Excerpt

General policy: Reliant desires to help employees grow in their knowledge, skills, and character . Employees are encouraged to pursue by pursuing educational opportunities that will enhance their job performance and improve their ministry capabilities. 

Required Education

Reliant will generally reimburse Reliant employees for the tuition costs of attending educational activities where the employee’s attendance is required by Reliant. Such reimbursements may be excludable from the employee’s taxable income for federal income tax purposes. (Employees should consult with their tax advisor regarding proper tax reporting and treatment of such reimbursement.) The employee’s supervisor or Reliant Missionary Resources will notify the employee when attendance at such educational activities is required. Employees should make arrangements with their supervisor for attending such activities.  See Continuing Education Reimbursements in the Reimbursement manual for more details. 

Elective Education: Ministry Related 

Reliant seeks to provide reasonable opportunities for eligible employees to participate in certain elective educational opportunities that are closely related to the employee’s ministry with Reliant. Reliant will reimburse eligible employees for certain expenses of approved ministry related education, subject to certain limitations and conditions established by Reliant, up to a maximum of $5,250 per calendar year. (Employees should consult with their tax advisor regarding proper tax treatment and reporting of such reimbursement.)

Eligible employees include employees working full-time or part-time/salaried 30, 25 or 20 hours/week.

To qualify for such assistance, an employee must have been employed for at least 1 year and obtain prior approval for the specific educational program (including courses to be taken and weekly time allocations) from the employee’s supervisor and Missionary Resources. To obtain such approval, the employee must complete the Education Approval Form (also found from StaffNet web-site in the Payroll Forms section), submit the completed form to their supervisor for approval and signature, and then submit the signed form to Missionary Resources for final approval. The form, signed by the employee and supervisor, must be received by Missionary Resources prior to the start of the specific educational program for which approval is sought. Missionary Resources will notify the employee if and when approval is given. For further information about this program, please contact a member of  Missionary Resources.

Procedures for Elective Education

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Work/Personal Time for Education

  • Employees must spend more than half their work time on their regular ministry job duties.
  • Employees and their supervisors work together to:
    • Determine how work and education hours are divided to fulfill job duties.
    • Track hours spent on education and job duties.

Education Expense Reimbursements:

  • Employees may reimburse up to $5250 per calendar year. Exceptions may apply. 
  • The calendar year limit applies to when reimbursements are paid, not when submitted or when expenses were incurred.
  • Eligible expenses include:
    • Fees: tuition, application, graduation, etc. 
    • Course books and supplies
    • Taxable reimbursement expenses, including travel, meals, and school-related health checks and immunizations
  • Reimbursements are paid based on Reliant's order of pay when funds are available in the ministry account for which the employee is responsible.

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  •  
  • Students receiving scholarships or federal aid may not reimburse for the amount from other sources. 
  • Students may only reimburse a class once, should a class need to be retaken. 
  • Associate Volunteers are not eligible for this benefit.  
  • Non-credit-based learning opportunities are reimbursed through Conferences, Retreats, and Events.

Pre-Approval Request:

We ask all employees interested in reimbursing continuing education expenses to submit a request for pre-approval to their local supervisors and their Program Teams. Pre-approval sets appropriate expectations before registering for education classes and streamlines reimbursements for education-related expenses. 

Procedure

UI Steps


UI Step

Request Pre-Approval

Complete the Continuing Education Pre-Approval Request form, which asks for a description of your intended education courses and how the education is related to your current job description. Follow the steps for sharing the form with your local supervisor and Reliant Program Team. Your Reliant Program team will follow up with you about your approval. 

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titleContinuing Education Pre-Approval Request

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docs.

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google.

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com/spreadsheets/

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titleDownload Education Approval Form PDF Here
urlhttps://www.gcmapp.net/Libraries/Reimbursements/Education_Approval_form.sflb.ashx?download=true
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titleDownload Education Approval Form Excel Version Here
urlhttps://www.gcmapp.net/Libraries/Reimbursements/Education_Approval_form_EXCEL.sflb.ashx?download=true

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  1. Time spent studying, staff may count up to 15% of their approved employment status work hours (based on the current, approved Support Goal Calculator on file with MR) as paid work time.
  2. Time spent traveling to the educational site, or other time related to the education is considered personal (non-work) time.
  3. In all cases, at a minimum, over the course of a year, an overall majority of an employee’s work time must be spent in ministry activities that are non-education related.   

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  1. The employee will receive the benefit based on the Employment Status at the start of the activity if the change in status results in a higher number of hours worked.  If the change in status lowers the level of hours worked, the benefit will be based on the new Employment Status.  (For example, a 30 hour/week employee at the beginning of an educational activity increase his/her employment status to full-time before completion of the activity.  That employee would receive 75% of the benefit.  Alternatively, if the employee dropped his/her employment status to 20 hours/week, the benefit would be 50%. 

Elective Education: Non-Ministry Related 

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UI Step

Enroll in Courses

After receiving approval, enroll and pay for courses and textbooks. 


UI Step

Submit Reimbursement

Complete and submit the Continuing Education Form.


Employees may wish to consult with their tax adviser regarding proper tax treatment and reporting of continuing education reimbursements. 

As soon as enough MTD funds are available, the reimbursement will be paid following the normal order of pay up to the maximum eligible amount in that year.



Questions?

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MultiExcerptNameGrace
PageWithExcerptFMHOME:US Program Team contact

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MultiExcerptNameKZ
PageWithExcerptFMHOME:Collegiate Program Team Contact

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MultiExcerptNameLeanne
PageWithExcerptFMHOME:Fixed Term Liaison - Intern & Residency Programs

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PageWithExcerptFMHOME:International Staff Contact



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