I know full-time definition issue have been covered in a number of different posts, but I wanted to know if anyone has had any experience in attempting to apply a liberal definition when filing for the Public Service Certification Form.

I am interested in cases of individuals that started their own non-profit or worked in multiple public interest positions or working in contractual employment periods. My questions are:

    • Can an employer define Full-time employment at its organization, as less than 30 hours, which would be sufficient to certify PSLF?
                o A plain reading of the statute seems to leave open the possibility of an Employer defining “Full-time” as less than 30 hours. I have pasted the Statute and Comments below for convenient reference.
    • If working for multiple entities, what kind of documents are requested by the Department?

If Heather or any other Forum users could share their thoughts, experiences or insights in this regard, it would be appreciated.

                                                        Statute
Full-time
(1) means working in qualifying employment in one or more jobs for the greater of—
(i)
(A) An annual average of at least 30 hours per week, or
(B) For a contractual or employment period of at least 8 months, an average of 30 hours per week; or
(ii) Unless the qualifying employment is with two or more employers, the number of hours the employer considers full-time.
(2) Vacation or leave time provided by the employer or leave taken for a condition that is a qualifying reason for leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993,29 U.S.C. 2612(a)(1) and (3) is not considered in determining the average hours worked on an annual or contract basis.
See http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CFR-2010-title34-vol3/pdf/CFR-2010-title34-vol3-sec685-219.pdf

                                                        Comments:
Definitions - Full-Time
Comment: Some commenters requested that reference to an employer’s full-time employment standard in the definition of ‘‘full-time’’ for public service employment be eliminated because it penalizes borrowers whose employers require more than 30 hours per week. Some commenters also requested that we define full-time employment so that individuals are able to count multiple eligible part-time public service jobs toward the full-time requirement and eliminate any conflict that may arise if any of the part-time employers use a different full-time standard. One commenter asked that the definition be amended to specify that leave taken under a condition covered by the Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 (FMLA) does not constitute a break or have the effect of reducing the borrower’s annual average to below 30 hours per week, or below the employer’s full-time standard.
Discussion: The Department understands that some borrowers whose employers have a standard for full-time employment greater than 30 hours per week may believe that they are being unfairly penalized. The Department believes, however, that the forgiveness benefit is intended to acknowledge full- time employment and that it is appropriate to use an employer’s standard when an employer has a full- time employment standard. We agree that a borrower who is working part-time in more than one public service job cannot be held to more than one full-time standard in fulfilling the full-time requirement. We also agree that leave taken under conditions covered by the FMLA should not result in the borrower failing to meet the 30 hours per week annual average or the employer’s full-time standard.
Changes: We have revised the definition of full-time in § 685.219(b) to apply the 30 hours per week annual average as the governing full-time standard when a borrower is working in more than one qualifying job and to specify that leave taken for a condition that is a qualifying reason for leave under the FMLA does not count in determining whether a borrower meets the full-time definition. 
See http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2008-10-23/pdf/E8-24922.pdf#page=25

The language of the regulations (cited in your post) says that full-time is the GREATER of 30 hours or the employer’s policy.  So the employer’s policy controls if and only if it is more than 30 hours, and 30 hours applies if 1) the employer has no policy, or 2) the employer’s policy is less than 30 hours, or 3) the borrower is working part-time in more than one public service position (because it would be confusing to look to more than one employer’s definition).