Out-of-Cycle Salary Increase Requests for EPA Non-Faculty

This procedure outlines the guidelines and procedures for Departments, Centers, and Schools to request "out-of-cycle" permanent increases to base salary for EPA non-faculty employees.

"Out-of-cycle" increases are any adjustments to base salary excluding adjustments accomplished as part of the normal EPA annual raise process (ARP), a salary supplement (which is not part of base pay) or from a job change resulting from either a competitive recruitment or waiver of recruitment. 

Out-of-cycle requests should have a specific justification and should be non-routine in nature. In most cases, it is preferred that departments plan for and use the EPA annual raise process (ARP) to implement salary adjustments for EPA non-faculty employees. The following are justifiable reasons to propose an out-of-cycle salary adjustment:

• correction of an administrative error
• to recognize permanent, newly added duties which are substantive in nature (temporary additional duties are compensated using an administrative salary supplement and not a permanent adjustment to base salary)
• to address documented salary equity issues including those caused by the salary of a newly appointed employee within a work unit
• as a retention offer for an employee who has a documented, confirmable salary offer from an outside institution

In the case of newly added duties, the duties in question should be demonstrated to substantially increase the scope and complexity of the employee's position. Minor changes in duties and responsibilities should be addressed in the ARP process.

Requests to address salary equity issues should briefly demonstrate the specific inequity based on the relative job level, education, credentials, and/or experience of the affected employees. Equity issues  may be addressed either out-of-cycle or in the ARP process at the discretion of the Department Head or other administrative approval authority.

Out-of-cycle retention adjustments should have some documentation of the competitive offer from the outside institution. Such requests which require BOT and/or BOG approval must have the offer documented in an  e-mail or official letter (preferred) from the offering institution.

Out-of-cycle requests must be documented on the "Recommendation for EPA Out-of-Cycle Salary Increase Form" which is an Excel worksheet. The form provides a space for the justification of the request. In most cases, an attached memo addressed to the Assistant Vice Chancellor for Human Resources should be used to allow a sufficient explanation of the justification (this memo on letterhead is always required for requests which require BOT or BOG approval as noted below). 

Increases which are 10% or greater of the employee's June 30th base salary require BOT approval and the request must also include the "BOT Salary Increase Form".  Increases which are both 15% or greater AND $10,000 and greater of the employee's June 30th base salary require both BOT and BOG approval and the request must also include the "BOT Salary Increase Form" and the "Personnel Action Requiring Approval of the Board of Governors" form. Please note that calculations of the percentage (%) increase amount is based on the employee's previous June 30th base salary and not their July 1st or current salary.

All of the required documentation must be attached to an EPAWeb Salary/FTE Change action which is routed through normal administrative channels electronically to the EPA Non-Faculty Human Resources Office. Requests which will require BOT or BOG approval will also require all of the relevant forms and documentation to be transmitted in hardcopy to the EPA Non-Faculty Human Resources Office in addition to electronic transmittal via EPAWeb. Hardcopy is not required for increases that do not require Board approval.

 

 

Except when correcting an administrative error or other exceptional circumstances, out-of-cycle salary increases are authorized only on a current and not a retro-active basis.

Actions requiring either BOT or BOG approval may not be effective until the day following the final Board approval. So for example, if BOT meets on 1/15, an action requiring BOT's approval may not have an effective date earlier than 1/16. If BOG approval is also required for this action, and the BOG meets and approves the action on 2/18, the earliest effective date for the action is 2/19. Please take into account the Board approval dates when determining the effective date for your proposed increases for actions that require this level of approval.

A current schedule of submission deadlines and approval dates for actions requiring BOT and/or BOG approval is included in the related documents section of this procedure and is updated annually.