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Salary Increase Guidelines

SHRA Salary Increase Guidelines

Any salary increase in any amount for a career-banded title for which we do not have delegated authority (or which results in an exemption to any standing OSHR policy) must go to UNC System Office Human Resources for pre-approval. That office will consult directly with OSHR as needed to obtain any required pre-approvals.

For any permanent base-salary increase, System Office pre-approval is required when the proposed salary exceeds 115% of the assigned market rate for the classification. In cases where the proposed salary is in excess of $135,000, then System Office pre-approval is required for a salary exceeding 105% percent of the assigned market rate. (Note that for some classifications, 115% of the market rate would exceed the maximum of the range. In those cases, the range maximum is the limit.)

For any temporary salary adjustments, System Office pre-approval is required when the amount of the temporary adjustment combined with the base salary exceeds 115% of the assigned market rate for the classification, or if that amount exceeds the next-highest competency market rate. Any individual temporary adjustment that exceeds 12 months in duration also will require System Office pre-approval, regardless of the amount of that adjustment.

Note: Across-the-board legislative increases do not trigger System Office pre-approval. Discretionary ARP increases, however, are subject to the pre-approval rules above.

All actions are effective on the Monday following the receipt of all required approvals. If final approvals occur on a Monday, the action can be effective that day. Retroactive salary increases are not allowed, unless mandated by a legislative action.

Salary increases are only permitted for the following reasons:

  • Additional job duties, when there is a substantive increase in the scope and/or complexity of the job. This includes temporary adjustments with a defined start and stop date. Please note: Such an increase may not be justified solely on the basis of increased work volume. Temporary adjustments may not be provided for training new employees in their job duties. Also, employees may not receive temporary increases for performing the duties of vacant positions which they supervise.
  • Position reclassification, where application of the career banding pay factors will determine the base salary
  • Competitive-hiring events, where application of the career banding pay factors will determine the base salary
  • Equity, when employees in the same position/branch/role/competency are performing very similar work with a similar level of competence to those who have a higher pay rate and the pay discrepancy has no apparent justification
  • Labor Market, when an employee’s salary is less than the position’s assigned market rate. Managers may request a salary increase up to 110% of the assigned market rate.
  • Employee retention, when employees have a documented offer for a comparable position (i.e., not an obvious promotion) outside of state employment and have given that documentation to their managers and the employee has skills or knowledge that would be difficult to replace
  • Increase in SHRA employee competencies, when there is a documented change in component competency ratings or overall ratings between two Employee Competency Assessment (ECA) reviews
  • Change in FTE due to a schedule change, when there has been no change in annualized compensation.

Please note: Schools and divisions are advised to exercise discretion with regard to granting increases to SHRA temporary employees and to remain within the defined range for employees’ career-banded classifications.

If you have questions about any salary increase guidelines, please contact your assigned Classification and Compensation Consultant or your assigned Employment Consultant.

EHRA Salary Increase Guidelines

  • Internal Competitive Event (1a) – Employee applies for an internally recruited job vacancy, is selected competitively and changes jobs to a different position.
  • External Competitive Event (1b) – Employee applies for an externally recruited job vacancy, is selected competitively and changes jobs to a different position.
  • Increase in job duties or responsibilities; includes reallocation or reclassification of job (2a) – Substantive increase in the scope and/or complexity of the job. Minor changes in duties and responsibilities should be addressed during the Annual Raise Process.
  • Temporary adjustment related to an increase in job duties or responsibilities; salary will revert when temporary duties cease (2b) (Temporary salary increases do not count cumulatively towards the permanent salary exception process)
  • Retention (3) – Requires documented job offer or verifiable, active employment negotiations by a current EHRA employee with an outside entity.
  • Equity (12) – Used to address documented salary-equity issues when employees in the same position/job family/job level are performing very similar work with a similar level of competence and experience to those who have a higher pay rate and the pay discrepancy has no apparent justification. Justification for an increase due to internal-equity issues must identify the inequity and justify the rate of increase based on the relative job level, education, credentials, and/or experience of the affected employees.
  • Labor Market (12) – Used address job equity in comparison to the market or “labor market,” which is defined as the area within which employers compete for labor. The market is composed of those institutions, businesses, and organizations from which University units recruit or would logically recruit job candidates. Justification for an increase due to the labor market and/or external-equity issues must be substantiated by market survey data if the position is not assigned to a job family/level in the EHRA (EPA) Compensation Structure. Note: The proposed increase may not exceed the position’s assigned market reference rate.

Schools and divisions are advised to exercise discretion with regard to granting increases to EHRA temporary employees and to remain within the defined range for the position’s assigned job family/level.

Salary-increase requests must be documented on the EHRA Salary Adjustment form (aka “Rainbow form”), which can be found in the HR Toolkit > Forms section > EHRA Non-Faculty Forms toggle > EHRA Salary Adjustment Form (aka “Rainbow Form” – Updated 3-15-2024). This EHRA form applies to both EHRA Non-Faculty and Faculty employees.

Completed forms should be sent to epanfsalaryrequest@unc.edu. Once approval has been communicated to the department by the EHRA Non-Faculty office, a Job Change ePar may be initiated in ConnectCarolina.

  • Adjustments less than or equal to 20% AND $15,000: Requests received by 12 pm on Tuesdays will be reviewed for approval by Tuesday of the following week.
  • Adjustments greater than 20% AND $15,000: Please see the salary-adjustment submission calendar linked below for deadlines. Requests received by the stated deadline will be placed in the routing review process. Please note that requests containing inaccurate or incomplete information, unexplained acronyms, or grammatical errors will be returned to the HR representative/officer.

Out-of-cycle increase requests should be non-routine in nature and have a specific and detailed justification. The following are justifiable reasons to propose an out-of-cycle salary adjustment:

  • Correction of an administrative error
  • To recognize permanent, newly added additional duties which are substantive in nature. (Temporary additional duties are compensated using an administrative salary supplement and not a permanent adjustment to base salary.) 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.
  • To address documented salary equity issues including those caused by the salary of a newly appointed employee within a work unit. Equity may be used when a new hire has been appointed at a higher salary rate than existing employees in the same classification within a particular unit, department or division. Justification for an increase due to internal equity must identify the inequity and justify the rate of increase based on the relative job level, education, credentials and/or experience of the affected employees.
  • To address job equity in comparison to market or “labor market.” Labor market is defined as the area within which employers compete for labor. The market is composed of those institutions, businesses and organizations from which University units recruit or would logically recruit. Justification for an increase due to labor market/external equity must be substantiated by market survey data.
  • As a retention offer for an employee who has a documented, confirmable salary offer from an outside institution. In instances where an offer has not been presented, departments must be able to demonstrate that the intended salary increase recipient is considered a finalist for the external position. Justification for an increase due to retention should include an assessment of the individual’s merit and value to the institution and the circumstances warranting a retention adjustment.

Please refer to the EHRA Non-Faculty Salary Approval Chart for additional information on required levels of review and approval.

Salary increases that only require approval by the EHRA HR Office can be retroactive to the first of the month in which the action was submitted to the EHRA HR Office. Salary increases that require UNC System Office approval can be retroactive to the first of the month in which the action was submitted to the System Office. Actions requiring either BOT or BOG approval may not be effective until the day that the final Board approval is granted. For example, if BOT meets on January 15, an action requiring BOT’s approval may not have an effective date earlier than January 15. If BOG approval is also required for this action, and the BOG meets and approves the action on February 18, the earliest effective date for the action is February 18. 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.