TO: HR Officers and Secondary Contacts
FROM: Linc Butler, Associate Vice Chancellor for Human Resources; Lachonya Williams, Assistant Provost for Academic Personnel
SUBJECT: Important Update re: UNC System Salary Increase Freeze – FY 2019-2020
This is an important update regarding the temporary freeze on selected salary increase actions originally communicated via notice sent July 24, 2019.
Effective immediately, based on guidance from the Office of State Budget and Management (OSBM), the previously communicated freeze on select salary actions (reclassification, labor market, equity, additional duties, distinguished professorships, etc.) is ended under the following conditions:
- No salary increase shall be implemented that relies on entirely new funding expected in the FY 2019-2020 budget until such funds are officially appropriated in an enacted State budget or through an enacted mini-bill.
- Increases should not rely on funding that is identified as a potential budget cut in any of the pending budget bills for FY 2019-2020.
These conditions will ensure that new permanent salary commitments are not made against funding that is not yet confirmed or may be at risk for any reason. Otherwise, existing eligible funding sources in the FY 2018-2019 budget or from non-State appropriations may be used to address salary actions that were previously delayed by this freeze. To assure compliance with this funding requirement, campus units should attest in the notes section of ePARs, “Your School or VC is using existing funds to cover this obligation.”
Generally, salary actions are processed on a current basis only. However, in light of the interruption to various salary actions over the past several months, retroactive salary actions may be proposed for actions delayed by the freeze where there is appropriate documentation of a prior intended effective date. Examples include salary adjustments for prior reclassifications, the prior assumption of additional duties, or equity actions that were previously documented but delayed by this freeze.
This is a one-time opportunity for situations that occurred from July 1, 2019 to present, and must adhere to the following conditions:
- No retroactive actions related to the freeze may be processed after December 31, 2019
- Salary actions processed for these situations must include appropriate documentation as to the basis of the retroactive date
- No retroactive date in these circumstances may fall before July 1, 2019
Any pending faculty salary increase requests subject to the freeze that have been submitted to Academic Personnel do not need to be resubmitted to Academic Personnel. Those pending increases will be processed according to the requisite approval guidelines. You will be notified when the relevant salary increase approvals are obtained.
For SHRA and EHRA Non-Faculty actions, please work with your assigned consultant to process any actions previously reviewed that had been held pending the end of the freeze.
It is important to note that the existing Board of Governors (BOG) consultation process for salary actions of 5% and $100,000 and new positions budgeted at $70,000 or greater remains fully in effect. Therefore, any actions delayed as a result of the temporary salary freeze must still receive all of the necessary System Office and/or BOG pre-approvals per normal procedures prior to implementation.
At this point, we are still not in the position to release annual raise process (ARP) instructions or authorize the implementation of bonus leave until either an enacted State budget or mini-bill covering salary funding for the University.
Please address any questions to your department’s designated OHR Classification and Compensation and EHRA Non-Faculty HR contacts or the Academic Personnel Office as appropriate.
See also: