Other Pay Policies and Practices

These pay policies and practices are to help ensure that The University of Alabama complies with all Federal, State and Local legislature pertaining to pay. All personnel actions that involve the establishment or change in compensation are subject to the review of the Department of Human Resources and the appropriate University of Alabama Vice President and/or President.

Annual Salary Adjustments

Salary adjustments in connection with annual and other applicable performance reviews can be offered at the beginning of the fiscal year when funding allows and is approved by the UA System Board of Trustees, and if the following employee eligibility requirements and consideration criteria are met:

Individual Employee Eligibility Requirements

Employees must be appointed to a regular position to be eligible.
Employees must be in their positions as of March 31 of each year, to be eligible.
Employees who are rated as “partially exceeds expectations” or “consistently exceeds expectations” are eligible and should be considered for higher increases than those with a lower rating.
Employees who are rated as “partially meets expectations” may be deemed as not eligible by department management. Those authorized to make merit recommendations should consult with their HR Business Partner when making such a determination.
Employees who are rated as “does not meet expectations” are not eligible.
Any exceptions to the above must have a written justification and receive approval from the President.

Individual Employee Consideration Criteria

Performance
Conduct
Additional Responsibilities
Salary Compression
Position of Salary within Assigned Pay Grade
Length of Service in Position

Vice Presidents have the discretion to reserve a portion of funding provided for salary adjustments to reward outstanding performance and/or address market or equity for employees in their areas. Vice Presidents also have the discretion to establish parameters for merit increases to support rewarding high performance, such as specific increase amounts based on the performance review rating scale.

Market, Equity, and/or Other Off-Cycle Salary Adjustments (no change in duties/responsibilities)

Salary increases not associated with a change to an employee’s position generally occur at the beginning of the fiscal year, which is October 1. Salary adjustments may be considered during the year based on certain conditions, including but not limited to significant changes in the market for the position and/or internal equity. All such requests must be submitted to the HR Business Partner for evaluation following approval through the departmental chain of command to include the applicable Vice President. Such requests must be received by the HR Business Partner a minimum of two weeks prior to the proposed effective date of the increase in order to allow adequate time for review. Increases cannot be effective before they have been approved by Human Resources and will generally be effective on the next available payroll date following approval by Human Resources. The HR Business Partner will review the request upon submission in consultation with the Compensation team and/or Director of Talent Acquisition and Compensation, determine the appropriate amount of any adjustment, not to exceed the maximum of the pay range, and provide the recommended increase amount to the requesting department. The same approvals required for new hires and promotions will apply as it relates to the pay rate being proposed. Provided funding is available, the department may submit an ePA to apply the increase. When it is determined that no increase is in order, the HR Business Partner will notify the department the request has been declined.

Consideration will be given to market adjustments for the following reasons:

Documented recruiting difficulties have been experienced;
Market salary fluctuations necessitate an adjusted pay rate or pay range; or
Market adjustments necessary to address the retention of qualified individuals, or
Other as reasons as determined by Human Resources support the increase.

Compensation for Interim and Temporary Roles and Other Supplemental Duties

A supervisor may temporarily assign an employee the duties of a position that has been vacated or is temporarily vacant (such as a leave related absence). Such arrangements may include an official interim appointment to the vacated role or the assignment of additional duties from the vacated role. The determination on whether the employee will remain in their current position or be moved to the vacant position will be made on a case-by-case basis. Temporary assignments and interim appointment requests must be submitted to the HR Business Partner for consideration, determination of an appropriate increase amount, if appropriate, and require approval by the Director of Talent Acquisition & Compensation. A staff employee may also take on supplemental duties that may result in consideration for additional pay, such as an adjunct teaching assignment.

Salary adjustments for interim/temporary/supplemental roles will be determined based on the level of additional responsibilities and in consideration of the following factors:

Interim Appointments

An employee who is appointed to serve in an existing vacant position on an interim basis shall receive a temporary pay increase to the minimum of the pay range of the vacant position or up to 10% of the employee’s base pay when the employee’s current salary is within the pay range of the interim position. Requests for a higher amount will be evaluated by the HR Compensation Team on a case-by-case basis. The appointment must be in writing and outline the expected duration of the interim appointment and the additional pay to be received during the appointment only with notice the interim pay will be removed when the assignment ends.
In no case will the interim salary be below the minimum or above the maximum of the pay grade for the interim appointment.
The interim role must last at least thirty (30) calendar days and should not exceed one year. An employee in an interim role for less than thirty (30) calendar days duration shall receive no change in pay.

Temporary Assignments

An employee temporarily assigned additional duties of the same job title and/or a job at the same pay grade will generally receive no change in pay. Exceptions may be requested of HR and will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.
When an exempt employee will be assigned additional duties of another position in a higher pay grade in addition to their regular duties for longer than thirty (30) days, the employee may receive a temporary pay increase up to the minimum of the pay grade of the higher position or 10% of the employee’s base pay if the employee’s pay is within the range of the higher position. Requests for a higher amount will be evaluated by the HR Compensation Team on a case-by-case basis.
When an employee will be assigned additional duties of another position in a higher pay grade but will not be expected to continue performing all of their regular duties, the increase to pay may be less than the rate referenced above.
When a non-exempt employee will be assigned additional duties of another position in a higher pay grade, the rate of pay of the non-exempt employee should be temporarily increased to the minimum rate of pay of the higher position (or a reasonable rate determined by Human Resources if already paid within the range) and overtime, if worked, paid at the higher rate. Non-exempt employees who take on work of a position in lower grade will not generally receive an increase to pay.
In no case will the temporary salary be below the minimum or above the maximum of the pay grade for the temporary classification.
The temporary assignment must last at least thirty (30) calendar days and should not exceed one year. An employee in a temporary assignment for less than thirty (30) calendar days duration shall receive no change in pay.

The department must request that Payroll remove the temporary pay adjustment when the employee is no longer performing the additional duties of the temporary assignment. Payroll will automatically remove the temporary pay adjustment at the end of the fiscal year in which the pay adjustment was effective even if the employee is still completing the temporary assignment. The supervisor will need to submit a new request for the temporary pay adjustment at the beginning of the new fiscal year if the employee is still completing the temporary assignment.

Departments utilizing the “Compensation for Temporary/Interim Roles” will be expected to initiate a search to replace the position and the employee with the temporary assignment may apply. Temporary/Interim roles should not generally extend past the fiscal year. A temporary/interim role may be extended into the next fiscal year with appropriate approvals.

Supplemental Assignments and Pay

Supplemental Pay is used to compensate regular, full-time staff members who are performing work outside of their regular job assignments and/or departments. Typically, only exempt (monthly paid) regular full-time employees may receive supplemental pay. Supplemental assignments include but are not limited to adjunct teaching by a staff member, Athletic Tutors, and UREC group exercise/personal trainers. Any supplemental pay outside of a teaching assignment must be approved through the departmental chain of command, including the Vice President, and by the Director of Talent Acquisition & Compensation or designee.

Counteroffers

Supervisors may request counteroffers to retain employees who have received an external offer for employment. Employees must provide their supervisor or manager with an official offer letter or other written communication documenting their current external offer to be eligible to receive a counteroffer if approved.

Employees must be employed in a regular role for a period of one year to be eligible for a counteroffer. Exceptions will be considered on case-by-case basis and consider such criteria, including but limited to, difficulty to fill the role and current salary.

Counteroffers in the form of salary increases must consider an employee’s time in role, performance rating, and qualifications and will generally not exceed 15%. Counteroffers shall not exceed the maximum of the employee’s current position salary grade. Consideration will also be given to the role of the position being offered and similarities to the current role.

Counteroffers must be submitted by the employee’s supervisor or manager to Human Resources and be reviewed and approved by the Director of Talent Acquisition & Compensation, and/or Senior Associate Vice President for Human Resources/CHRO, and the appropriate Vice President.

Shift Differentials

It is the policy of The University of Alabama to pay shift differentials to non-exempt employees who work evening and night shifts on a regularly scheduled basis. Effective September 24, 2006, the appropriate amounts are $.40 per hour for evening shifts and $.55 for night shifts. All eligible employees should be paid a shift differential for the entire shift for work performed on the evening or night shift. Shift differentials for eligible employees are also paid during all periods of paid leave, such as holidays, sick leave, or annual leave.

For the purpose of applying shift differentials, shifts are defined as follows:

Day shift (first shift) is the shift where 50% or more of the regularly scheduled hours are worked between 6:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m.
Evening shift (second shift) is the shift where 50% or more of the regularly scheduled hours are worked between 6:00 p.m. and 12:00 midnight.
Night shift (third shift) is the shift where 50% or more of the regularly scheduled hours are worked between midnight and 6:00 a.m.

In any case, where the hours are evenly divided (50% on each shift), priority for determining shift differential rates should be given in the order of (1) night shift, (2) evening shift and (3) day shift. Example: If an eight-hour shift begins at 2:00 p.m. and ends at 10:00 p.m., the appropriate differential rate for the entire shift would be that of the evening shift. In cases where the regular shift consists of more than eight (8) hours of work, shift differential will be paid if at least four (4) of those hours fall within the night or evening shifts, as specified above; however, in cases where less than half but at least four (4) hours of the shift are worked during nights or evenings, the maximum number of shift differential hours paid will be eight. The only exception to paying more than eight (8) hours at the shift differential rate would be when more than eight (8) hours are actually worked during the night or evening shifts.

Call-Out Pay

When overtime has not been scheduled in advance, and non-exempt employees are called back to work after their regularly scheduled hours or on their off days, they should be paid a minimum of four (4) hours at their overtime rate or the actual overtime hours worked, whichever is greater, and will be paid as such for each call-out.

Special Event Pay

When non-exempt employees work a special event which is held outside of their scheduled work hours*, they should be paid at their overtime rate for the time actually worked at the special event. Examples of these events include, but are not limited to, athletic events, events at the Bryant Conference Center and special events for Admissions.

*Departmental supervisors and managers may modify employee work schedules in order to meet the business needs of the department.

On-Call Pay

There are situations when non-exempt employees are expected to be available via phone or beeper for work related emergencies. The Department of Human Resources will make the determination based on information provided by the department if this time should be considered hours worked and, therefore, compensable time.

If hourly paid employees are required to be on-call but it is not considered to be compensable time (as determined by the Department of Human Resources), the department may, but is not required to, pay the employees a set rate of remuneration as recommended by the department and approved by HR and the appropriate vice president. If hourly paid employees are called into work, the employees should be paid using the guidelines for Call-Out Pay as defined above.

If hourly paid employees are required to be on-call and the time is determined by the Department of Human Resources to be compensable, employees will be paid for any hours they are required to be on-call at a predetermined on-call rate as recommended by the department and approved by HR and the appropriate vice president. If hourly paid employees are called into work, the employees should be paid using the guidelines for Call-Out Pay as defined above.

Once employees report to work, all on-call pay will stop. Employees may not receive payment for working or any paid leave time and on-call pay for the same hours.

Other Staff Compensation Related Policies available on the HR website: