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• • Salary/Bonus Exception Review Form

• Purpose of the Form
• Communication of New Salaries and Bonus Payments to the Employee After Approval by HR
• Timing of Submission
• Business Rationale
• Submission Instructions
• Assistance to Determine Appropriate Salaries or Bonuses, or to Complete this Form

Purpose of the Form

This form must be completed, signed, and submitted to the school's/department's Columbia University HR Client Manager for approval and processing of the following:

• Salary Increase equal to or greater than 10% of the employee's current salary
• Promotional Salary Increase equal to or greater than 10% of the employee's current salary per grade
• Bonus Payment equal to or greater than 10% of the current salary, or $10,000, whichever is less

Communication of New Salaries and Bonus Payments to the Employee After Approval by HR

Exceptional salary increases or bonus payments should not be communicated to the employee until this form has been submitted to AND APPROVED by CUHR.

Timing of Submission

• In June-July, refer to the year-end salary review timeline for submission deadlines.
• At other times of the year, the Salary Exception Form should be submitted to the appropriate HR Client Manager by the 15th of the month preceding the month in which the proposed salary increase or bonus is to be paid.

Business Rationale

The Business Rationale should explain the reason for the salary increase or bonus, and how the proposed amount was determined.

In general, reasons for exceptional salary increases or bonuses could include the following: 

Salary Increases: 

• Acknowledge exceptional job performance
• Rectify internal salary inequities
• Address market equity issues
• Retention 

Bonuses:

• Acknowledge exceptional performance without increasing base salary
• Retention (i.e. for project-related work)

The amount of the salary increase (promotion-related or otherwise) or bonus could be affected by the following factors:

• Internal equity
• Special skillset possessed by the employee
• Market conditions
• Difficult to fill position
• Consideration of one-time bonus vs. base salary increase
• Budget

Information about the employee's compensation history and any comparable internal & external salary data should be included in the Business Rationale as part of the justification for the salary increase or bonus.

Submission Instructions

For your convenience, we have developed two versions of the form:

• Electronic Form: Salary Exception Form (Excel)
  This form contains automatic calculation formulas. Save it to your computer, open in Excel, complete the form, and submit to your HR Client Manager.

• Manual Form: Salary Exception Form (PDF)
  This form contains no formulas. Print and complete the form, and submit to your HR Client Manager.

The form can be submitted to your HR Client Manager in the following ways:

• If the signature of a Dean or Top Departmental Administrator is not required (salary increase, promotional increase per grade, or bonus is less than 20% of current base salary), a Departmental Administrator or Top Departmental HR Manager can submit the completed Excel version of the Salary Exception Form to their HR Client Manager as an email attachment without signatures (the email will be considered an approval by the DA or Senior HR Manager); delivering or mailing a printed copy signed by the DA or Top Departmental HR Manager is also acceptable.
• If Dean or Top Departmental Administrator signature is required (salary increase, promotional increase per grade, or bonus equals or exceeds 20% of current base salary), the signed form can be scanned and sent to the HR Client Manager as an email attachment, or a printed copy signed by the Dean or Top Departmental Administrator can be delivered/mailed to HR Client Services.

Assistance to Determine Appropriate Salaries or Bonuses, or to Complete this Form

HR Client Managers are available to assist you with any compensation-related issues, including the determination of appropriate salaries and bonuses. Questions about this form or its submission should also be posed to your HR Client Manager.