Wages & Salaries

201. Pay Policy

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Revised:  July 1, 2004
Responsible Office: Compensation (212) 870-2572

The University provides a pay program designed to attract and retain employees.  The salary levels are designed to ensure that the University pay program remains competitive, within available resources.

202. Starting Salaries and Range Structures

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Revised:  July 1, 2004
Responsible Office: Employment and HR Client Services  (212) 870-2425

Starting salaries for new hires should reflect the selected candidate's job related qualifications and experience within available resources.

Salaries over the hiring range must be reviewed and approved by the department’s service manager within Employment and HR Client Services.

Salary-range structures are guidelines established to demonstrate the difference in the value to the University of different job levels.  Salary ranges provide an orderly method of administering salaries to ensure that jobs of similar responsibility fall within the same grade, that new hires are paid competitively without conflicting with internal salary standards and, that salaries relate to demonstrated levels of performance. 

203. Time Records

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Revised:  July 1, 2004
Responsible Office: Compensation (212) 870-2572

Each department is responsible for maintaining records of actual time worked for support staff employees and for maintaining records of days off for officers.  These records must be maintained and used by the department to determine overtime pay for support staff and to verify labor costs, sick leave, personal holidays and vacation allowances for both support staff and officers.  All time and attendance records are subject to examination and must be kept for at least six years.

204. Salary Changes and Adjustments

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Revised: July 1, 2004
Responsible Office: Employment and HR Client Services  (212) 870-2425

Merit Increase

Within available resources, merit increases are granted in recognition of exceptional performance.

Promotional Increase

A promotion is an advancement to a position in a higher salary grade with a higher level of accountability and increased responsibility.  Promotional salary increases should be granted concurrently with the advancement of an employee from his or her present position to a position in a higher salary grade.

Increase as a Result of Upgrade

A position which is reevaluated and reclassified to a higher salary grade is considered an upgrade.  An employee whose position is upgraded should receive a salary increase in recognition of the increased level of responsibility.

Downgrades

A position which is reevaluated and reclassified to a lower salary grade is considered a downgrade.  The salary of an employee, in a position which is downgraded, will be appropriately reviewed.

One-Time Special Arrangements

To recognize completion of a special assignment of work performed above and beyond the regular job duties, a one-time payment may be paid.  Such adjustments are not normally added to base pay, but are processed as additional compensation via a Salary Action Form (SAF).  Supplemental compensation that exceeds 10 percent of base salary or $10,000 (whichever is less) during the course of the year requires submissions of a written justification and approval of the Vice President for Human Resources.  At the Medical Center, the guidelines will be administered through the Assistant Vice President, Human Resources with approval by the Deputy Vice President, Medical Center.

Acting Appointment

An appointment for an "acting position" is made in order to compensate an employee who is formally assigned to a higher level position on a temporary basis.

Among the variables to be considered in determining the appropriate salary in an "acting" capacity are:

• the difference between acting designee's actual classification grade and the vacant position's grade.
• the scope of the higher level job which will be performed. 

The recommended salary adjustment for an "acting" appointment should not be less than the minimum of the higher grade job which will be performed, and not to exceed the salary increase the employee would receive if promoted to that position.

The acting appointment must be for a minimum of 30 consecutive days and may not normally exceed six months.  The acting appointment should be implemented by processing a Personnel Action Form (PAF), including a temporary increase to the person’s base salary.

205. Additional Compensation

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Revised:  July 1, 2004
Responsible Office: Compensation (212) 870-2572

Officers of the University are expected to work the time required to accomplish the responsibilities of their primary position without additional compensation.  However, there are situations where it may be appropriate and desirable to compensate individuals for work other than that performed in their primary position.  Senior level employees (grade 15 and above) are expected to provide such services without additional compensation.  Officers in grade 14 and below may receive additional compensation if the following condition is met:

Work, including that which is instructional or presentational in nature, must be other than that defined by the individual's primary responsibilities and must be such that, were the individual not willing to do it, a new temporary or part-time employee would need to be hired for the task.  Services must be performed other than during the employee's normal business hours.

In addition to the above, the following will apply:

Additional Compensation for Instructional Services:

1. The course of program must be needed (i.e., a student population for it must have been identified by the appropriate school or faculty) and the course must fit in with the curriculum of that unit.  
2. No regular member of the faculty of the University is available to teach the course or program (i.e., no regular member of the faculty is both able and willing to teach it).  
3. Officers who wish to teach and who are invited to do so must receive the permission of their immediate supervisors and the heads of their departments, who may refuse permission if the teaching interferes with their full-time duties.  The Vice President of Information Services and University Librarian must authorize all teaching appointments offered to officers of the libraries.  The Vice President for Human Resources must authorize the appointments of officers of administration.  
4. For courses offered on the Morningside campus, the Vice Provost for Academic Administration will give final approval to all instructional appointments for non-instructional officers, as he/she already does for other part-time appointments.  For courses offered at the Medical Center, the Office of Faculty Affairs exercises that responsibility.  Departments and schools should be sure to receive all necessary approvals before making a commitment to pay a full-time non-instructional officer.

206. Shifts and Differentials

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Responsible Office: Compensation (212) 870-2572

Regular full-time support staff whose regular work schedule is in a department providing services beyond the normal work hours or who work in a department on a 24-hour shift operation, shall receive a ten percent differential if their work schedule begins between 3:00 p.m.  and 5:59 a.m.  Officers, part-time and temporary employees are not ordinarily eligible for a shift differential.  Any deviation from this policy must have the prior approval of the Vice President for Human Resources. 

207. Overtime

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Responsible Office: Compensation (212) 870-2572

The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) establishes criteria for mandatory overtime payment which the University must follow in determining whether a position is exempt or non-exempt from the Act's provisions.  The Compensation Section of HR Benefits and Compensation is responsible for determining the appropriate exemption status for all job classifications based upon the Act's provisions and should be consulted if there is any doubt concerning the exempt or non-exempt status of any job classification.

Exempt Status (Usually Officers)

Officers are usually exempt employees (executives, professionals and administrators) and are not covered by Federal overtime requirements.  Officers will be given $6.00 as a meal allowance if their regular work day is extended by management to ten hours or more, or if they are requested to work two hours or more on a regular day off.

Non-Exempt Status (Usually Supporting Staff)

NOTE: References to “support staff” apply only to those not in a bargaining unit.  For employees in a bargaining unit, see the appropriate collective bargaining agreement.

Support staff members are considered non-exempt employees under The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and must be paid one-and-a-half times their regular rate of pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours per week.  In those departments on a 35-hour work week, University policy and applicable collective bargaining agreements provide overtime in excess of 35 hours per week.

Support staff members on a 35-hour weekly schedule who work between 35 and 40 hours in one week may receive either overtime or compensatory time off, granted at the rate of one-and-a-half hours for each hour worked above 35.  The question of pay or compensatory time-off between 35 and 40 hours can be determined by the supervisor subject to operational and/or budgetary considerations.

General Policies in Scheduling, Computing and Determining Eligibility for Overtime

1. Authorization for Overtime Work.  Supporting Staff are not permitted to work overtime in their own office or department or in another office or department without the prior approval of their supervisor (see Policy 110 - Dual Employment).
2. Overtime for Employees on a Scheduled Work Week of Less Than Thirty-Five Hours.  Supporting Staff regularly scheduled to work less than thirty-five hours per week shall receive the overtime premium rate (one and one-half times the regular hourly rate) only for those hours worked in excess of thirty-five during the work week.
3. Special Rules for Those Paid by Government Funds.  Special overtime rules may apply to a limited number of employees who work in a position funded by a government grant or contract in which overtime provisions, differing from University policy, are specified as part of the grant or contract.
4. Students:  Graduate students who teach, tutor, instruct, or lecture on a part-time basis meet the exemption requirements set forth in the Act for Teachers, even though they do not in some cases meet the exemption salary test for professional employees.  This exemption also applies to Research Assistants who are graduate students who perform part-time work that is considered professional in the course of obtaining advanced degrees and who may receive remuneration in the form of grants, fellowships, scholarships, stipends or other payments.

If graduate students are permitted to perform work for the University which is not of a professional type in the pursuit of an advanced degree, it will have to be considered non-exempt work and the performance of this work may endanger the entire exemption for any work week in which the graduate student is employed.

A student employed by the University in a non-instructional capacity is eligible for overtime pay in accordance with this policy.  

Computation of Overtime for a Non-Exempt Regular Supporting Staff.  The following absences will be considered as time worked for the purpose of determining eligibility for overtime pay:  a) Vacation b) Holidays c) Floating Holidays

5. Premium Pay for Work Authorized on a Holiday When a non-exempt regular employee is requested to work on a holiday, he or she will be paid at the rate of time and one-half his or her regular hourly rate for all hours worked on the holiday in addition to the day’s pay at straight time or a day off in lieu thereof.  (See Policy 402 - Holidays and Floating Holidays for designated holidays.) 
6. No other absences, including paid sick leave, shall be considered as time worked in determining eligibility for overtime pay. 

208. Garnishment of Wages

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Responsible Office: Payroll (212) 854-4061 or (212) 854-4062

A garnishment is a legal deduction of a specified sum from wages to satisfy a creditor.  If departments receive documents claiming to garnish the wages of their employees, such documents must be immediately forwarded to the Payroll Department of the Controller's Office.  The Controller's Office will obtain validation of the claim against the employee and advise the employee to seek a release.  If the employee fails to obtain a release prior to the validation of the claim, the Controller will begin deductions until a release is received by the University. 

209. Pay Advances

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Revised: July 1, 2004
Responsible Office: Payroll (212) 854-4061 or (212) 854-4062

Officers may request a vacation pay allowance equal to a month's salary once a year prior to vacation by submitting a request in writing to the Manager of Payroll, in the Office of the Controller.  Advances for reasons other than vacation are made only in extraordinary circumstances once a year and with the written recommendation of the officer's Departmental Administrator, Dean or Vice President.  These requests must also be submitted in writing to the Manager of Payroll, in the Office of the Controller.

Support Staff may request an advance for vacation pay prior to any complete pay cycle that falls within the vacation period by submitting a “Vacation Request” form to the Controller’s Office, Payroll Processing, at least two weeks in advance of the vacation.  The form is available from the Controller’s Office.

210. Post-Mortem Pay

Category: ADMINISTERING WAGES AND SALARIES
Issued: January 1, 1993
Responsible Office: Payroll (212) 854-4061 or (212) 854-4062

In the event of the death of a regular (full-time and part-time) supporting staff employee, the base salary is continued for a period of twenty-two working days following the date of death.  If the deceased held a full-time officer position, the post-mortem pay shall consist of one month's base salary in addition to salary earned as of the date of death.

Any unused accrued vacation and floating holidays at the time of death will be paid in addition to post-mortem pay.