Faculty Policies (FAC)

Administrative/Professional Faculty Merit Pay Policy

Policy Purpose

The purpose of this policy is to provide the criteria and formula for merit pay eligibility, distribution, and appeals for Administrative/Professional Faculty. NOTE: NSHE BoR Handbook, Title 4, Chapter 3, Section 25 (4) allows for separate merit policies for Academic and Administrative/Professional Faculty.

Policy Statement

  1. Merit pay eligibility shall be based on the faculty member’s evaluation rating as per the Administrative/Professional Faculty Evaluation Policy.
  2. Only Administrative/Professional Faculty members receiving Commendable or Excellent Overall Ratings shall be eligible for merit pay.
  3. Merit pay shall be distributed as an approved salary percentage rate from the allocated Administrative/Professional Merit Pay Pool (APMPP) for the applicable fiscal year.
  4. The Administrative/Professional Merit Pay Rate (APMPR) shall be determined by the funding of the APMPP and the total number of faculty who receive either commendable or excellent evaluations in the applicable academic year.
  5. Merit pay distribution:
    1. During years when merit pay will be awarded, Administrative/Professional Faculty who receive a Commendable evaluation rating shall each be awarded merit at a calculated rate. Merit will be added to employees’ base salaries beginning with July 1 of the applicable contract year.
    2. During years when merit pay will be awarded, Administrative/Professional Faculty members who receive an Excellent evaluation rating shall each be awarded merit at one and one half times the rate awarded to the Administrative/Professional Faculty receiving a Commendable evaluation rating. Merit will be added to employees’ base salaries beginning with July 1 of the applicable contract year.
  6. Merit awards for Administrative/Professional Faculty shall be awarded in full, even if an award results in the person’s salary being over the corresponding salary range/grade cap.
  7. Merit pay appeals:
    1. The Board of Regents Handbook provides: “If a merit pay determination is directly tied to the outcome of a faculty member’s evaluation review, then the bylaws shall provide that the same process is followed for both the evaluation review and the merit pay determination.” Title 2, Chapter 5, Section 5.16, p.30
    2. The Supervisory and Peer Review process in the corresponding Evaluation Policy shall serve as the exclusive Merit Pay appeals process.

Procedure

  1. In fiscal years when a merit pool appropriation is provided for Administrative/Professional Faculty; the APMPR will be determined based on a percentage award rate at a ratio of 1.5 for excellent and a ratio of 1 for commendable.
  2. Exact percentage rates for Excellent and Commendable ratings are expected to fluctuate based on yearly rating distributions between non-merit eligible employees, merit eligible employees (Excellent and Commendable) and the Administrative/Professional Merit Pay Pool (APMPP). The annual merit award percentage rate will fluctuate to ensure that the maximum possible funds from the APMPP are utilized.
  3. Formulas for determining percentage based merit awards at the aforementioned 1.5- to-1 ratio are as follows:

    1. Merit calculations for employees who earn commendable evaluations are:

      APIMA(C)1 to N = C%(IS(C)1 to N)

      Where:
      APIMA = Administrative/Professional Individual Merit Award
      C% = commendable rating percentage award
      IS = Individual’s Salary

    2. Merit calculations for employees who earn excellent evaluations are:

      APIMA(E)1 to N = E%(IS(E)1 to N)

      Where:
      APIMA = Administrative/Professional Individual Merit Award
      E% = excellent rating percentage award = 1.5(C%)
      IS = Individual’s Salary

    3. Yearly merit award percentage rate fluctuations will also ensure that the maximum possible funds from the APMPP are utilized such that the sum of all excellent and commendable merit awards will be less than or equal to APMPP.

      ∑ APIMA(E)1 to N + ∑ APIMA(C)1 to N ≤ APMPP

Authority and Cross Reference Links

Disclaimer

The president has the discretion to suspend or rescind all or any part of this policy or related procedure(s). The president shall notify the appropriate CSN personnel, including the Executive Sponsor and shared governance leaders, of the suspension or rescission.

Questions about this policy should be referred to the Executive Sponsor.

Attachments

History

  • Version 1:
    • 05/15/2015: Approved by CSN President (M. Richards).
    • 05/15/15: Reviewed by General Counsel (R. Hinckley)
    • 02/27/2015: Approved by the Administrative Faculty Assembly (J. Fulmer, Chair)