4-OP-D-1-B Education & General Salary & Rate

Responsible Executive: Finance and Administration

Approving Official: Vice President for Finance and Administration

Effective Date: November 30, 2016

Last Revision Date: Policy created July 1, 2016

  1. INTRODUCTION
    1. OBJECTIVE
      1. This policy specifies guidelines and procedures for the use of Education & General (E&G) salary and rate.
        NOTE: This policy applies to E&G salary budgets on OMNI funds 110 and 121 only. Salary budgets funded by E&G carryforward (OMNI funds 126 and 140) are specifically excluded, as are E&G salary budgets for the College of Medicine and the College of Engineering on OMNI funds 2xx.
    2. DEFINITIONS
      1. Allocation: the portion of the University’s operating budget which is distributed to a division, college, school, and/or department.
      2. Benefits: also called “fringe benefits”, herein referred to as the employer-paid portion of the non-pay compensation such as health insurance, life insurance, retirement, social security, and Medicare. For more details, please consult University policy 4-OP-C-7-C (Benefits).
      3. Bonus Pay: a non-recurring performance bonus to an employee for meritorious work. For more details, please consult University policy 4-OP-C-7-D7 (Compensation Tools).
      4. Conversion: also referred to as “faculty line conversion”, the process of transferring unused faculty salary budget to another budget (department or category). Typically, the transfer is made to a non-salary category which is referred to as “converting”.
      5. Leave Payout: the amount paid to a terminating employee for their remaining annual, sick, and compensatory leave balances. For more details, please consult University policy 4-OP-C-7-E (Attendance and Leave).
      6. One-time Pay: a non-recurring performance bonus to an employee for increased duties and responsibilities. For more details, please consult University policy 4-OP-C-7-D7 (Compensation Tools).
      7. Operating Budget: the budget effective July 1 (first day of the fiscal year) for the University. It is approved by the University’s Board of Trustees and the State of Florida’s Board of Governors, and may be subsequently revised by Board of Governors or internal university amendments. The operating budget details how the University plans to spend money for the indicated fiscal year.
      8. Overlap: when more than one employee is assigned to a position, typically to allow an incumbent to train their replacement.
      9. Overtime: time worked in excess of normal scheduled work hours. For qualified classes, overtime can result in time and a half compensation for the excess hours or compensatory leave. For more details, please consult University policy 4-OP-C-7-E (Attendance and Leave).
      10. Pay Additive: additional compensation provided for certain positions or situations such as lead worker positions, asbestos abatement activities, and on-call pay. For more details, please consult University policy 4-OP-C-7-D4 (Pay Additives).
      11. Rate: the E&G-funded amount associated with a position and/or employee’s pay rate.
      12. Temporary Pay: a non-permanent recurring pay increase to an employee. For more details, please consult University policy 4-OP-C-7-D (Hiring and Compensation)
  2. POLICY
    1. E&G RATE ALLOCATION GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES
      1. The following guidelines and procedures are applicable to E&G rate allocations.
        1. Faculty and staff rate allocations are set and managed by the University.
        2. Per Provost policy 200.07 (2), “[e]xchanges of rate between support staff and faculty are permitted. A subsequent exchange in the reverse direction is not permitted for a minimum of two years.”
        3. Units may request to adjust the distribution of their allocations between salary (rate + benefits) and non-salary budget categories with approval from their respective Vice President.
        4. To request a change to a rate allocation, units must submit an E&G Rate Allocation Change Form.
          1. Include all necessary signatures of authorized persons for Dean/Director and President/Provost/Vice President.
          2. Include fringe benefits if transferring allocation between salary and non-salary categories. Estimated fringe benefits are 30% of the rate (unless allocation is for a pay increase, in which case they are 15%).
            1. Units transferring funds from non-salary to salary must include an amount for fringe benefits. (E.g., if $10,000 is required for rate and $1,500 is required for fringe benefits, $11,500 must be transferred from non-salary.)
            2. Units transferring funds from salary to non-salary may not retain the fringe benefits on the rate being transferred. (E.g., if $10,000 in rate is being transferred to non-salary, any associated benefits may not be transferred to non-salary, and are absorbed by the University Reserve.)
          3. The totals for TO and FROM should balance.
    2. RATE REPORTS AND ADJUSTMENTS GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES
      1. The following guidelines and procedures are applicable to the E&G Rate Variance report, Budgeted Positions report, and various adjustments.
        1. The Budget Office prepares an E&G Rate Variance report and Budgeted Positions report in BI on a biweekly basis. These reports detail a department’s positions including the rate associated with each position.
        2. The E&G Rate Variance report, in particular, is useful for E&G budget review and tracking. It indicates the rate that was associated with a position as of the end of the prior pay period (“Previous”) and what it is currently (“Current”). The difference (“Variance”) is indicated to make review easier. It is the responsibility of the units to review the E&G Rate Variance Report (along with the E&G Allocation Report) and notify the Budget Office of any corrections or changes.
        3. Recurring Rate + Benefits Adjustments.
          1. The Budget Office initiates a recurring budget transfer biweekly (in alignment with the production of the rate reports) to move the necessary rate between departments and categories (faculty, A&P, and USPS) according to position budget details. The unit’s overall allocation will not change during this process.
          2. The Budget Office initiates a recurring budget transfer to balance benefits to expenses + encumbrances so that the available balance for all benefits budgets should equal zero.
          3. Exemptions: Some specific legislative appropriations will not have their benefits reconciled to expenses + encumbrances. These accounts must be identified, set up, and approved by the Budget Office at the time of the appropriation.
        4. Leave Payouts, Overtime, Pay Additives and Overlaps.
          1. The University Reserve will fund leave payouts, overtime, overlaps, and certain pay additives.
          2. The Budget Office will initiate a non-recurring budget transfer biweekly (in alignment with the production of the rate reports) to reimburse units for annual, sick, and compensatory leave payouts, overtime, and certain pay additives.
            1. Budget transferred is based solely on amounts recorded to the appropriate general ledger expense accounts in OMNI.
            2. For a list of pay additives (by earnings code) covered by the University Reserves, please refer to the Additional Pay Reimbursements Matrix.
            3. Please note that shift differentials are budgeted for and therefore not included in biweekly reimbursements for pay additives.
          3. The Budget Office will initiate a non-recurring budget transfer biweekly (in alignment with the production of the rate reports) to reimburse units for overlaps which have concluded on or before the end date the payperiod for which the rate reports are produced.
          4. Budget transferred is based on the calculated rate use for the relevant overlap. It is the responsibility of the unit to contact the Budget Office if the amount is incorrect.
        5. Bonus Pay, Temporary Pay, and One-time Pay.
          1. Units will be responsible for funding all bonus pay, temporary pay, and one-time pay.
          2. The Budget Office will initiate a non-recurring budget transfer each month to charge units for bonus pay, temporary pay, and one-time pay.
            1. Budget transferred is based on amounts identified using reports from OMNI-HR.
            2. For a list of bonus pay, temporary pay, and one-time pay (by earnings code) that are not covered by the University Reserves, please refer to the Additional Pay Reimbursements Matrix.
    3. CONVERSIONS GUIDELINES & PROCEDURES
      1. Unused faculty rate (due to vacancies, non-E&G buyouts, etc.) is retained by the units and therefore available for conversion to non-salary categories. Conversion to special categories requires additional review and approval by the Director of University Budgets.
      2. All conversions must be approved by the Budget Office.
      3. To request a conversion, create a non-recurring budget transfer moving the rate to the desired department and category and notify the Budget Office with the journal number for posting.
        1. Backup documentation (optional). Backup documentation is optional. It is, however, strongly recommended that the requestor keep detailed records of how the amount was determined and any internal approvals for future reference. It is the responsibility of the unit to maintain these detailed records.
        2. Available balance (required). The Budget Office will review all conversion requests to determine if the available balance exists for the conversion. If the available balance does not exist for the requested conversion amount, the request will be denied.
          1. There may be extenuating circumstances where one may request a conversion in excess of a department’s available balance such as pending appointment changes. In these situations, please contact the Budget Office with details of the situation.
          2. It is strongly recommended that faculty available balances are not completely converted until the last quarter of the fiscal year as there may be unforeseen changes to encumbrances that may require additional faculty salary budget:
            1. Appointments are not completed for the entire academic or fiscal year
            2. Changes in non-E&G buyout appointments
            3. New hires, pay increases, additional pays, emergency hires, etc.
        3. Reversing a conversion. If a conversion needs to be reversed, please contact the Budget Officer with details and the reason for the reversal request.
  3. LEGAL SUPPORT, JUSTIFICATION, AND REVIEW OF THIS POLICY
    • The Chief Budget Officer shall be responsible for the review of this policy.
    • Specific Authorities:
      • Florida State University Policy 4-OP-C-7-C Benefits (January 1, 2014)
      • Florida State University Policy 4-OP-C-7-D Hiring and Compensation (January 1, 2014)
      • Florida State University Policy 4-OP-C-7-E Attendance and Leave (January 1, 2014)
      • Florida State University Provost Policy No. 200.07 (2) Faculty Position Policy (November 1, 2006)