USPS and A&P Salary Increases Effective January 1, 1997

Published: November 26th, 1996

Category: Memos

Jack Heidler, Director

University Personnel Services is pleased to furnish the following guidelines related to salary increases for USPS and A&P employees, which have been provided by the 1996 Florida Legislature and are effective January 1, 1997. As will be explained below, legislatively driven eligibility criteria again are involved; therefore, your assistance with the implementation process is very much needed and appreciated.

I. USPS classes other than Certified Law Enforcement and Professional Health Care:

A. All Pay Ranges:
Minimums and maximums will be increased by 2 percent. A revised USPS Pay Plan will be published in January.
B. Across-the-Board Adjustment:
Effective January 1, 1997, all full- and part-time USPS employees (except Certified Law Enforcement and Professional Health Care employees) hired on or before December 31, 1996, with current performance appraisal ratings of achieves or exceeds performance standards will have their December 31, 1996, base salaries increased by 3 percent or $1,000 ($38.32 biweekly or $0.48 hourly, proportionally based on FTE), whichever is greater. (To calculate the 3 percent increase, multiply the December 31, 1996, biweekly or hourly salary by 0.03. Note that $0.005 rounds up to $0.01. $1,000 is 3 percent of $33,333, so employees earning $33,333 or less will receive the $1,000 minimum. Those earning above $33,333 will receive 3 percent increases.)
C. Delayed Increases:
Current employees who, as of December 31, 1996, have “below performance standards” appraisal ratings are not eligible to receive increases on January 1, 1997. Recently hired employees who have no current performance appraisal ratings will receive any increases needed to bring their salaries up to the new minimums for their salary ranges on January 1, 1997. If employees (recently hired who have no performance appraisal ratings or current employees who have below performance standards ratings) attain achieves or exceeds performance standards ratings prior to July 1, 1997, they will receive increases equal to 3 percent of their December 31, 1996, salaries (or $1,000, whichever is greater) less any increases given on January 1 to bring salaries up to the new minimums for the salary ranges. Such increases will be effective on the completion dates of their performance appraisals and will not be retroactive. Please see pages 4 and 5 of this memorandum for details on implementation of these delayed salary increases.
D. Employees Above the Range Maximum:
Employees whose base rates of pay on December 31, 1996, are at or above the maximums of the applicable pay grades who have achieves or exceeds performance standards ratings will have 3 percent increases or a minimum of $1,000 added to their base rates of pay, effective January 1, 1997.
E. Competitive Area Differentials (CADs):
The SUS rules [6C-5.915(2) F.A.C.] no longer define CADs as pay additives. Accordingly, the CAD amount is now considered part of the base pay. As such, the CAD amount will not be removed from an employees salary prior to calculating the salary increase. The CAD amounts will not change on January 1, 1997.

II. USPS Certified Law Enforcement Classes:

A. Step Pay Plan Adjustment:
Effective January 1, 1997, each step in the salary range will be increased by 3 percent, and each eligible employees salary will be adjusted to bring him or her to the adjusted step. The trainee rate is calculated at 10 percent below Step 1. Eligible part-time employees will receive proportional increases. Eligible employees are those with current performance appraisal ratings of at least achieves performance standards.
B. Step Increase:
Effective January 1, 1997, each eligible employee will be granted a one-step increase on the new step pay plan, with the employees at Step 13 provided an increase in the amount of 4 percent. Eligible part-time employees will receive proportional increases.
C. Delayed Increases:
Employees hired on or before December 31, 1996, who have no appraisal ratings and those current employees who have below performance standards appraisal ratings in effect on December 31, 1996, will receive the salary increases if they attain achieves or exceeds performance standards ratings prior to July 1, 1997. Such delayed increases will be effective upon the completion dates of the performance appraisals and will not be retroactive.
Certified Law Enforcement employees who receive delayed increases will be off step until the increases are received. Certified Law Enforcement Employees currently on Step 13 will be off step as a result of the 4 percent lump-sum increases.

III. USPS Professional Health Care Classes:

A. Step Pay Plan:
The current step pay plan, which became effective January 1, 1996, will remain in effect with no adjustment.
B. Step Increase:
Effective January 1, 1997, all Professional Health Care employees with current appraisal ratings of achieves or exceeds performance standards will be granted a one-step increase on the current step pay plan.
C. Delayed Increases:
New hires as of December 31, 1996, and those current employees who have below performance standards ratings in effect on December 31, 1996, will receive the salary increases if they attain at least achieves performance standards ratings prior to July 1, 1997. Such delayed increases will be effective upon the completion dates of the performance appraisals and will not be retroactive.
D. Lump-Sum Increases:
Employees whose base rates of pay on December 31, 1996, are at or above Step 20 will receive 3 percent lump-sum increases, effective January 1, 1997. Such lump-sum payments are to be implemented by departments through supplemental payroll procedures.

IV. Administrative and Professional:

A. Pay Ranges:
Minimums and maximums will be increased by 2 percent.
B. Salary Increases:
Funds are provided for an overall average 3 percent increase on the base salaries of eligible non-unit A&P employees, effective January 1, 1997, except that those eligible full-time employees with an annual salary on December 31, 1996, of $33,333 or less will receive a minimum annual increase of $1,000. Each eligible part-time employee in an authorized position will receive a prorated portion of the pay adjustments provided to full-time employees. These funds have been distributed at the discretion of the appropriate administrator via the Faculty/A&P raise file. Law Enforcement A&P employees will receive 4.5 percent increases.
C. Eligibility:
A&P employees must have been hired on or before December 31, 1996, to be eligible for the January 1, 1997, increase. All such A&P employees are eligible except those who have been formally non-renewed in coordination with University Personnel Services Employee Relations section.
Departments will need to submit the Form 250 (the A&P change order) to implement the $1,000 minimum increase for A&P employees who are hired on or before December 31, 1996, but after the Faculty/A&P raise file was finalized. Departments also must identify any A&P employees hired by December 31, 1996, who are not eligible for salary increases due to being non-renewed. Departments are responsible for ensuring these employees do not receive salary increases.

PLEASE NOTE:

  • Biweekly calculations for A&P and USPS employees are based on 26.1 pay periods per year.
  • Increases or lump-sum payments will be calculated on the employees annual base salary rates, exclusive of the leadworker salary additive, if any. The leadworker additive will be recalculated as 5 percent of the new base rate.
  • There will be no cash-out for special or overtime compensatory leave prior to the January 1, 1997, increase.
  • No personnel actions including hiring, reclassification, promotion, and reassignment may be implemented on January 1, 1997.
  • Classification and Compensation will provide a listing of lump-sum amounts and delayed increase amounts to each vice presidential area during the week of December 9, 1996.

INCREASE IMPLEMENTATION:

Implementation of the USPS salary increases in the payroll system by Information Systems and University Personnel Services has been targeted for the weekend of December 7, 1996. Departments are asked to check assigned pay increases for their areas after this scheduled implementation.

Appropriate USPS pay increases will be identified and implemented automatically based on ratings assigned in the University of Florida’s USPS performance appraisal system by close of business on December 2, 1996. As a result, starting on December 3, 1996, departments will need to attach Personnel Status Change Orders to implement appropriate salary increases for employees when submitting 1-New performance appraisals or appraisals that change documentation of below performance standards to that of achieves or exceeds performance standards. This procedure should be used until the end of the fiscal year. Please see below for information about employees who are assigned below performance standards appraisal ratings. USPS performance appraisals, along with the appropriate change orders, should be submitted to Employee Development, 329 Stadium, PO Box 115006, or to the appropriate personnel services office located across campus (see below under “Questions?”).

The effective date of a performance appraisal for purposes of USPS salary increase implementation will be the performance appraisals completion date, which is the date on which both the employee and his or her immediate supervisor sign the performance appraisal form (or the later of the two dates if different).

PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PROCEDURES:

Effective July 1, 1996, performance appraisals that document below performance standards work performance of USPS employees may now cover up to six months of activity. This is a departure from previous procedures where a below performance standards appraisal could document only up to 60 days of performance at any one time.

As in the past, supervisors are asked to contact the appropriate personnel services office located across campus (see below under “Questions?”) for special performance appraisals in the event a below performance standards appraisal needs to be completed. Annual appraisals should not be used to document below performance standards.

This change in time frame may affect employees who are rated at the below performance standards level as of January 1, 1997. Employees who have a current rating of below performance standards as of that date will not be eligible for the January 1, 1997, scheduled pay increases (although they may become eligible for delayed increases as described in this memorandum).

When an employee with a below performance standards as of January 1 increases to achieves or exceeds performance standards, we are recommending that his or her supervisor request a special performance appraisal to document the employee’s increased level of work performance. This documented rating, in turn, will allow the employee to be eligible for a delayed January 1, 1997, raise. (This increase will be effective the point at which the performance appraisal is completed; it will not be retroactive.) This increase in job performance must occur and be documented prior to July 1, 1997, in order to make the employee eligible for a delayed increase.

Employees will not be considered to be achieves by default until 6 months after the appraisal period end date of the performance appraisal originally documenting the employee’s below performance standards rating.

QUESTIONS?

Should you have questions about the increase guidelines or procedures, please call Steve Wing or Kris Pagenkopf of Classification and Compensation at 392-1213.

Questions related to performance appraisals may be directed to Sam Gibson or Jodi Gentry of Employee Development at 392-4626.

Questions regarding non-renewal of A&P employees or special performance appraisals for USPS employees may be addressed to the appropriate personnel services office located across campus.

  • For Education and General and Auxiliary units, contact Denise Bogart-Caballero at 392-6615.
  • For IFAS, contact Don Monroe at 392-1072.
  • For Health Affairs, contact Adrienne Oehrle at 392-3786.
  • For the Physical Plant Division, contact Kim Czaplewski at 392-2333.

Employees may address questions regarding their current appraisal ratings and particular salary issues to their departmental payroll/personnel administrators.

We appreciate your assistance with the implementation of these salary increases and look forward to a successful salary increase for University of Florida employees.

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