USPS and A&P Salary Increases Effective January 1, 1998
Jack Heidler, Director
Because salary increases are important to all of us, 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 1997 Florida Legislature and are effective January 1, 1998.
Legislatively-driven eligibility criteria again are involved and will be explained below; therefore, we need and appreciate your assistance with the implementation process.
I. All USPS classes other than Certified Law Enforcement and Professional Health Care:
A. Pay Ranges:
Minimums and maximums will be increased by 3 percent. (See Attachment 1.) A revised USPS Pay Plan will not be published in hard copy but will be available as usual via the NERDC UF Occupation Code Browse. A downloadable version of the pay plan will appear later on University Personnel Services’ Web site.
B. Across-the-Board Adjustment:
Effective January 1, 1998, all full-time USPS employees (except Certified Law Enforcement and Professional Health Care employees) hired on or before December 31, 1997, except those with current performance appraisal ratings of “below performance standards,” will have their December 31, 1997, base salaries increased as follows:
December 31, 1997 salary Increase
< $20,000.99 annually $1,200 annually ($45.98 biweekly or $0.58 hourly)
$20,001.00 to $36,000.99 annually $1000 annually ($38.32 biweekly or $0.48 hourly)
> $36,001.00 annually 2.78%
Eligible part-time employees will receive proportional increases. Note that new hires are eligible to receive the increases on January 1, 1998, so long as they are hired on or before December 31, 1997.
C. Delayed Increases:
Current employees who, as of December 31, 1997, have “below performance standards” appraisal ratings are not eligible to receive increases on January 1, 1998, and will not receive increases to bring their salaries up to the new minimums for their salary ranges on January 1, 1998. If employees who have “below performance standards” ratings attain “achieves performance standards” or “exceeds performance standards” ratings on or before June 30, 1998, they will receive the increases indicated above. Such increases will be effective on the completion dates of their performance appraisals and will not be retroactive. Please see pages 5 and 6 of this memorandum for details on implementation of these delayed salary increases.
D. Employees Above the Range Maximums:
Eligible employees whose base rates of pay on December 31, 1997, are near, at, or above the maximums of the applicable pay grades will receive the increases listed above based on their current salaries.
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 now is considered part of the base pay. As such, the CAD amount will not be removed from an employee’s salary prior to calculating the salary increase. The CAD amounts will not change on January 1, 1998.
II. USPS Certified Law Enforcement Classes:
A. Step Pay Plan Adjustment:
Effective January 1, 1998, each step in the salary range will be increased as follows.
Current annual step amount Increase to step
< $36,000.99 $1000 annually
> $36,001.00 2.78%
Each eligible employee’s 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.” Note that these new hires in law enforcement classes have no appraisal ratings and, therefore, are not eligible. Eligible employees whose salaries exceed Step 13 will receive the increases listed above.
B. Step Increase:
Employees will remain on their current steps.
C. Delayed Increases:
Employees hired on or before December 31, 1997, who have no appraisal ratings and those current employees who have “below performance standards” appraisal ratings in effect on December 31, 1997, will receive the salary increases if they attain “achieves” or “exceeds performance standards” ratings on or before June 30, 1998. Such delayed increases will be effective upon the completion dates of the performance appraisals and will not be retroactive. Certified Law Enforcement employees who are not eligible for increases on January 1, 1998, will be “off step” unless and until delayed increases are received.
III. USPS Professional Health Care Classes:
A. Step Pay Plan Adjustment:
Effective January 1, 1998, each step in the salary range will be increased as follows.
Current annual step amount Increase to step
< $36,000.99 $1000 annually
> $36,001.00 2.78%
Each eligible employee’s salary will be adjusted to bring him or her to the adjusted step. Eligible part-time employees will receive proportional increases. Eligible employees are those with current performance appraisal ratings of at least “achieves performance standards.” Note that these new hires in professional health care classes have no appraisal ratings and, therefore, are not eligible. Eligible employees whose salaries exceed Step 20 will receive the increases listed above.
B. Step Increase:
Employees will remain on their current steps.
C. Delayed Increases:
Employees hired on or before December 31, 1997, who have no appraisal ratings and those current employees who have “below performance standards” appraisal ratings in effect on December 31, 1997, will receive the salary increases if they attain “achieves” or “exceeds performance standards” ratings on or before June 30, 1998. Such delayed increases will be effective upon the completion dates of the performance appraisals and will not be retroactive.
Professional Health Care employees who are not eligible to receive increases on January 1, 1998, will be “off step” until and unless delayed increases are received.
IV. Administrative and Professional Classes:
A. Pay Ranges:
Minimums and maximums will be increased by 3 percent. (See Attachment 1.)
B. Across-the-Board Adjustment:
Effective January 1, 1998, all full-time A&P employees hired on or before June 30, 1997, will have their December 31, 1997, base salaries increased as follows:
December 31, 1997 salary Increase
< $20,000.99 annually $1,200 annually ($45.98 biweekly)
$20,001.00 to $36,000.99 annually $1000 annually ($38.32 biweekly)
> $36,001.00 annually 2.78%
Eligible employees whose salaries exceed the maximums of their pay grades will receive the increases indicated above. Eligible part-time employees will receive proportional increases. Employees who are not eligible for the increases and those whose increases are less than the pay range adjustments may be paid below the minimums of the pay ranges. Note that there will be no delayed increases for A&P employees.
C. Eligibility:
A&P employees must have been hired on or before June 30, 1997, to be eligible for the January 1, 1998, 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 must identify any A&P employees hired by June 30, 1997, who are not eligible for salary increases due to being non-renewed. Departments are responsible for ensuring these employees do not receive salary increases.
Employees who were hired as USPS by June 30, 1997, but who subsequently promoted or were reclassified to A&P prior to December 31, 1997, are eligible. However, employees who were in OPS, student assistant, post-doc, or other non-salaried categories and who subsequently were hired in A&P positions after June 30, 1997, are not eligible. Departments should review the assignments for all employees to ensure that the increases are given to all eligible employees and not to ineligible employees.
PLEASE NOTE:
Biweekly calculations for A&P and USPS employees are based on 26.1 pay periods per year.
Hourly calculations for USPS employees are based on 2088 work hours per year (26.1 biweekly periods X 80 hours per biweekly period).
USPS increases 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.
Classification and Compensation will provide a listing of delayed increase amounts to each vice presidential area during the week of December 8, 1997.
USPS INCREASE IMPLEMENTATION:
Employees who are on extended leaves of absence who are using paid leave, even if intermittently, are eligible for the increases provided they meet the other applicable eligibility criteria outlined above. Departments should review assignments of all such employees to ensure that the increases were implemented. If an increase was not given, please submit a change order to implement the increase.
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 6, 1997. 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 5, 1997. As a result, starting on December 6, 1997, departments will need to attach Personnel Status Change Orders to implement appropriate salary increases for employees when submitting performance appraisals that change documentation of “below performance standards” to that of “achieves” or “exceeds performance standards.” For law enforcement and professional health care classes, a change order should be sent along with all 1-New appraisals. 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 satellite office located across campus (see below-under “Questions?”).
Note that an employee’s delayed salary increase amount is determined by his or her salary on December 31, 1997, and the increase amount is not affected by subsequent promotion increases that may occur prior to the “achieves” or “exceeds” performance appraisal rating.
The effective date of a performance appraisal for purposes of USPS salary increase implementation will be the performance appraisal’s 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).
“BELOW” PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PROCEDURES:
Employees who have a current rating of “below performance standards” as of December 31, 1997, will not be eligible for the January 1, 1998, scheduled pay increases (although they may become eligible for delayed increases as described in this memorandum).
Pay increases will not be removed retroactively, as has been past practice, in the event an employee is assigned a “below performance standards” rating for the time period to include January 1, 1998. Only ratings assigned prior to or on December 31, 1997, will affect salary increase eligibility.
When an employee with a “below performance standards” as of January 1, 1998, 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, 1998, 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 on or before June 30, 1998, 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, Suncom 622-1213, TDD 392-7734.
Questions related to performance appraisals may be directed to Sam Gibson or Jodi Gentry of Employee Development at 392-4626, Suncom 622-4626, TDD 392-7734.
Questions regarding non-renewal of A&P employees or special performance appraisals for USPS employees may be addressed to the appropriate personnel satellite office located across campus.
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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