USPS and A&P Salary Increases Effective October 1, 1999

Published: September 8th, 1999

Category: Memos

Bob Willits, Interim Director

Understanding the many details associated with salary increases is important to you as an administrator. To assist you, 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 1999 Florida Legislature and are effective October 1, 1999.

Legislatively-driven eligibility criteria again are involved and will be explained below; therefore, we need and appreciate your assistance with the implementation process.

  1. All USPS classes other than Certified Law Enforcement and Professional Health Care: 
    1. Pay Ranges:
      Minimums and maximums will be increased by 2 percent. The new ranges are available on the web at http://www.ups.ufl.edu/cc/establishing/uspspaygrade99.pdf. Although a pay plan is no longer printed in hard copy, revised ranges for each class/county will be available as usual via the NERDC UF Occupation Code Browse. 
    2. Across-the-Board Adjustment:
      Effective October 1, 1999, all eligible full-time USPS employees (except Certified Law Enforcement and Professional Health Care employees) will have their September 30, 1999, base salaries increased by 2.8% or $1,000 ($38.32 biweekly or $.48 hourly), whichever is greater.Eligible part-time employees will receive proportional increases.
    3. Eligibility:
      All USPS employees (other than Certified Law Enforcement and Professional Health Care employees), except those with current performance appraisal ratings of “below performance standards,” hired on or before September 30, 1999, are eligible. Note that new hires are eligible to receive the increases on October 1, 1999, so long as they are hired on or before September 30, 1999. 
    4. Delayed Increases:
      Current employees who, as of September 30, 1999, have “below performance standards” appraisal ratings are not eligible to receive increases on October 1, 1999, and will not receive increases to bring their salaries up to the new minimums for their salary ranges on October1, 1999. If employees who have “below performance standards” ratings attain “achieves performance standards” or “exceeds performance standards” ratings on or before June 30, 2000, 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 below for details on implementation of these delayed salary increases. 
    5. Employees Above the Range Maximums:
      Eligible employees whose base rates of pay on September 30, 1999, are near, at, or above the maximums of the applicable pay grades will receive the increases listed above based on their current salaries. 
  2. USPS Certified Law Enforcement Classes: 
    1. Step Pay Plan Adjustment:
      Effective October 1, 1999, each step in the salary range will be increased by 2.8% or $1,000, whichever is greater. The new step plan is available on the web at http://www.ups.ufl.edu/cc/establishing/leostep99.pdf.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 whose salaries exceed Step 13 will receive the increases listed above.
    2. Step Increase:
      Employees will remain on their current step. 
    3. Eligibility:
      All employees in Certified Law Enforcement classes, except those with current performance appraisal ratings of “below performance standards,” are eligible. Note that new hires are eligible to receive the increases on October 1, 1999, so long as they are hired on or before September 30, 1999. 
    4. Delayed Increases:
      Employees who have “below performance standards” appraisal ratings in effect on September 30, 1999, will receive the salary increases if they attain “achieves” or “exceeds performance standards” ratings on or before June 30, 2000. 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 October 1, 1999, will be “off step” unless and until delayed increases are received.

     

  3. USPS Professional Health Care Classes: 
    1. Step Pay Plan Adjustment:
      Effective October 1, 1999, each step in the salary range will be increased by 2.8% or $1,000, whichever is greater. The new step plan is available on the web at http://www.ups.ufl.edu/cc/establishing/healthstep99.pdf.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 whose salaries exceed Step 20 will receive the increases.
    2. Step Increase:
      Employees will remain on their current steps. 
    3. Eligibility:
      All employees in Professional Health Care classes, except those with current performance appraisal ratings of “below performance standards,” are eligible. Note that new hires are eligible to receive the increases on October 1, 1999, so long as they are hired on or before September 30, 1999. 
    4. Delayed Increases:
      Employees who have “below performance standards” appraisal ratings in effect on September 30, 1999, will receive the salary increases if they attain “achieves” or “exceeds performance standards” ratings on or before June 30, 2000. 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 October 1, 1999, will be “off step” until and unless delayed increases are received. 
    5. Competitive Area Differentials (CADs):
      For employees in counties designated by the SUS to receive a CAD, the CAD must be removed before calculating salary increases and then re-added.

     

  4. Administrative and Professional (A&P) Classes: 
    1. Pay Ranges:
      Minimums and maximums will be increased by 2 percent. The new ranges are available on the web at http://www.ups.ufl.edu/cc/establishing/appaygrade99.pdf. 
    2. Across-the-Board Adjustment:
      Effective October 1, 1999, all full-time A&P employees hired on or before June 30, 1999, other than those who have been non-renewed will have their base salaries increased by 2.8% or $1,000, whichever is greater.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 may be paid below the minimums of the pay ranges. Note that there will be no delayed increases for A&P employees.
    3. Eligibility:
      A&P employees must have been hired on or before June 30, 1999, to be eligible for the October 1, 1999, increase. All such A&P employees are eligible except those who have been formally non-reappointed or appraised as not meeting performance standards in coordination with University Personnel Services’ Employee Relations & Development section. Departments must identify any A&P employees hired by June 30, 1999, who are not eligible for salary increases due to being non-renewed. Departments are responsible for ensuring that increases are not received by employees who do not meet eligibility requirements.Employees who were hired as USPS by June 30, 1999, but who subsequently promoted or were reclassified to A&P prior to October 1, 1999, 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, 1999, 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 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).
  • Leadworker additive: 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.
  • At the departments’ discretion, accrued overtime and special compensatory leave may be cashed out before the October 1 pay increase. Any such cash-out will need appropriate budgetary approval. Departments may elect to cash-out all or any amount of accrued overtime and special compensatory leave; require employees to use the compensatory leave; or allow the compensatory leave to remain “on the books” available for use until the normal cash-out at the end of the fiscal year. There is no cash-out for accrued regular compensatory leave. To cash-out overtime or special compensatory leave for an employee, a change order must be sent to Processing and Records, PO Box 115004, stating the number of hours to be cashed out and supplemental certification must be completed and sent to Payroll Services. The supplemental is titled “Certification for Payment of Special Compensatory Leave.” As a matter of information, this supplemental payment is processed on a two-week cycle, and the payment is usually received on the non-payday Friday. Make sure to base the employee’s cash-out on his or her rate of pay prior to October 1, 1999. Questions about how to complete paperwork to effect the cash-out may be directed to Processing and Records at 392-1204, SC 622-1204. Questions about supplemental certifications may be directed to Payroll at 392-1231, SC 622-1231.
  • No personnel actions, including hiring, reclassification, promotion, and reassignment, may be implemented on October 1, 1999.
  • Classification and Compensation will provide a listing of delayed increase amounts to each vice presidential area during the week of September 13, 1999.

USPS INCREASE IMPLEMENTATION:
Employees who are on extended leaves of absence and 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.

Employees who are on unpaid leave are not eligible for the increase until they return to pay status. The increase should be implemented with the change order or Form 250 that returns the employee to pay status.

Implementation of the USPS salary increases in the payroll system by Information Systems and University Personnel Services has been targeted for the weekend of September 10, 1999. 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 September 7, 1999. As a result, starting immediately, 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.” USPS performance appraisals, along with the appropriate change orders, should be submitted to Employee Relations and Development, 317 Stadium, PO Box 115003, 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 September 30, 1999, 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:
USPS employees who have a current rating of “below performance standards” as of September 30, 1999, will not be eligible for the October 1, 1999, scheduled pay increases (although they may become eligible for delayed increases as described in this memorandum).

Pay increases will not be removed retroactively in the event an employee is assigned a “below performance standards” rating for the time period to include October 1, 1999. Only “below performance standards” ratings assigned prior to or on September 30, 1999, will affect salary increase eligibility.

When an employee with a “below performance standards” as of October 1, 1999, increases to “achieves” or “exceeds performance standards,” we recommend 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 October 1, 1999, 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, 2000, 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 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, SC 622-1213, TDD 392-7734, or send e-mail to classcomp@ufl.edu.

Questions related to performance appraisals may be directed to Employee Relations and Development at 392-1072, SC 622-1072, TDD 392-7734, or emprel@ufl.edu.

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.

  • For Education and General and Auxiliary units, contact Laura Robertson at 392-6615, SC 622-6615, TDD 392-6615, or laura-robertson@ufl.edu.
  • For IFAS, contact Nicole Gregory at 392-4777, SC 622-4777, TDD 392-7734, or nicole-gregory@ufl.edu.
  • For Health Affairs, contact Lisa Hodges at 392-3786, SC 622-3786, TDD 392-7734, or lhodges@vpha.health.ufl.edu.
  • For the Physical Plant Division, contact Sherry Larson at 392-2333, SC 622-2333, TDD 392-7734, or slarson@ppd.ufl.edu.

Employees should address questions regarding their current appraisal ratings and particular salary issues with their supervisors and/or departmental payroll/personnel administrators.

We appreciate your assistance with the successful implementation of these salary increases for University of Florida employees.

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