Legislative Bonuses for Faculty, TEAMS,and USPS and TEAMS and USPS Merit Pay Increases

David Colburn, Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Ed Poppell, Vice President for Finance and Administration

1. LEGISLATIVE BONUSES FOR FACULTY, TEAMS AND USPS
Effective December 1, 2004, each eligible Faculty, TEAMS, and USPS employee (except those with performance appraisal ratings of “below performance standards” or whose appointment has not been renewed) who was hired on or before July 1, 2004, and has been continuously employed by the University through December 1, 2004, shall receive a non-recurring one-time lump sum bonus payment of $1,000. These payments are subject to applicable taxes. Bargaining unit members may only receive the bonus subject to union negotiations. Each eligible part-time employee shall receive a bonus payment prorated based on the full-time equivalency of his or her position.

Departments do not have to input the bonuses into PeopleSoft, except for employees who return from an unpaid leave of absence or who have subsequently obtained satisfactory evaluations. For those exceptions, the bonus should be implemented in PeopleSoft as “Additional Pay” when the employee returns to pay status, or obtains a satisfactory evaluation. The effective date of the bonus should be the date on which the employee returns to work.

UF Bridges staff will create an Additional Pay record in late November for all current faculty, TEAMS, and USPS employees who have a hire date on or before July 1. Departments will be provided a list of these employees along with the account code from which the bonus will be taken. Departments will be responsible for reviewing the list to ensure that employees are eligible to receive the bonus (meaning that they do not have a below performance appraisal or have not had a contract nonrenewed). If the employee is eligible and the account code is correct, no action needs to be taken.

Departments are responsible for requesting changes to the bonuses (including those to be added or deleted) to Janet Malphurs for Faculty and Jennifer Curtis for TEAMS and USPS by Monday, November 29, at 5:00 P.M. This would include changes to the account code from which the employee is to be paid.

Employees who were in OPS, student assistant, or other non-salaried categories and who subsequently were hired into an eligible TEAMS, or faculty position after July 1, 2004, are not eligible.

The Office of the Governor will be allocating funds for employees paid from state appropriated funds only. Once these funds have been received, we will allocate those dollars to the units as appropriate. For employees who are funded from sources other than state dollars, it will be the responsibility of the unit to fund those bonuses.

BONUS IMPLEMENTATION:
Employees who are on unpaid leave are not eligible for the bonus until they return to pay status. For all others, the bonuses will be issued on the December 10, 2004, pay date.

“BELOW” PERFORMANCE APPRAISAL PROCEDURES:
Faculty, TEAMS, and USPS employees who have a performance rating of “below performance standards” as of November 15, 2004, are not eligible for this bonus.

These bonuses cannot be rescinded retroactively in the event an employee is assigned a “below performance standards” rating for the time period to include November 15, 2004. Only “below performance standards” ratings actually issued on or before November 15, 2004, will affect bonus eligibility.

FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS ABOUT THE LEGISLATIVE BONUSES:

Do 9- and 10-month employees get $1000 or is it prorated based on months employed?
•   They receive $1000 if employed at 1.0 FTE. It is to be prorated only if they are employed at less than 1.0 FTE

If faculty members are on sabbatical at .50 FTE, do they get $500 or $1000?
•   They will receive $1000.

Would employees on intermittent leave be eligible to receive a bonus?
•   Yes, employees on intermittent leave have Active time reporter status, and may be eligible to receive a bonus?

If an employee is on paid Leave of Absence (such as FMLA), does he/she get the $1000 now or when he/she returns from Paid Leave?
•   He/she is to receive the bonus on December 1. This is true also if the employee is using paid leave intermittently.

If someone changes FTE between 7/1 and 12/1, either up or down, on which FTE should the bonus be based?
•   It will be paid on the FTE in effect December 1.

Will faculty paid from both state sources and AEF funds receive a bonus for each source?
•   AEF faculty will receive the bonus only on the state source. No employee is to receive more than $1000.

2. TEAMS AND USPS MERIT INCREASES
Merit increases given to eligible employees will be effective January 28, 2005. In mid-December, departmental administrators will be provided access to a file to enter the merit increases. They will be asked to enter all increases by the week of January 17, with no further changes after January 21. It will be important to have all increases identified and entered in this process. There will be no offcycle checks or retroactive appointments approved related to these increases. Additional instructions will be provided with the file in mid-December.

Regarding an employee’s eligibility for a merit increase, the following guidelines apply:

•   Employees must be in an established position and on payroll on or before July 1, 2004. Time in an OPS position will not count toward this six-month period.
•   Employees who have had a probationary period extended are not eligible.
•   OPS and visiting personnel are not eligible.
•   Employees whose contract has not been renewed are not eligible.
•   Employees who are currently in an official layoff or time-limited ending status will not be eligible.
•   Employees who have received a final letter of dismissal will not be eligible.
•   Employees who have received a final letter of suspension in the last 12 months will not be eligible.
•   Employees who have received a written reprimand in the last 12 months will not be eligible.
•   Employees with outstanding proposed disciplinary actions will not be eligible if discipline is actually imposed.
•   Bargaining unit members may only receive the merit increase subject to union negotiations.
•   Employees currently rated below standards are not eligible for a merit increase.
•   Merit increases will not be rescinded should the employee subsequently recieve a “below” rating.

We recommend that a recent performance evaluation be used to support the basis of the merit increase.

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