MAPP 02.01.01 Section V. D. 1. “An increase may be made to an employee’s base pay when the employee moves to a more responsible job assigned to a higher pay grade.  Typically an employee would be eligible for a promotion after their initial probationary period is passed (from date of hire – exempt is 1 year, nonexempt is 6 months); and when their performance contributions have been documented; and when they have demonstrated the competencies, skills, and knowledge to move up to the next level in their career path or job family.”

Procedures for Career Ladder Promotions

Non-competitive promotions under this policy result in the employee’s current position changing to a new job which is one step up on the career ladder.

Policy:

• Employee must be in the current job at least one year.
• The duties and responsibilities of the new job must be assigned to the employee on or before the date of the promotion.
• Employee must meet all of the qualifications for the new job. (Directly related work experience may be considered in lieu of degree requirements on a year-for-year basis, i.e. 4 years of experience is equal to a bachelor’s degree.)
• Performance contributions to the department or university must be documented.
• The promotional increase should raise the employee’s pay rate to at least the minimum of the new pay range, but not above the midpoint of the new pay range.
• Other factors to consider when determining the promotional increase include:
  • Rates paid to other employees in the new job
  • Number of grades between the old and new job
  • Changing from FLSA non-exempt to exempt
  • Competitive external pay data, if available

Procedure:

• All requests for promotions require the following documentation:
  • Position Request Form (PRF) (Job Reclass action/reason)
  • Personnel Action Request (PAR) (Pay Rate Change/Job Reclass)
  • Memo documenting performance contributions and basis for request

• Documents should be reviewed and approved by department and college/division approvers before they are submitted to Human Resources.  Incomplete packets will be returned for missing signatures and documents.
• Exceptions to any of these policies and procedures require additional justification and approval of the appropriate vice president (or designee) and Human Resources.

Promotions Outside Career Path

Philosophy:

New and/or significantly revised jobs and positions must be evaluated by the Human Resources Department in order to assign them to their appropriate grades. Requests for job evaluation will be made in writing by the appropriate dean or division head to the director of the Human Resources Department.

Requests may be triggered by a substantial and permanent change in duties or requirements of an individual position or in the majority of individual positions within a job title. In some cases, the creation of a proposed new job title may be required.  For a change in duties or requirements to merit re-evaluation, it should meet these criteria:

• It is a permanent change in duties -- not a special project or short-term assignment;
• The addition, deletion, or change affects a duty that constitutes a significant portion of the job (at least 15%);
• The duty which is added, deleted, or changed is substantially different in level and type from the balance of the job duties so that it seems reasonable that the change in that one duty would affect the evaluation of the job on one or more job evaluation factors; or
• The levels of education or experience required for the job noticeably change. These requirements should reflect standards for satisfactory job performance, not an incumbent's qualifications.

Procedure:

• The college or division business administrator completes a "Position Request Form" for new positions. With the request for a new position classification a completed Job Analysis Questionnaire (JAQ) must be submitted with the form. If a re-evaluation of an existing position is requested, a copy of the current job description should be attached with the proposed changes indicated.
• The PRF, JAQ, and a memo of explanation and justification should be reviewed and approved by department and college/division approvers before sending to Human Resources.
• Compensation staff in the Human Resources Department will review the request to determine whether additional information is needed to achieve a clear understanding of the job. If necessary, a desk audit will be conducted.
• After all necessary information has been gathered, Compensation staff will review the change in duties and requirements to determine whether the revised position should be classified under an existing job title or evaluated as a different title.
• If the position is not reclassified under an existing title, Compensation staff will evaluate the job using the job evaluation plan and preliminarily assign the job to a pay grade based on the job evaluation results.
• The preliminary job evaluation and pay grade assignment will be discussed with the college or division business administrator, and manager of the job as appropriate, to arrive at a final determination.
• Compensation staff will work with the college or division business administrator to develop a new or revised job description. When both parties agree the description will be finalized.
• The finalized new or revised description will be provided to the college or division business administrator and made available to the campus on the Human Resources web site. Administrators are responsible for making copies of descriptions for appropriate supervisory/managerial personnel.

Position Re-evaluations

When an employee’s duties have change so significantly that their official title and duties no longer are an appropriate reflection of their actual job, a JAQ should be submitted via the above-described process, requesting a re-evaluation.  A request for re-evaluation does not presume any particular outcome, and could result in a pay grade increase, decrease, or no change at all.

Employees whose jobs are re-evaluated to a higher pay grade may require adjustments to their base pay rates. Calculations of pay adjustments, if any, will normally be handled in the same manner as promotions. Any pay adjustment granted should raise an employee's pay to at least the minimum of the new pay range.

Re-evaluating a classification to a lower pay grade will not normally result in a reduction to an employee's pay. Nonetheless, a downgrade will require that if the current pay of any employee is above the new maximum, the employee's pay will be "red-circled" and all increases will be withheld until the compensation level is equal to or less than the new maximum.

Promotions

When an individual is promoted, his or her pay will normally be adjusted to reflect the new level of responsibility. In isolated situations, when an individual's base pay rate is at a higher level than rates paid to incumbents, an individual may be granted a promotion with no change in pay.

Any promotional increase should raise the employee's pay rate to at least the minimum of the pay range. Conversely, a promotional increase may not increase the employee's pay rate above the maximum of the new pay range.

The hiring college or division has full discretion for placing the pay rate of an exempt employee up to the midpoint. Recommended promotional increases which fall outside of these parameters are governed by normal university hiring procedures and approval processes. All promotional actions must be reviewed by the Compensation Section.

In determining recommended promotional increase amounts, the following factors are considered:

• rates paid to incumbents in the new position, both within hiring college or division and in other colleges and divisions throughout the University
• pay range for the new position and the difference in the number of pay grades between the old position and the new position
• performance level of the individual being promoted
• qualifications of the individual versus qualifications of incumbents in the same job in the college or division
• external salary survey data, if it is available
• change in FLSA designation overtime designation; i.e., a change from a nonexempt job to an exempt job.

The affected employee should not be notified of the proposed promotional increase amount until it has been approved by the Human Resources Department.

Demotions

New base pay rates of employees who are demoted to lower pay grades will be based primarily on the base pay rates of incumbents in the new classification.

A demotion may or may not result in a reduction in the employee's base pay rate. The new pay rate, however, must fall within the pay range of the new job. If the employee's pay falls above the maximum of the new pay range, the employee's pay must be reduced to at least the maximum of the pay range.

All demotions require prior approval by the director of the Human Resources Department.

Lateral Reclassifications

Lateral reclassifications occur when job responsibilities have changed but are similar in scope and responsibilities. The overall job requirements are comparable in the new job with the same pay grade as the old job.

Normally, there will be no change to the base pay rate of an employee who is laterally transferred. Under extraordinary circumstances, an employee may receive a salary increase on a lateral move. Any increase granted on a lateral move requires the approval of the director of the Human Resources Department.