Board of Regents policy (8.2.14) states that each USG institution shall establish a compensation plan consistent with the guidelines issued in the Human Resources Administrative Practices Manual. Institutions may adjust employee compensation as a result of multiple factors to include merit adjustments, promotions, and counter offers. UGA faculty salaries are recommended for approval to the Provost or President by the cognizant major unit leader (e.g. dean or vice president). Methods for determining the offered salaries are developed within each major unit. The compensation rate for individual positions is primarily established by relevant competitive markets, as well as consideration of the impact of individual salaries on the unit’s mission, as feasible within the unit’s budget. Starting salaries shall be determined on the basis of the specific requirements of the position and the qualifications of the individual employed to fill the position. Criteria for setting salaries shall include the academic rank, the academic discipline, and the nature of the responsibilities to be performed. Criteria related to the qualifications of the individual shall include:

1. Academic degrees earned; 
2. Teaching and other relevant experience;
3. Research and publication record;
4. Academic achievements and honors; and,
5. Relevant professional achievements or recognitions.

Any changes or additions to base faculty salaries should be made in agreement with the following policies.

According to the University System of Georgia Human Resources Administrative Practice Manual, salary and wage adjustments may be awarded to employees in the University System when an equity or administrative adjustment is deemed necessary and on an annual basis provided performance warrants the adjustment. The annual increase will be in the form of a merit increase and developed in conjunction with the budget development process. Equity adjustments also may be developed in conjunction with the budget development process. All adjustments are contingent upon available funding.

Salaries should be adjusted at the beginning of each faculty member’s annual contract year except as noted below. Units should not inform a faculty member of any salary adjustment before all the required approvals have been obtained. It is inappropriate for a unit head to propose or to offer retroactive adjustments. All adjustments are contingent upon available funds.

Merit-based increases are determined each year as part of the budget development process. The merit-based salary pool may be funded as part of the state budget and varies depending on approval from the General Assembly. During the budget development process, the President and Provost will send out a memo outlining the merit-based salary pool amount and instructions for the annual budget process. Per USG BOR policy 8.3.5.1, each faculty member’s recommended salary will reflect the results of the previous year’s annual performance evaluation. Questions regarding the budget process and merit-based increases should be directed to Academic Fiscal Affairs.

A promotional raise will be added to the salary of faculty members who are promoted. This amount is in addition to any merit increases allocated within the respective units. Faculty members should receive an average or above merit increase within their departments in the same year when receiving a raise for promotion in rank, otherwise a specific justification must be given to the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.

Salary adjustments for promotion coincide with the contract start date. Each year, preset salary increases are approved by senior administration to correspond with the appropriate faculty promotion levels. Specific information about promotion levels will be distributed each year during budget development.

When a department wants to retain a faculty member who has an offer from another institution, a formal counter offer may be appropriate. Such retention efforts should be reserved for faculty members who have documented evidence of an offer. The appointment unit is not obligated to provide a counter offer. In formulating counter offers, units should keep in mind other aspects of the appointment, such as research support and modification of duties. If the new salary offered is less than or equal to 10% of the current salary and the cognizant dean or VP will fund the salary increase, then no further approval is needed beyond the dean or VP. If any salary funds are requested from central sources or the increase is greater than 10% of the current salary, then approval of the President or Provost is required. Counter offers must adhere to the Board of Regents (BOR) salary administration policy (8.2.14) and, therefore, may require the approval of the President and Chancellor. 

In rare situations, a preemptive offer may be appropriate at the discretion of the cognizant dean or VP and the concurrence of the President or Provost. Documented evidence of another organization’s interest in the faculty member must be provided and evaluated in these instances for consideration of a preemptive-offer. As with all counter offers, any offer must adhere to the Board of Regents (BOR) salary administration policy (8.2.14) and, therefore, may require the approval of the President and Chancellor.

Unit heads should monitor equity patterns across groups of similarly employed individuals. The results of these assessments should be reflected in annual merit raise recommendations implemented during the regular budget development cycle. In special cases, off-cycle requests, designed to retain highly productive faculty members, may be allowed. Off-cycle requests should be infrequent, and specific justification that supports offering an increase should be approved by the cognizant dean or VP with the concurrence of the President or Provost.

Full-time faculty may be hired into or asked to accept an administrative position or administrative responsibilities. Major administrative assignments may entail additional compensation, appropriate to the magnitude of duties.   

Depending on the administrative position and length of time to be served, a change to the faculty member’s contract type and/or additional compensation may be offered in the form of an administrative supplement to a base salary. The cognizant dean or VP must consider the appropriate type and level of compensation and receive the approval from the Provost to offer the additional compensation prior to any offer being made.

A salary supplement is an allocation beyond the base salary provided in recognition of the assumption of administrative responsibilities or the award of an endowed title. Such supplements shall be defined separately from the base salary in institutional salary documents and will not be considered in determining annual salary increases. Supplemental compensation is added at the beginning of the appointment and removed at its conclusion and should, in no circumstance, be retained after the responsibilities or title are no longer part of the faculty member’s duties or position. A letter of offer must spell out the specifics of any additional duties and the commensurate pay.

The amount of the supplement will be recognized and shown as such in an individual’s contract. A properly executed supplement agreement must be signed by all parties.

Only the base salary will be used for merit salary increases. Any increase made to the supplement will be a separate budgetary action and will require concurrence of the appropriate institutional administrators.

When a fiscal year administrative employee moves to an academic appointment as a faculty member, the salary shall be determined on the same basis as other faculty members with similar rank and experience within the department to which he/she will work or in other similar positions within the institution.

• If the individual is returning to a faculty position which he/she held prior to holding the administrative position, the adjusted salary will not be less than his/her faculty salary at the time of the transfer to the administrative position plus his/her salary percentage increases applied to the base salary, exclusive of any supplement, for each of the years during the period while holding the administrative position. Additionally, any amount greater than 75% of the administrative base salary requires concurrence of the appropriate institutional administrator.
• If the individual is transferring to a faculty position which he/she did not hold prior to holding an administrative position, the adjusted salary will not be less than the average salary of faculty in the appointment unit with the same rank and experience.

• To compute the conversion from an “A” to an “F” contract, divide the “A” contract salary by .75.
• To compute the conversion from an “F” to an “A” contract, multiply the “F” contract salary by .75.

Payment of compensation to faculty members for full-time employment during the summer session shall be at a rate not to exceed 33-1/3% of their regular nine (9) month compensation for the previous academic year.

I. Introduction

Areas of assignment at the University of Georgia include instruction, research, public service and administration. This policy addresses the assignment of EFT (equivalent full-time for budgetary purposes) for instructional responsibilities and course workload. And, the policy aims to recognize and support this understanding of instructional EFT and responsibilities.

Instructional responsibilities include teaching courses in face-to-face settings, in hybrid formats, and online. Instructional responsibilities also may include selecting, reviewing and preparing course materials and course syllabi; constructing exams, grading and evaluating students’ work; meeting with students outside the classroom; setting up laboratories and studios; arranging field experiences; developing courseware; developing new courses or restructuring the curriculum; writing textbooks and reading to stay current in one’s field. All of these activities may consume significant amounts of faculty time outside of the classroom. It is recognized that the aforementioned activities may account for the majority of time devoted to instruction.

Further, faculty involved in graduate instruction, especially at the doctoral level, teach students about advanced topics that are the subjects of active research in their disciplines. Therefore, the boundary between research and teaching at the doctoral level is largely indistinct. 

II. Relationship of credit hour expectations and allocation of instructional EFT

1. EFT reflects budgeted time and is calculated on a 0 to 1.0 scale. Faculty on a fiscal (12-month) contract will have an EFT total of 1.0.  Faculty on an academic (9-month) contract will have an EFT total of 0.75. Both types of contracts are considered full-time employment for the contract period.  
2. Deans have the responsibility to assign, reassign, and monitor EFT in all areas of assignment for all faculty based on the needs of the department/college and as approved by the Provost. Assignment of EFT should be reviewed annually to ensure it reflects changing workload needs.  
3. Academic Contract Faculty: Full-time faculty on academic contract whose EFT assignment is equally divided between teaching and research/service have an instructional EFT of .375 which provides for four 3-credit hour courses across the fall and spring semesters plus other instructional activities. Full-time faculty on academic contact whose EFT assignment is 100% instruction have responsibility for 24 credit hours or 4 courses per term (.75 EFT) during fall and spring semesters plus other instructional activities.
4. Fiscal Contract Faculty: Full-time faculty on fiscal contract whose EFT assignment is equally divided between teaching and research/service (.50 EFT) have responsibility for 16 credit hours or five 3-credit hour courses during the contract year. Full-time faculty on fiscal contract whose EFT assignment is 100% teaching have the largest credit hour responsibility at 32 credit hours (1.00 EFT) or ten 3-hour courses during the contract year. 

III. Considerations in aligning instructional workload and credit hour expectations

1. Class sizes and support provided to the instructor (e.g., graduate teaching/lab assistants) may factor into workload assignments. 
2. Credit hour reductions in instruction may be justified for department heads, undergraduate and graduate coordinators and others with specific administrative assignments related to instruction. Further, disciplinary norms may necessitate deviation from the basic expectations outlined above.
3. Faculty with a demonstrated record of strong and consistent extramural funding for research and/or public service and distinguished scholarship may receive instructional credit hour reductions on a case-by-case basis. 
4. Although all faculty are expected to mentor graduate and undergraduate students as part of their normal assigned duties, deans may consider awarding limited instructional EFT to faculty who supervise the research of an exceptionally large number of graduate or undergraduate students.
5. In all cases, EFT should match workload responsibilities and assignments, and any exceptions to these general standards by deans should be documented, in writing, and should be granted only for exceptional reasons.
6. For policies on additional/overload compensation, see UGA Academic Affairs Policy 1.07-7 Teaching Overload Compensation and Board of Regents Academic Affairs Policy 4.10 Faculty Overloads and Instructional Staff Responsibilities.

Note: Portions of this policy were adapted from the University of North Carolina Policy Manual.

Sources:

• Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, July 29, 2009, Revised January 24, 2014, Revised June 22, 2018.

 

 

Policy

Full-time employment requires a full commitment of working time and effort. Full-time employees are expected to complete their primary assignment. This work is to be accomplished without overload compensation. However, teaching overload compensation may be offered in limited and restricted situations of special need, with each case approved on an individual basis. Effective Fall Semester 2018, full-time employees with appropriate faculty rank may accept teaching overload service provided these services do not interfere or conflict with their primary assignment.

Authority

Board of Regents Academic Affairs Policy 4.10, Faculty Overloads and Instructional Staff Responsibilities, discourages the payment of extra compensation for teaching overload; therefore, payment of extra compensation for teaching overloads must be kept to an absolute minimum and must be justified by circumstances that clearly warrant such action.

This policy is developed in accordance with the instructional expectation set forth in UGA Academic Affairs Policy 1.07-8, Effort Assignment for Instructional Activities. 

Definitions

1. Full-time Employees. Employees with appropriate faculty rank, for the purposes of this policy, whose assignment is 100% time for either an academic or a fiscal year.
2. Teaching Overload Compensation. Payment for teaching services for credit courses rendered by a full-time employee in addition to the normal activity assigned by the employee’s Department Head and/or Dean.
3. Restricted Funds. Money received by the University that may be expended only in accordance with the guidelines established by an external agent.

Guidelines

1. Full-time employees must be budgeted 100% time for an entire year to qualify for consideration for overload teaching assignments.
2. Compensated overload teaching will be assigned by the Department Head and/or Dean. Compensated overload teaching should be assigned equitably among all employees who wish to participate and who have the expertise to teach the course requiring overload teaching. Teaching effectiveness may be a factor in assignment decisions.
3. Faculty members must be scheduled to teach a full load based on their budgeted instructional EFT prior to qualifying for teaching overload compensation. Employee’s Department Heads and/or Deans have the responsibility to determine individual full load teaching assignments. Full load teaching assignments must be consistent with UGA Academic Affairs Policy 1.07-8, Effort Assignment for Instructional Activities. 
4. Home Department Heads and Deans reserve the right to deny approval for overload teaching in cases where such teaching would interfere with assigned duties or the employee’s performance was rated less than satisfactory during the previous year’s performance evaluation.
5. Senior administrators at the dean’s level or higher, regardless of rank, do not qualify for teaching overload compensation.
6. Employees may teach no more than four credits as an overload for additional compensation during any one academic semester.
7. Overload teaching compensation is not permissible for summer terms.
8. Courses must meet minimum enrollment requirements to qualify for overload teaching compensation.
9. The compensation rate for approved overload teaching will be a dollar amount, determined by the requesting department, per overload course credit, up to a maximum of four credits.  
10. The teaching overload compensation policy is applicable to all courses listed in the UGA Course Offerings System. 
11. Courses taught as an overload for additional compensation may not be used for course banking against future teaching obligations.
12. Compensation for teaching overloads may not be paid from restricted funds.
13. Exceptions to this policy for executive education programs may be granted on a case-by-case basis by the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost.
14. The teaching overload policy does not apply to continuing education classes. Continuing education courses may qualify for extra compensation under BOR Policy 8.3.12.04, Research, Saturday Classes and Off-Campus Continuing Education, and should be submitted for approval using the Request for Extra Compensation for Faculty & Exempt Staff Form.

Procedures

All teaching overloads for compensation must be requested and approved in writing using the Request for Teaching Overload Compensation Form prior to the beginning of the term in which the class is taught.

1. On the form, documentation of work load for the requested semester must be provided when requesting overload teaching compensation.
2. A statement on the form requires information on how each budgeted component (e.g., instruction, research/scholarship, service, and/or administration) of the employee’s primary assignment will be met during the academic semester for which compensated overload teaching is sought. This section should be sufficiently detailed and quantitative to demonstrate to the various approving officials that the requesting employee’s primary assignment will not be adversely impacted by the overload teaching.
3. The requesting department head must provide a signed statement that no other qualified faculty member is available to teach, as part of his/her budgeted teaching load, the course for which overload compensation is sought.
4. Approvals must be granted by the employee’s department head and dean, the requesting department head and dean (if different than home department and dean), and the Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost prior to any services being performed.
5. Payment of the teaching overload compensation must be paid in full no later than the immediate conclusion of the semester for which the teaching services are performed but not prior to the completion of the course, which includes the submission of grade rolls.

Sources:

• Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost, July 29, 2009, Revised January 24, 2014, Revised June 22, 2018.

In accordance with Board of Regents policy and USG procedures, additional compensation may be paid to faculty and exempt University staff for participating in appropriate University instructional, research, or service activities when all four of the following conditions are met:

1. The work is carried in addition to a normal full load.
2. No qualified person is available to carry the work as part of his/her normal load.
3. The work produces sufficient income to be self-supporting.
4. The additional duties are not so heavy as to interfere with the performance of regular duties.

When additional compensation is paid, it shall be in line with compensation for performance of the employee’s normal duties. Prior approval in writing must be granted by the department head, dean/vice president, and provost/president.

Replaced by the UGA Conflicts of Interest, Conflicts of Commitment, and Outside Activities Policy, September 2019