MCS Summer Salary Policies

MCS Summer Salary Policies

Third Summer Month of Salary (June)

Background

The guideline of not affecting the E&GO budgets is, however, rather vague and its application has led to some undesirable contests between department heads and faculty members. This policy is designed to depersonalize this issue by setting forth guidelines that facilitate implementation. It will take effect July 1, 1987, and hence will be in effect for the first time during the 1987-88 academic year.

Please take this policy into account in planning your research chargeoffs.

The Policy

1. The month of June shall be considered to be associated with the academic year just completed (i.e., the academic year beginning September 1 and ending May 31); this academic year is contained in the same fiscal year (July 1-June 30) as the month of June under consideration.

2. June salary may be received in quanta of 1/4 month of salary. This provision is intended to allow some flexibility with respect to contract budgets and yet to prevent the administrative chaos that would result from a continuous scale.

3. In order to be eligible to receive either 1/4 or 1/2 month of salary during June, it is necessary to have charged at least one month of salary during the associated academic year to sponsored research. In order to be eligible to receive either 3/4 or a full month of salary during June, it is necessary to have charged at least two months of salary during the associated academic year to sponsored research. These thresholds of eligibility are consistent with the concept that the third month of summer salary should be an incentive for increased productivity.

4. Department Heads may, at their option, consider support (both stipend and tuition) of a graduate student by sponsored research during the year under consideration to be equivalent to chargeoff of one month of academic year salary. This provision is intended to allow some flexibility, with due consideration to fringe and overhead rates, rules of specific funding agencies, and individual departmental policies on graduate tuition rebates.

5. For cases in which two or more faculty are supported by funds from a single block grant, Department Heads may, by explicit approval of the Dean, use averages over the academic year salary chargeoff or graduate student support in order to determine eligibility for the group.

6. Approval of the funding agency and compliance with vacation policy are still required, as set forth in ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCEMENT 301 (see attachment).

7. Departments are at liberty to require more stringent chargeoffs to sponsored research in the context of departmental policies on teaching loads, graduate student support and graduate tuition rebates, but these requirements do not affect eligibility for June salary.

8. Explicit exceptions to this policy, for instance for the first summer of new hires, must be set forth in writing by the Department Head and approved in writing by the Dean.

OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT		ORGANIZATION ANNOUNCEMENT NO. 301
Carnegie Mellon University		May 28, 1982

SUBJECT: Summer Salary Policy

TO: Provosts, Academic Deans, and Academic Department Heads

This announcement is a University policy statement to establish the option for faculty members to earn 1/9 of their academic salary during the month of June from work on sponsored research contracts or grants.

Faculty members on an academic contract who have summer research support may request a third one-ninth salary payment for June. Each college will establish a set of guidelines that define eligibility. Requests will be reviewed by the department head and dean. They will be approved subject to the college guidelines on summer research support and University policy. Under no circumstances, however, will college E & GO allocations be increased to allow faculty to reduce academic salary support in favor of additional summer salary.

For an individual to be charged to a research account, that person must be working on the contract to which the salary will be charged during the month in which the salary will be charged. Individuals may not transfer effort from one month to another. Faculty who work full time during the entire summer will earn a total of one week of vacation time for the three months of effort. This week of paid vacation time may be taken during the summer months - June, July, or August - and charged to a sponsored research contract. Faculty who wish to take a summer vacation in excess of the normal one week accrual should not charge the additional vacation time to a sponsored research grant.

In addition to approval of the department head and dean, a faculty member must have the approval of the sponsoring agency before he or she may receive a third one-ninth payment. Some sponsoring agencies will not allow charges for a third one-ninth to their contracts. Other agencies limit increases in salary charges over the approved budget and require specific authorization. The Research Contracts Office can assist in clarifying whether or not a third one-ninth can be charged to a contract.

Guidelines for Additional (Non-Research) Summer Salaries