Editor's notes:Editor's notes:
TITLE: Compensation, Volume III of Carnegie Mellon's Staff Handbook: A Human Resources Guide
DATE OF ISSUANCE: The staff handbook was most recently revised effective July 1, 2007.
ACCOUNTABLE DEPARTMENT/UNIT: Human Resources. Questions on policy content should be directed to Barbara Smith, Associate Vice President for Human Resources, x8-4747.
For the remainder of the handbook, see:
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In This Section
If you are in a classified position, your salary or wage must be at least the minimum of the pay range assigned. The current schedule of pay ranges for classified positions is available upon request from the Human Resources Service Center (x8-4747).
All pay ranges for classified positions are reviewed each year. During this review, pay ranges may be adjusted based on internal equity, job market factors outside the university and budgetary allocations.
Your pay is normally reviewed annually and increases are based on performance. Pay changes are usually effective July 1. The timing of the annual review may be delayed for staff serving provisional periods.
All employees of the university are required to complete a Form I-9, Employment Eligibility Verification, no later than 72 hours after starting employment. This form can be completed as soon as the offer letter is accepted and signed by the new employee. Failure to complete this form will result in termination of employment from the university.
Most regular, full-time staff are paid on the last workday of the month. Part-time staff and some temporary, full-time staff are paid on an hourly basis and receive paychecks every other Friday for all hours worked in the two preceding workweeks. When a university holiday falls on a Friday payday, paychecks will be issued earlier in the week.
Your check or advice of direct deposit will usually be made available within your department.
Checks not picked up on payday will be available for two weeks at the Payroll office at the UTDC on Henry Street, Monday through Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. After two weeks, checks will be mailed to the address of record.
Each pay period you will receive a statement of earnings showing the pay period, gross and net amounts of pay, and amounts reduced or deducted for both that pay period and the year to date.
Direct deposit of pay may be authorized to over 31,000 financial institutions nationwide. To initiate automatic direct deposit of your pay, an “Authorization for Direct Deposit” must be completed and filed with Payroll Services to initiate automatic deposit of your pay. Certain financial institutions offer free services when direct deposit is used. Consult your bank or financial institution. You may also request a direct deposit form via the Financial Services website: https://www.as.cmu.edu/~fsg/payroll.
Questions about your paycheck should be directed to your department business administrator or Payroll Services at x8-2097.
Federal income tax and Social Security tax (FICA) are normally withheld from all staff members' pay. All staff members are required by federal law to complete a Form W-4, Employee's Withholding Allowance Certificate, regardless of citizenship status. However, if you are a citizen of a foreign country here on a visa status, you may be exempt from federal withholding based on a tax treaty between your country and the United States. Questions concerning tax treaties should be directed to Payroll Services at x8-2097.
Staff holding a visa type of F-1 or J-1 are exempt from FICA withholding for two calendar years. If during the third calendar year the employee is present in the United States for at least 183 days, then FICA withholding will apply to all of the third calendar year earnings. Staff holding a visa type of H-1 are subject to FICA withholding.
All staff members are subject to Pennsylvania state income tax withholding except those who claim residence in Indiana, Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Virginia or West Virginia. Staff claiming residence in one of these six states must file a state residence form with Payroll Services.
Initially, all staff are considered residents of the City of Pittsburgh, subject to Pittsburgh wage income tax, with two exceptions: staff with a visa status or who claim residence in another state are entered for the Pittsburgh non-resident wage income tax. Residents of the Pittsburgh School District, as determined by postal zip code, will have Pittsburgh school wage income tax deducted. Staff residing outside the City of Pittsburgh may be exempted from city tax by filing a Non-Resident Employees Exemption Certificate (Form WTEX), available from department business administrators or from Payroll Services.
All staff are also subject to the Pittsburgh occupation privilege tax, deducted annually. If you already had an occupation privilege tax withheld during the current calendar year by any taxing authority within Pennsylvania, you can file for exemption from the Pittsburgh tax by providing Payroll Services with a copy of the occupation privilege tax receipt given to you by your previous employer.
Carnegie Mellon is obligated by federal and state law to attach, or withhold, money from your paycheck for child support, unpaid student loans or unpaid federal, state, local municipality or school taxes, or upon other court order.
If your paycheck is lost or stolen, contact Payroll Services at x8-2097 immediately. After the bank has notified Payroll Services that payment of the check has been stopped, Payroll Services will issue a new check.
Under certain limited circumstances, e.g., where services have been rendered but an HREM deadline has been missed, a payroll advance may be available. Any payroll advance will be recovered in full from the staff member's next regular paycheck. For further information, contact your department business administrator.
A position's exempt/non-exempt status is determined in accordance with criteria established by the Department of Labor through the Fair Labor Standards Act.
If you have more than one position or appointment at Carnegie Mellon, you are considered either exempt or non-exempt, never both at the same time. In other words, all your appointments must have the same exempt or non-exempt status.
If you are non-exempt, the university is required by federal law to pay you a regular hourly wage. (Full-time, non-exempt employees at Carnegie Mellon receive a monthly salary, which is calculated using this hourly wage.) The university is also required to pay you overtime at the rate of one and one-half times your regular hourly rate for all hours you work over 40 in a given workweek. You also come under the minimum wage requirements of the law. Time records are required for all non-exempt staff members.
If you are exempt, the university is required to pay you a salary; salary levels for exempt staff should reflect the total compensation for all services provided. The nature of exempt positions may require exempt employees to work more than regularly scheduled hours in a given workweek. Exempt employees are not eligible for overtime pay, do not complete an hourly time card, and are not covered by the overtime pay provisions of the federal Fair Labor Standards Act. These employees are paid on a salary basis and they are not eligible for overtime even if they work more than 40 hours in a workweek.
Hourly and salaried, non-exempt staff are required to keep time records verifying their hours of work.
Hourly staff, paid biweekly, must record hours worked on an Hourly Time Card and return it to their supervisor. Each Hourly Time Card covers a two-week period beginning at 12:01 a.m. Monday.
Salaried, non-exempt staff, paid monthly, must complete an Attendance/Exception Hours Report Form for their supervisor every month. The reporting period usually runs from the middle of one month to the middle of the next.
Hourly Time Cards and Attendance/Exception Hours Report Forms are used to compute and issue paychecks, so accuracy is essential. For this reason, non-exempt staff members are required to review, sign and return to their supervisor Hourly Time Cards and Attendance/Exception Hours Report Forms by the designated deadline each pay period.
If you do not know your exempt/non-exempt status, check with your supervisor. For additional information, contact Human Resources at 8-4747
The official workweek at Carnegie Mellon begins at 12:01 a.m. every Monday and ends at midnight the following Sunday night. The regular workweek for full-time staff at Carnegie Mellon is 37.5 hours. Hours worked between 37.5 and 40 are paid at your regular hourly rate. Hours worked in excess of 40 in a workweek are paid at one and one-half times the regular hourly rate. All time worked in excess of a non-exempt staff member's regularly scheduled hours should be approved in advance by the supervisor.
If you work in more than one position at Carnegie Mellon and work over 40 hours in a given workweek, your overtime is calculated based on the average hourly rate of the combined positions.
Paid Time Off (PTO) and floating holidays are not considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime. However, regularly scheduled university holidays are considered time worked for the purpose of calculating overtime. For example:
Again, Carnegie Mellon does not pay additional compensation to exempt staff for any hours worked over 37.5 in a given workweek.
A Position Description (PD) describes the functions, minimum requirements and qualifications, and other job content elements for a particular position. A copy of your individual PD should be maintained in the Talent Management System (TMS)-Position Module by your department and should be available for your review upon request from your supervisor.
Each position is classified based on its function, responsibility and other elements of job content. Some of the job content elements include: minimum requirements needed to perform the job properly; percentages of time and effort spent performing the functions associated with the position; level of supervision received and exercised; level of accountability; and the impact of decisions made by the position.
If the functions, minimum requirements and qualifications, and other job content elements of a position have significantly changed or have been restructured, a formal reclassification/job evaluation review may be requested.
If you believe your position has changed and should be formally reviewed for reclassification, you should discuss this with your supervisor.
The first step in the reclassification review process is rewriting your PD. You may write your PD yourself, you and your supervisor may perform this step jointly, or your supervisor may write the description. The PD and guidelines for writing a PD are available on the Human Resources Web site or upon request from your human resources manager.
Once rewritten, the PD should be reviewed and approved by your supervisor and department head to verify the accuracy of the description. Following the departmental review and approval, the PD should be electronically submitted for reclassification via the Talent Management System for review by Human Resources. Once approved, Human Resources will conduct a review of your position. This review is based on the information in the PD and may include:
After Human Resources completes the review of your position, your department supervisor will be notified of the results. Your supervisor will advise you of the results of the reclassification review.
If your department is not satisfied with the determination, the department head may discuss the issue with the human resources manager and the associate vice president for human resources. The request may be reconsidered based on additional information.
A position upgrade or promotion occurs when a reclassification review results in a classification with a higher salary range or when someone transfers to a vacant position at a higher grade. Generally, a position upgrade or promotion results in a salary increase to at least the minimum of the higher salary range.
A lateral change occurs when a reclassification review, a transfer from one department to another, or a reassignment within the same department results in your work being placed in a different position or classification within the same salary grade. In most cases, your current salary is not affected by a lateral change
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