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How is Compensation Services different from Payroll?

Compensation Services studies and recommends the pay levels assigned to UT Health positions based on the duties and responsibilities of those positions. The Payroll staff calculates and issues payroll checks based on hours worked.

What is a Serious Health Condition?

The most common serious health conditions that qualify for FML are:

  • Condition requiring an overnight stay in a hospital or other medical care facility.
  • Conditions that incapacitate you or a family member for more than three consecutive days and require ongoing medical treatment.
  • Chronic conditions that cause occasional periods when you or a family member are incapacitated and require treatment by a health care provider.
  • Pregnancy, including prenatal medical appointments, incapacity due to morning sickness and medically required bed rest.

What is a Salary Range?

The range of pay rates, from minimum to maximum, established for a pay grade. Salary ranges are used to establish the range of pay for a specific job.

How do I find out what my salary range is?

The Job Description page includes a job aid with instructions on how to access your salary range through Employee Self-Service.

How do I know when a position should be reclassified?

If you are an employee and you believe that your role’s essential functions have changed to an extent that they now differ from the essential functions of your role when you first entered the job, you should contact your immediate supervisor to discuss the changes to determine if a reclassification of your role should be considered. If you are a supervisor or manager, and you believe that a role you supervise should be considered for reclassification, you should compare the essential functions of the position, the primary duties of the position, how the job is characterized, the kind of decisions that are made by incumbents in this position, and the supervision exercised to determine that it may be time to review the position. If only the volume of work has changed, but the essential functions have not changed, a reclassification is usually not indicated. Reclassifications are based on the functions of the position changing, not the qualifications or performance of an incumbent, or based on the longevity of the incumbent.

How do I get promoted?

A promotion is where an existing employee is selected as the most qualified candidate for an existing vacant position in a higher salary range. Once you have completed six months in your current position, you may apply for other positions at UT Health.

What is a Merit Increase?

A merit increase is a performance-based salary increase granted to an employee whose performance and productivity is consistently above that normally expected and required. A merit increase should not be confused with a market or equity adjustment.

Where do I find the Job Description for my role?

Job descriptions can be found in Employee Self Service. A job aid with instructions on how to access job descriptions is available through the Job Description page.

Where can I find help with writing Job Descriptions?

The guideline for writing a job description is a tool to walk you through the process with key attributes that are needed to complete the description. If you need further assistance please contact Compensation Services.

What is total compensation?

Total compensation is the complete pay package for employees, including all forms of monetary compensation, benefits, and services that are provided to the employee for performance of work for the organization.

What is the difference between a reclassification and a job description update?

A reclassification occurs when a job title is changed to appropriately align the title with the actual duties of the position. A job description update is a review of position which has had minimal changes and no change in classification level is anticipated.

What is red-circling?

An individual’s salary is red-circled if it is at the maximum of the established pay range for the assigned salary range. The incumbent is not eligible for further base pay increases until the range maximum is increased.

What is a non-exempt position?

A non-exempt job is subject to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) because of assigned duties and salary. Non-exempt employees will be paid at one-and-one half times the hourly rate for work performed in excess of 40 hours during the work week.

If a nonexempt employee works overtime without obtaining prior approval from his/her supervisor, is the department obligated to compensate premium overtime?

Yes. Overtime must always be authorized in advance by the supervisor. However, it still accrues as a liability when the employee works overtime and the supervisor knows or "should have known" that the work was performed and did nothing to stop it from occurring. Corrective action against the non-exempt employee who worked unauthorized overtime may be appropriate for failure to follow department procedure.

What is an equity adjustment?

Equity adjustments are salary changes outside of the normal salary programs (promotions, reclassifications, merits, etc.) to remedy internal salary compression. Equity adjustments are not granted to reward performance. For specific information on use of equity adjustments please contact Compensation Services.

How is the UTHealth holiday calendar developed?

A committee selects the holidays and Executive Council approves the annual holiday calendars. The committee is representative of UTHealth units and various campus committees. There are nine national holidays and eight state holidays which state employees are allowed to take. Each component can choose which holidays to celebrate provided they fall on a Monday through Friday. State employees are not entitled to a holiday if it falls on a weekend, hence the variability in the number of holidays from year to year. The model used to develop the calendar is to count the total number of holidays that fall on a Monday through Friday and subtract the CORE holidays for UTHealth. The committee then determines the remaining holidays, which vary up to six days.

What are “CORE” holidays at UTHealth?

In 1993 Executive Council approved the following nine core holidays to be observed each year:

  • Labor Day (1 day)
  • Thanksgiving (2 days)
  • Christmas (2 days)
  • New Year’s Day (1 day)
  • Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (1 day)
  • Memorial Day (1 day)
  • Independence Day (1 day)

What is the difference between a full holiday and a skeleton holiday?

UTHealth is closed for official business on national holidays. Skeleton holidays require that the University “have on hand enough personnel to carry on…public business.” During skeleton holidays each unit and department head must ensure the capability of that unit to respond to inquiries from the public. Department heads must consider whether or not the department must be available to respond to patient needs, student needs, public information queries, fiscal accountability, environmental health and safety, facilities operations, etc. For further information about skeleton holidays, refer to HOOP 27 Holidays.

Can anyone work these skeleton holidays and take other time off?

Some departments are designated as critical services and are required to be open on these holidays. An employee “may” work on a skeleton holiday if he or she has the permission of the department head. This may be in lieu of or in addition to other “critical” staff. Employees in these departments who work skeleton holidays have 12 months to use this holiday time. Any time off must be scheduled and approved by the employee’s supervisor.

Where can I find the UTHealth Houston Holiday Calendar?

The UTHealth Houston Holiday Calendar can be located here.