Merit Template Instructions
One-Time Award Payment
Performance Period 2/1/09 – 1/31/10
General Information
· Merit Policy - http://www.utsa.edu/financialaffairs/budget/meritFY11.html
· Merit Templates will be provided to Merit Area Leads via RowdySpace (email link) by Tuesday, July 20th.
Ø Created in Excel 2003.
Ø Populated with a 2.2% merit pool allocation for A&P and Faculty and 2.7% for Classified. The pool allocations are calculated based on eligible employees’ salaries as of May 1, 2010. Data was captured from the HRMS system with adjustments made for faculty buyouts based on the Budget (BUD) system.
Ø All merit eligible employees are included and categorized by Classified, A&P, Faculty, and Non-Tenure Track Faculty. Refer to section titled ‘Academic Affairs’ for instructions on Non-Tenure Track templates.
Ø Direct reports to the President and Vice Presidents are reported on separate templates.
Ø Employees funded by 26 accounts (Contracts & Grants) are reported on separate templates.
Ø Templates are password protected except for columns marked ‘UPDATE.’
· Delegation of Authority Signature, Method of Distribution, and Eligible Employee Award Letter forms are available on the Budget Office website: http://www.utsa.edu/financialaffairs/budget/meritFY11.html
· Completed electronic and signed templates are due to the Budget Office no later than Monday, September 20, 2010 as noted in the Merit Award Timeline. Refer to divisional timelines for earlier internal deadlines.
Step 1 – Review Data
Review populated data for all eligible employees per Merit Policy (link above).
The template will only allow for data entry under columns marked ‘UPDATE.’ A blank template is available on the Budget Office website should one be needed.
Comments Section is used for notes related to changes to populated data (i.e. job title, current salary, etc.)
Step 2 – Performance Evaluations and Ratings
HR has approved the following:
· Update the column with each employee’s performance evaluation rating. Refer to legend on left bottom of template for A&P and Classified.
· Faculty Templates require the current annual evaluation rating in the column.
If anyone has not received a performance evaluation, they are not eligible to receive a merit award. Contact the Human Resources Office for questions regarding A&P and Classified and the Provost/Academic and Faculty Support Office for questions regarding Faculty.
Step 3 – Split Appointments
In the event an employee has multiple appointments in one or more accounts and in multiple departments, the awards may vary because payment is being made as a lump sum. HR will review awards for appropriateness.
Employees with split appointments (a single position funded by more than one account) are denoted as a ’Split (total #)’ under the Split appointment column. As a courtesy, Budget will provide Merit Area Leads with a split appointment list to be used as needed.
Step 4 – Merit to Follow Transferred Employee
An eligible employee who has moved to another position and/or department due to promotion, job change, or reorganization should not be removed or vacated from the original merit template. The award of merit is retrospective and based on the prior supervisor’s evaluation, the employee’s merit award is to be determined by the prior departmental manager/supervisor.
· If an employee has transferred IN, coordinate with the employee’s former supervisor to attain the employee’s performance rating and merit dollars awarded in order to update template.
· If an employee has transferred OUT, add a comment noting the employee has transferred to another department. Coordinate with the employee’s new supervisor to attain the new account number and add under the ‘Revised Account’ column. Update template with employee’s performance rating and merit dollars awarded.
Step 5 – Termination/Separation
A merit eligible employee listed on the merit template that is no longer employed with UTSA should be removed from the Merit Template by vacating the line item. Select the employee’s data row and use the Vacate Button located at the top of the template. This action will insert ‘Separated’ preceding the employee name. Once the employee has been vacated, you cannot undo the action (contact the Budget Office for assistance).
Next, update the employee’s merit award to zero. The merit dollars may be reallocated.
Step 6 – Enter the Merit dollars to be awarded to each employee
Enter the merit dollars awarded to each employee in the One-Time Merit Award column. The template will compute the corresponding award percent and adjust the merit applied total.
Step 7 – Balance Amount - Sign the Forms - Return Electronic and Signed Copy
Verify the Balance shown below Merit Applied is zero. If the template is out of balance, add a detailed explanation on the Variance Explanation field.
Merit pool dollars may NOT be allocated across fund groups (i.e. 14 account merit pool dollars cannot fund merit awards in 19 accounts).
Send signed completed hard copy and electronic version templates to your Merit Area Lead who will review all templates and coordinate submittal to the Budget Office by the specified deadlines. (Refer to Unit Hierarchy Report for designated Merit Area Leads - http://www.utsa.edu/financialaffairs/budget/meritFY11.html)
Hard copy templates submitted should include all pages including the recap section of the template. Electronic templates should include the word ‘Completed’ in the file name when uploading to RowdySpace.
ACADEMIC AREAS
NEW – Non-Tenure Track Faculty Templates (NTT)
The Provost Office will be providing the NTT templates to be used by areas. Therefore, disregard the templates titled ‘NTT.’
Transfers to fund E&G one-time merit awards (14 accounts; excluding 14 F&A accounts) will be processed by the Budget Office no later than October 21st. Funding for Non-E&G merit awards will require funding available to meet the November 2nd deadline for HRMS merit processing – please contact Area Lead if you have any questions.
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Per Merit Policy, this one-time merit award will be paid as a lump-sum in December subject to a flat income withholding tax rate of 25% consistent with IRS regulations.
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Budget Planning and Development Page 1 of 2 Last Update: 7/19/10 Rev. 1