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Texas Payroll/Personnel Resource

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Salary Adjustments for Institutions of Higher Education

Background

Generally, an institution of higher education (which has the meaning assigned by Texas Education Code, Section 61.003, except the Texas State Technical College System is included and the Rodent and Predatory Animal Control Service is excluded from the meaning of that term) may determine the compensation of its employees in the absence of specific laws or appropriations riders concerning the amounts and types of employee compensation.

The following discusses only the types of compensation specifically mentioned in statutes or riders.

Merit Salary Increase Requirement

Notwithstanding any other provisions of the General Appropriations Act (GAA), salary increases for faculty or faculty equivalent employees of institutions of higher education must be awarded on the basis of merit and performance in accepted activities.

Merit Salary Increase Authorization

An institutional administrator may grant a merit salary increase (an increase to the salary of an employee of an institution of higher education), including a one-time merit payment, to an employee whose job performance and productivity is consistently above that normally expected or required.

To be eligible for either a merit salary increase or a one-time merit payment, the employee:

  • Must have been employed by the institution of higher education for more than six months.
    – and –
  • At least six months must have elapsed since the employee’s last merit increase.

The requirement that six months must have elapsed does not apply if the chief administrative officer of the institution determines in writing that the one-time merit payment is being made in relation to the employee’s performance during a natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstance.

Compensatory Time Pay

Employees Required to Work on a National or State Holiday

An institution of higher education may pay an employee who is required to work on a national or state holiday that does not fall on a Saturday or Sunday for the time worked on the holiday, if the institution determines that allowing the employee to take compensatory time off would disrupt normal teaching, research or other critical functions. The payment must be at the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Employees Whose Workweek Work + Paid Leave Hours Exceed 40

If an employee who works 40 or fewer hours during a workweek but whose total hours of work and paid leave (including holidays) during that week exceed 40, an institution of higher education may pay the employee for the hours in excess of 40 if the institution determines that allowing the employee to take compensatory time off would disrupt normal teaching, research or other critical functions. The payment must be at the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Employees Subject to FLSA Who Work 40+ Hour Workweek

If the state employee is subject to the overtime provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA) and works more than 40 hours during a workweek, an institution of higher education may pay the employee for any paid leave (including holidays) taken during the week if the institution determines that allowing the employee to take compensatory time off would disrupt normal teaching, research or other critical functions. The payment must be at the employee’s regular rate of pay.

Sources

The General Appropriations Act, Article III, Sections 5(2)-5(5) in the Special Provisions Relating Only to State Agencies of Higher Education; Texas Education Code, Sections 51.103(a), 51.104, 51.105(a), 51.106, 51.962, 51.101(1), (3); Texas Government Code, Sections 659.015(f)–(g), 662.007(c).