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Texas Payroll/Personnel Resource

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Longevity Pay

Background

Longevity pay is an entitlement based on total state service. It is paid each month in addition to base salary. Longevity was first authorized as an employee entitlement on Sept. 1, 1979.

Eligibility for Longevity Pay

To be eligible for longevity pay, an individual must:

  • Be a full-time employee (any employee working less than 40 hours per week is considered part time). A full-time employee is a state employee who:
    • Works in the executive or judicial branch of state government, other than a state institution of higher education, and who is normally scheduled to work a total of at least 40 hours a week for a single state agency.
    • Works for a state institution of higher education and who is normally scheduled to work a total of at least 40 hours a week in one position, as determined under Government Code, Section 659.0411.
      – or –
    • Works in the legislative branch of state government and is normally scheduled to work a total of 40 or more hours a week in all positions held in the legislative branch.
  • Be in paid status on the first workday of the month.
    – and –
  • Have accrued 24 months of lifetime service credit (the sum of all periods of employment that render the individual eligible for longevity pay; lifetime service credit is used in the calculation of the effective service date) no later than the last day of the preceding month.

Note: An employee may receive longevity pay for the month when he or she has accrued 24 months of lifetime service credit only if the employee’s anniversary falls on the first day of the month. Otherwise, the employee begins receiving longevity pay on the first of the following month.

Source

Texas Government Code, Chapter 74 (Section 74.041), Chapter 659 and Subchapter D (Sections 659.041 through 659.047) and Chapter 837 (Section 837.103).