Reason Code Definitions and Restrictions for Institutions of Higher Education FY 2018–2019

Overview

Who should read

All institutions of higher education

Background

The 85th Legislature made additions and changes to salary administration provisions of the General Appropriations Act (GAA), the Government Code and Education Code. The Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts (Comptroller’s office) has issued policies and procedures addressing several of these changes:

• Legislative Changes Affecting Salary Administration, 85th Legislature (FPP F.021)
• Guidelines for the Salary Increase for Certain State Positions (FPP F.017)

This document contains detailed definitions and restrictions of the reason codes institutions of higher education (institutions) use to record and report salary and personnel actions. Institutions use this information to determine the proper method for reporting salary administration information.

For questions, call the Production Support Mainframe & Training Help Desk at (512) 463-4008 or contact your HRIS representative.

Employee Acquisition Codes

(Effective date can be any date.)

010 – Newly hired or rehired after a break in state service

Use this reason code to report the employment of a new employee to state employment or to re-employ a former state employee following a break in state employment.

This code identifies employment of an individual who has never worked at the institution or agency before or who has a break in service of more than one day and is not a direct transfer from another state agency or institution of higher education.

An employee who last works for one institution or agency on a Friday and begins work for another institution on a Monday is not considered to have a break in service and should not be reported with a 010 acquisition code.

015 – Interagency transfer in – Classified employee moving to an unclassified position

Use this reason code to report the employment of an employee who transferred directly from a state agency to an institution of higher education.

The employee would have been from an agency included in Articles I, II, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII and X, or at the Texas Education Agency, School for the Deaf or School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, as specified in Article III of the GAA, and would be hired into an institution of higher education.

There can be no break in state employment between the termination and hire dates.

017 – Interagency transfer in – Unclassified employee remaining unclassified

Use this reason code to report the employment of an employee who transferred directly from one institution of higher education to another institution of higher education.

The employee would have been employed at an institution of higher education included in Article III of the GAA, and would be hired into another institution of higher education.

There can be no break in state employment between the termination and hire dates.

910 – Non-reportable employee moving to reportable status

Use this reason code to report a change to reportable status for an employee who previously had a non-reportable status.

Salary Action Codes Used by Institutions of Higher Education

(Effective date can be any date.)

018 – Institutional across-the-board lump sum payment

Use this reason code to report an institutionally awarded salary payment made to all institutional employees or to a specific class of institutional employees. The payment is given in a lump sum to the designated employees.

920 – Promotion

Use this reason code to report a salary increase and/or title change for an employee due to a change in assignment within an institution from a position with one title, academic rank or classification to a position with another title, academic rank or classification. The institution will report the monthly salary adjustment with this reason code. The new position may or may not include a higher minimum pay rate but will involve a higher level of responsibility. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

921 – Demotion

Use this reason code to report a salary reduction and/or title change for a voluntary or involuntary change in assignment to a position that requires decreased responsibility and a lower salary. If an employee receives a demotion, he or she may or may not have his/her salary reduced to an amount below the rate received before the demotion. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

923 – Increase after probationary hearing period

Use this reason code to report a salary increase given to an employee after the successful completion of a probationary performance period. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

924 – Increase after successful completion of certification or advanced degree

Use this reason code to report an increase that may be granted to an employee who has earned a certification, such as Certified Public Accountant, or an advanced degree. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

925 – Merit increase

Use this reason code to report a salary increase given to an employee whose job performance and productivity is consistently above that normally expected or required.

Before awarding a merit increase in salary, an institution of higher education must adopt criteria for the granting of such an increase. To be eligible for a merit increase in salary, an employee must have been employed by the institution of higher education for the six months immediately preceding the effective date of the increase, and at least six months must have elapsed since the employee’s last emergency one-time merit payment, onetime merit payment or merit salary increase. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

927 – Rate reduction for disciplinary reasons

Use this reason code to report a salary reduction for disciplinary reasons. If an employee’s performance so warrants, the chief executive officer may reduce an employee’s salary for disciplinary reasons to a lower rate. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

928–Rate restoration after disciplinary reduction

Use this reason code to report the restoration of an employee’s pay as the employee’s performance improves following a rate reduction for disciplinary reasons. An employee’s pay may be restored to any rate, up to and including his/her prior rate, as the employee’s performance improves. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

929 – Equity, market or scale adjustment

Use this reason code to report an increase given to an employee or an employee class in order to compete with comparable outside markets or international salary conditions. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

930 – Institutional across-the-board increase

Use this reason code to report an institutionally awarded salary increase for all institutional employees or for a specific class of institutional employees. This increase becomes a part of the employee’s base salary rate and is spread over the term of the appointment. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

931 – Legislatively mandated across-the-board increase (statutory)

Use this reason code to report an increase mandated by the Legislature for all employees or for a specific class of employees.

932 – Multiple salary actions, same effective date

Use this reason code to report a reappointment and salary action or a combination of salary action reason codes when they occur on the same day (except 925 and 931).

935 – One-time merit payment

Use this reason code to record a one-time merit payment given to an employee whose job performance and productivity is consistently above that normally expected or required. Before awarding a one-time merit payment, an institution of higher education must adopt criteria for the granting of one-time merit payments and merit salary increases. To be eligible for a one-time merit payment, an employee must have been employed by the institution of higher education for the six months immediately preceding the effective date of the increase and at least six months must have elapsed since the employee’s last emergency one-time merit payment, one-time merit payment or merit salary increase. This code is generated by the system from the reported payroll transaction and the effective date is the pay period start date.

936 – Performance reward for an employee at an eligible agency (Not used effective Sept. 1, 2015)

This reason code was used to record a performance reward for a classified employee of an institution of higher education. This type of reward was also called an “enhanced compensation payment” and was authorized when the institution of higher education achieved or exceeded targets for 80 percent of the established key performance measures for a fiscal year.

This code was generated by the system from the reported payroll transaction, and the effective date was the pay period effective date.

Effective Sept. 1, 2013, the authority for awarding performance rewards/enhanced compensation awards was removed from the General Appropriations Act and the reason code will no longer be used.

939 – Emergency One-Time Merit Payment

Use this reason code to record a one-time merit payment awarded due to the employee’s performance during a natural disaster or other extraordinary circumstance.

There is no limit on the amount of an emergency one-time merit (EXM) payment. However, the chief administrative officer of the institution must document the natural disaster or extraordinary circumstance during which the employee showed meritorious performance.

To qualify for an EXM, a classified employee must have been employed by the institution for at least six months prior to the effective date of the EXM. Prior merit salary increases or one-time merit payments do not impact the eligibility for an EXM. However, an EXM does impact eligibility for a regular one-time merit payment or a merit salary increase.

This code is generated by the system from the reported transaction and the effective date is the pay period start date.

Position Status Change Codes

(Effective date can be any date)

043 – Leave without pay (LWOP) status change for all employee types (used to start and stop LWOP)

Use this reason code to report a status change related to Leave Without Pay (LWOP) for any employee. The effective date for the beginning of LWOP status assumes that the employee is in LWOP status for the entire day. When the employee returns to paid status, the same reason code should be used to report or record the ending of the LWOP status. The reason code is assumed to apply as of the start of the effective day of the return from LWOP status to paid status.

044 – Faculty development leave program (FDLP)

Use this reason code to report an appointment with pay for a faculty member as defined in Texas Education Code Annotated, Sections 51.101(1), (3), 51.103(a), 51.104, 51.105(a), 51.106 (Vernon 2001), for a development leave, assignment and/or professional training for the purpose of adding to the knowledge available to the faculty member, the faculty member’s students and institution, and society in general.

The governing board of an institution of higher education may grant a faculty development leave of absence with pay for study, research, writing, field observations or other suitable purpose. The governing board may grant to a faculty member a faculty development leave either for one academic year at one-half of his or her regular salary or for one-half academic year at his or her full regular salary.

900 – Establish new job/appointment

Use this reason code to report an appointment to a new fiscal year (Sept. 1) for an employee who had an appointment in the previous fiscal year or to add additional appointments at any time.

922 – Reclassification

Use this reason code to report a change in an employee’s job title due to a change in the official classification of a position within the same budgetary unit resulting from a job analysis or audit. This change does not necessarily reflect a change in salary. Reclassification does not mean a change in the employee’s assignment, but rather the proper definition of duties and title of the position based upon duties actually performed by the employee. That is, the position is evaluated rather than the person performing the job. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

926 – Intra-agency lateral transfer

Use this reason code to report a move from one budgetary unit to another budgetary unit of the institution (interdepartmental or intradepartmental) at the same salary rate and remaining in the same or equivalent job classification or title. This reason code may change or add a job appointment number.

Miscellaneous Codes

(Effective date can be any date)

037 – Social Security number change

Use this reason code to report changes to the Social Security number (SSN) for any employee reported to the Human Resource Information System (HRIS). This code is used when an institution of higher education discovers that the information reported to HRIS was reported previously using an incorrect SSN.

038 – Update employee descriptive/job data

Use this reason code to report changes to employee descriptive or job data, including but not limited to changes to the FLSA indicator, percent of time scheduled to be worked, category code, etc. However, no changes in salary rate are allowed using this code.

099 – Conversion to HRIS – All employees

This reason code is used to mark the point at which the existing historical information was converted to HRIS. The identifier record will record the first history record on HRIS.

510 – Change effective date of acquisition code

Use this reason code to report the change of the reported effective date of the acquisition (or employment) of the employee. If an acquisition code was entered or reported with an incorrect date, use this reason code to correct the date.

555 – Employee delete

Use this reason code to report the deletion of an employee record. It deletes or removes all records, thereby allowing the agency to report or record the correct information.

Employee Termination Codes

(Effective date can be any date)

051 – Inadequate salary or left for higher salary and benefits

Use this code to report that an employee terminated employment voluntarily and the stated reason was insufficient wages. This code may also be used to report that an employee terminated employment voluntarily to receive a higher salary, or a higher salary and better benefits.

052 – Lack of opportunity for advancement or left for better opportunities for advancement

Use this reason code to report that an employee terminated employment voluntarily and the stated reason was insufficient opportunity for advancement. This code may also be used if an employee terminated voluntarily and the stated reason was that a new job offered better opportunities for advancement.

053 – Dissatisfaction with supervisor or co-workers

Use this code to report that an employee terminated employment voluntarily and the stated reason was dissatisfaction with either the employee’s supervisor or co-workers.

054 – Dissatisfaction with travel, either too much travel required or too little travel allowed

Use this code to report that an employee terminated employment voluntarily and the stated reason was dissatisfaction with travel, with the job requiring either too much travel or not as much travel as the employee desired.

055 – Dissatisfaction with work hours, either too many hours required or too few hours assigned

Use this code to report that an employee terminated employment voluntarily and the stated reason was dissatisfaction with the work hours; the employee either had to work too many hours or didn’t get the opportunity to work enough hours.

056 – Dislike of or unsuitability for assigned duties

Use this code to report that an employee terminated employment voluntarily and the stated reason was that the employee felt unsuited for the assigned duties. This code may also be used if the stated reason was that the employee disliked the assigned duties.

057 – Resignation in lieu of involuntary separation

Use this code to report that an employee was allowed to resign in lieu of involuntary separation from the agency.

058 – Personal reasons not related to job

Use this code to report that the employee voluntarily terminated or resigned and the stated reason was the resignation was due to personal reasons unrelated to the job.

059 – Reasons unknown

Use this code to report that an employee terminated voluntarily or resigned and did not offer a reason for the termination. This code may also be used when an employee abandons his or her job or in similar situations.

063 – Termination at will

Use this code to report that an employee was terminated under the employment-at-will doctrine in Texas.

064 – Reduction in force

Use this code to report that an employee’s termination was due to an agency’s decision to reduce the workforce.

065 – Transfer to a different state agency or institution of higher education

Use this code to report that an employee transferred directly to a different state agency or institution of higher education with no break in employment or service. The termination date and hire date will be consecutive dates. In most cases, an employee’s leave balances upon termination will transfer directly to the employee’s position at the new agency.

066 – End or expiration of contract or grant

Use this code to report that an employee was terminated due to the end or expiration of a contract or a grant.

067 – Dismissal for cause

Use this code to report that an employee was dismissed or terminated by an agency for cause.

068 – Retirement

Use this reason code to report that an employee retired from state employment.

069 – Death

Use this reason code to record or report a termination due to the death of an employee.

Other Reporting Codes

HRIS entitlement maintenance for all employee types

Institutions of higher education use these entitlement codes to report employee entitlements for HRIS-reporting institutions on the payroll records. Entitlements that may be added or changed are:

• Annual Leave Pay (Entitlement Code ALP)
• Augmentation/Special Augmentation (Entitlement Code SPA)
• Award Pay (Entitlement Code AWD)
• Base Salary (Entitlement Code BSY)
• Car Allowance (Entitlement Code CAR)
• Certification/Advanced Degree Pay (Entitlement Code CRT)
• Clothing Allowance (Entitlement Code CLO)
• Compensatory Time Pay (Entitlement Code CTP)
• Cost of Living Salary Supplement (Entitlement Code CSS)
• Emergency One-Time Merit Award (Entitlement Code EXM)
• Enrichment Pay (Entitlement Code ENR)
• Expense Allowance (Entitlement Code EXP)
• Hazardous Duty Pay (Entitlement Code HAZ)
• Hourly (Entitlement Code HLY)
• Housing Allowance (Entitlement Code HOU)
• Location Differential Pay (Entitlement Code LDP)
• Longevity Pay (Entitlement Code LOG)
• Meals (Entitlement Code MLS)
• Miscellaneous Entitlement (Entitlement Code MSC)
• On Call Pay (Entitlement Code OCP)
• One-Time Merit Payment (Entitlement Code 1XM)
• Overtime Pay (Entitlement Code OTP)
• Performance Bonus (Entitlement Code PRB)
• Salary Supplementation for Presidents and Chancellors Only (Entitlement Code SUP)
• Scholarship Allowance (Entitlement Code SCH)
• Severance Pay (Entitlement Code SEV)
• Shift Hours Differential Pay (Entitlement Code SHD)
• Sick Leave Pay (Entitlement Code SLP)
• Specialty Differential Pay (Entitlement Code SDP)
• Stipend/Extra Duty Pay (Entitlement Code STI)
• Student Status Payment (Entitlement Code SSP)
• Task (Entitlement Code TSK)
• Teaching Overload (Entitlement Code TOP)
• Year 2000 Bonus (Entitlement Code Y2K)