Job Structures and Pay

University employees may be appointed or extra-help hourly. Both categories of employees may work full-time or part-time.

Appointed employees include faculty, staff and administrators who are on salary and are paid once a month. If their appointments are half-time (50%) or greater, they are eligible to participate in the university's fringe benefits program.

Extra-help hourly employees are hired on a temporary, as-needed basis, are paid semi-monthly for the hours they actually work, and are not eligible to participate in the university's fringe benefits program. However, non-student extra-help hourly employees are eligible for pay for university holidays, equivalent to the number of hours per day they usually work, provided they work the scheduled day before and the scheduled day after a university holiday, and provided they usually work twenty hours (half-time) or more per week.

Hourly employees may also participate in the university's retirement plan, although their contributions will not be matched. Undergraduate students taking 12 hours or more are not eligible to participate in the retirement plan.

Extra-help hourly employees cannot work more than 1,250 hours in a fiscal year, which begins July 1. Both the employee and the hiring department will be notified before the 1,250 hour limit is reached, and the employee will sign a letter of termination upon receiving the last paycheck allowable under the 1,250 hour limit.

Faculty are employees who hold the academic rank of lecturer, master lecturer, assistant instructor, instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, professor, Distinguished Professor, University Professor or one of these titles modified by clinical, research, adjunct, visiting, executive in residence or emeritus, e.g., clinical professor, adjunct assistant professor.

Other titles which have faculty status and academic rank are dean of libraries, librarian, associate librarian, assistant librarian, curator, associate curator, assistant curator, instructional development specialist I and II, and extension specialist I, II, III and IV. Extension specialists hold academic rank only when they are appointed in academic units.

Administrators are employees who hold the titles assistant director, associate director, director, assistant dean, associate dean, dean, assistant vice provost, associate vice provost, vice provost, provost, assistant vice chancellor, associate vice chancellor, vice chancellor, assistant chancellor, associate chancellor, chancellor or one of these titles modified by the term executive. Some administrators also hold faculty rank.

Staff are all employees of the university who are not faculty or administrators.

The state of Arkansas Office of Personnel Management (OPM) designates state job titles as exempt or non-exempt under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Certain positions may, because of the nature of their responsibilities, be exceptions to OPM's general classification of exempt or non-exempt. Human Resources can review specific positions for exempt or non-exempt status using U.S. Department of Labor guidelines.

Exempt employees are those whose job duties meet certain criteria for executive, administrative, professional and outside sales positions, as well as certain computer-related positions and highly compensated employees. The Fair Labor Standards Act does not require employees in exempt positions to receive additional compensation for working more than 40 hours in a work week. Positions employed in agriculture, as defined under the FLSA, are exempt from federal overtime compensation requirements as well.

Non-exempt positions refer to jobs that are covered by the Fair Labor Standards Act and thus eligible for overtime compensation (generally in the form of compensatory time) for hours worked in excess of 40 hours in any work week. Such overtime hours must be approved in advance by the person authorized for the department. For more information on overtime compensation, see Section 5.3 of this handbook.

Pay increases for staff are generally merit increases, based on the results of the annual evaluation process.

Merit increases are distinct from any cost of living (COLA) increases provided.

Employees who receive an overall rating of satisfactory, above average or exceeds standards are eligible for a merit increase.*

In addition to the employee’s annual evaluation rating, eligibility for merit increase is based on the following:

• Employees whose date of appointment meets the eligibility date covered in annual merit guidelines
• Employees who have not received a written performance-based or conduct-based reprimand, or other serious disciplinary action during the previous rating period.
• All merit payments will be considered salary for the purposes of retirement contributions.

*Note: Because the availability of funding varies from year to year, merit pay may not be funded every fiscal year and merit increase amounts may vary.

Only non-exempt employees receive credit for overtime work. If you are a non-exempt employee and you work more than 40 hours in any work week, you will accrue compensatory time at a rate of one and one-half hours for every hour of work performed in excess of 40 hours.

If you are non-exempt, and therefore eligible for overtime, you should never work more than 40 hours in any work week without the prior approval of your supervisor or department head. The request to work overtime is initiated in Workday and routed through an approval process. Employees who work overtime without obtaining express, advance approval may be subject to disciplinary action.

Workday will track any hours in excess of 40 you work in each work week as overtime or compensatory time, and you will be paid at one and one-half hours for every hour over 40 that you actually work; or you will be credited with one and one-half hours of compensatory time for every hour over 40 that you actually work. (Annual leave time and sick leave time are not time you actually work, and university holidays are usually not time you actually work.) Overtime or Compensatory Time must be approved by your supervisor in Workday. You may use any accrued compensatory hours as leave at a time when it is convenient for your department. You will use compensatory time, until the balance is exhausted, before using annual leave. You may also use your compensatory time in lieu of sick leave. Compensatory time must be earned before it can be used.

If your department usually gives you compensatory time off, but at some point, that practice creates a hardship for the department, your department head may approve monetary compensation for the overtime which you have worked. You will be paid at one and one-half times your regular rate of pay for each hour over 40 which you have worked in any work week. Overtime pay is generally discouraged. Arkansas law states: "It is hereby declared to be the policy of the state of Arkansas that overtime pay for state employees is the least desirable method of compensation for overtime work." When overtime is unavoidable, it is to be managed in the most efficient and economic manner possible. Your department may require you to use any accumulated compensatory time, at its convenience, to avoid cash payments. If you transfer to another department within the university or change from a non-exempt to an exempt position, you must either use or be paid for all of your accrued compensatory time before the change in position occurs.

The rules and regulations set out by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act apply to overtime. They include the definitions of exempt and non-exempt employees, the requirements for compensatory time or pay, and other related requirements. The Fair Labor Standards Act limits the amount of compensatory time most employees can accrue to 240 hours. Employees who work at least some of the time in a public safety activity, such as fire protection or law enforcement, in an emergency response activity, or in a seasonal activity, such as farm work, may accumulate up to 480 hours of compensatory time. Any overtime accrued beyond these limits must be compensated with overtime pay, at a rate of one and one-half times the regular rate.

An employee whose working hours do not conform to normal state business hours shall be eligible for additional compensation up to twelve percent (12%) of the hourly rate for which he or she is eligible as a shift differential if:

• The agency or institution routinely schedules more than one (1) work shift per day.
• The shift to which the employee is assigned is a full:
• Evening work shift beginning not earlier than 2:30 p.m. and ending not later than 11:30 p.m.
• Night work shift beginning not earlier than 11 p.m. and ending not later than 8 a.m. the next day.
• The employee is regularly assigned to these shifts on a regularly scheduled rotating basis.

An employee assigned to an evening shift may receive up to six percent (6%). An employee assigned to a night shift may receive up to twelve percent (12%). In those instances in which the granting of a shift differential has the effect of temporarily exceeding the maximum annual rate for the grade assigned to the employee's position, the additional compensation shall not be considered as exceeding the maximum allowable rate for that job title.