Compensation & Classification

A job audit is a formal review of a position’s duties and requirements. It ensures the employee is being paid fairly compared to internal peers and that the role is aligned with current market standards. The process typically involves interviews and surveys conducted by the HR Compensation team.

You may request a copy of your current job description from the HR at any time. It is vital to ensure your job description is accurate, as it directly impacts your performance appraisals and salary.

Internal equity is the fair pay distribution of employees in a department or similar position. HR Compensation ensures employees are paid fairly and competitively based on the distribution of salaries within departments and like positions and based on industry market salaries for similar positions.

Reclassification occurs when the core functions of a position have changed so significantly that the job no longer fits its current title or market alignment.

The timeline depends on the complexity of the role:

• Standard Positions: Usually reviewed within 5 working days.
• Unique or Complex Positions: May take up to 10 working days if more analysis or on-site visits are required.
• Vacant Positions: HR prioritizes these to expedite the recruitment process.

No. Compensation reviews focus strictly on the job duties required by the university, regardless of who is in the role or how well they are performing.

Not necessarily. Classification reviews look at the nature (scope) of the work, not the volume (quantity).

• Example: Answering 200 calls instead of 100 is an increase in volume but not a change in duty.
• Example: Adding budget management and supply procurement to an administrative role is a change in scope that may warrant a review.

Provisional Period (Probation)

All new non-faculty employees serve a six-month provisional period. This is an evaluation window to ensure performance meets university standards.

• Continuation: Employment continues if work is satisfactory.
• Termination: Employees may be terminated during this period without the right of appeal if performance is unsatisfactory.

By Duration & Commitment

• Regular: Hired for a continuous period exceeding six months (staff) or one academic year (faculty).
• Temporary: Limited-term employment not to exceed six months (staff) or one academic year (faculty).
• Full-Time: Typically 40 hours per week. Requires an FTE of 0.49 or greater to receive institutional benefits.
• Part-Time: Employed at less than half-time (less than 0.49 FTE). Not eligible for institutional benefits.

By Function

• Faculty: 9-month and 12-month academic members.
• Professional & Administrative: Exempt, non-student employees.
• Staff: Non-exempt, non-student employees.
• Student Employees: UNG students working while enrolled.

By Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA)  Status

• Non-exempt employees are covered by the provisions of the FLSA, are eligible for payments or compensatory time for overtime work, and are usually paid bi-weekly. 
• Exempt employees are not eligible for payment or compensatory time for overtime work, and are usually paid monthly.

All student positions (including Federal Work-Study) are subject to the following:

• Maximum Hours: 20 hours per week cumulative across all campus jobs during Fall and Spring semesters.
• Taxes: Student assistants are exempt from Social Security and Medicare taxes.
• Compliance: Exceeding 20 hours per week results in termination of "Student Assistant" status and reclassification as a Temporary Employee.

Employment Beyond Retirement

Retirees from the University System of Georgia (USG) may be eligible for part-time reemployment under specific conditions:

• Break in Service: Must have a minimum of one month between retirement and reemployment.
• Work Commitment: Must be less than half-time (under 49% FTE).
• Salary Limit: Total pay cannot exceed 49% of the average compensation for the role or 49% of the employee’s final benefit-base salary.
• Approval: All retiree rehires require Presidential approval.

This utillize the Board of Regents policy 08.02.08.03. 

A market rate is a salary that represents an industry and/or location average that other institutions are paying for a particular job. Market data used is reported by the organization not the employee and collected by nationally-recognized third-party vendors.

Market alignment is determined by several factors:

1. Internal Equity: Ensuring pay parity with similar roles at the University.
2. Location: Local vs. national recruitment scales.
3. Experience: The level of applicable experience you bring to the role.

• FY26 UNG Staff Pay Table (PDF)
• FY26 UNG Student Pay Table Table (PDF)

Yes. Regardless of the funding source, all employees are subject to the same institutional policies and classification standards.

Managers can complete the job description template (Word Doc) to outline the functions, responsibilities and minimum requirements of a position and submit to HR Compensation. User the guide to writing job descriptions (PDF).

HR Compensation will then evaluate the submitted job description, perform best practice, market, and internal equity research to align the requested position to industry market, and assign a grade and hiring range.

Once the market rate is determined by HR, the department manager must contact the UNG Budget Department to confirm if additional funds are needed.

• Regular Position: An ongoing role of at least six months with no anticipated ending date.
• Temporary Position: A short-term appointment that cannot exceed six months.
• BCAT (Job Code): Stands for Board of Regents’ Category. A six-character code representing the official classification category for a job.
• Benchmark Jobs: Roles commonly found in the external labor market used as standard reference points for pay comparisons.
• Comparable Position: An existing role used to evaluate a position under review by comparing functions, responsibilities, supervisor duties, and organizational hierarchy.
• Desk Audit: An in-depth review where an employee and supervisor describe specific job duties and provide illustrative examples of daily work.
• Essential Job Functions & Responsibilities: The core, required duties that an employee must be able to perform to fulfill the role.
• Exempt Position: A position not covered by the FLSA (Fair Labor Standards Act) overtime provisions; these employees are not entitled to overtime pay.
• Hiring Range: The span from the minimum rate to the first quartile of a pay range that can be offered to a new hire based on available funding.
• In-Range Adjustment: A pay adjustment made within an employee's current, existing pay range.
• Internal Equity: A comparison of salaries among employees in similar positions within the same unit, college, division, or the university as a whole.
• Job Evaluation: The process of determining a position's title and pay grade by reviewing its duties, required education, experience, and skills.
• Lateral Transfer: The movement of an employee into a new job title within the exact same pay grade.
• Market Adjustment: A pay increase designed to align an employee's salary more closely with the estimated market value of their role.
• Market Pricing: A method of establishing a job hierarchy based on the standard market rates for benchmark jobs.
• Maximum Rate: The highest possible base pay rate within a specific pay range.
• Merit Increase: A performance-based salary adjustment determined by a formal performance appraisal.
• Midpoint: The exact mathematical middle salary of a given pay grade or range.
• Minimum Hiring Standards (MHS): The absolute minimum education and experience required to qualify for and perform a job.
• Minimum Rate: The lowest possible base pay rate within a specific pay range.
• Non-Exempt Position: A position fully covered by the FLSA; these employees are entitled to overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek.
• Organizational Chart: A visual diagram showing the structural hierarchy of a department or unit, detailing reporting relationships between titles.
• Pay Range: The established span of pay rates from the minimum to the maximum rate for a specific pay grade.
• Preferred Qualifications: The ideal knowledge, skills, and assets desired in an applicant, which are helpful but not strictly required to perform the core job.
• Reclassifications: Assigning an existing position a new title and/or pay grade due to significant, permanent changes in its essential duties.
• Restructuring: The formal reorganization of a department, division, or operational unit.
• Salary Survey: The process of gathering external wage and salary data from other employers for specific benchmark jobs.
• Sponsored Funded: Positions funded by external grants that are anticipated to last longer than three years.
• Supervision - Close: A structured environment where an employee receives explicit instructions on procedures and solutions, utilizing minimal independent initiative.
• Supervision - Direct: Active leadership involving the direct guidance, training, work assignment, and performance management of reporting staff members.
• Supervision - General: Standard operational guidance and directional oversight provided by an immediate supervisor.
• Supervision - Limited: An environment where an employee proceeds on their own initiative while adhering to policies and practices set by their supervisor.
• Supervisory/Managerial Experience: Work history that explicitly includes the authority to hire, terminate, train, and formally evaluate staff.

The FLSA requires employers to compensate covered employees (non-exempt employees) for all hours worked and requires overtime compensation for hours worked beyond 40 hours per work week. The law also requires non-exempt employees to be paid at least the federal minimum wage. In addition, the act sets guidelines for employment of minors and includes wage and hour record keeping requirements.

Non-exempt employees (hourly):

• required to be compensated with an overtime premium of time-and-one-half for actual time worked in excess of 40 hours per week under the FLSA.
• Employees in non-exempt positions must be paid for overtime worked and are generally required to report time worked more frequently and in more detail than those in exempt jobs.

Exempt employees (salaried):

• required to fulfill their duties at a set salary, regardless of the hours worked.

No. FLSA status is determined by federal legal guidelines based on job duties and salary. It cannot be changed for personal preference or administrative convenience.

Overtime is calculated on a single-week basis (40 hours).

• UNG’s workweek: 7 day period beginning at 12:00 am Saturday morning and ending at 11:59 pm Friday evening.
• Accurate records: Non-Exempt employees are required to maintain and submit accurate records of their hours worked via the payroll system.
• Approval: Managers must review and approve all time records for accuracy.
• No "Averaging": You cannot work 45 hours in Week 1 and 35 hours in Week 2 to avoid overtime.
• Holidays and Closings (such as inclement weather): Only hours actually worked count toward the 40-hour threshold.
  • For example, the 8-hour holiday for Labor Day is not time worked, but an official campus-closed holiday.
  • Overtime is not due during such a week unless/until an employee physically works more than 40 hours during that week first.

Note: If the campus does not officially close, but an employee feels it is not safe enough to travel, or an employee needs to provide child-care because of a closing, the employee will have to take vacation time for the time they are out of the office.

Generally, if you are "engaged to wait" (on duty and ready to work), it is paid time. If you are "waiting to be engaged" (completely relieved of duty and free to use the time for yourself), it is not paid.

• Lunches that do not provide a break from work or break periods that last less than 20 minutes.
• Email, phone calls, etc. performed during as well as outside the employee’s normal work schedule.
• Training that is job related and/or mandatory.
• If you are asked to stay late to handle a last-minute issue on a Friday and cannot "flex" those hours elsewhere in the same workweek, that time is earned as overtime or comp time.

Yes. If overtime hours are worked by non-exempt employees, even if unapproved, they must be paid. Therefore, it’s important to establish overtime rules and communicated to everyone in a unit.

The guidance for affected employees reiterates that they should seek approval before working any overtime, but you can help by establishing rules in your unit for seeking approval in advance for projects or events that may be deadline driven and require additional hours.

Yes, within the same workweek. For example, an employee could work late on Tuesday and leave early on Friday, as long as the total hours for that specific workweek do not exceed 40.

Yes. For non-exempt employees, performing work remotely (including via smartphone) counts toward their 40-hour limit. Managers should set clear expectations regarding after-hours communication to prevent unintended overtime.

Note: Court cases have emphasized that FLSA violations can unexpectedly occur when non-exempt employees work outside the office using mobile devices. It is important for units to communicate clear policies spelling out the authorization employees must obtain before working remotely using their mobile devices. If an employee continues to work overtime without supervisor approval, then the supervisor could begin taking possible disciplinary action with the employee.

No. This regulatory change will not change how an employee earns leave time. Retirement plan participation will not change, and affected employees will not have an opportunity to change retirement plans.