Guidelines Implementation Update 

HHD Salary Release, Course Buyout, Summer Salary Policy

Issued: 12/19/2019

Saving for future buyout(s)

Faculty can save funded effort in the current year (19/20) to apply toward buyout in the next or following year (remember, under the new guidelines, saved buyout converts to salary release if it is not used within two years).  This process will be initiated at the department level, and tallied/recorded by the college during the distribution process (see details below).

Timing for salary release distribution

Extramural supported effort that is released in any given fiscal year will be split according to the new rules and distributed/reconciled based upon the following schedule:

1. January/February — Reports will be run by the college for each department for the period immediately prior (July-December). These reports will be provided to the unit leads/department heads for review, and will include instructions on how the units can notate when buyouts were taken, when funds are being saved for future buyouts, and when the corresponding release should be returned as per the guidelines. Once the completed worksheets are returned, the Finance Office will process the necessary system transactions.
2. June/July — The same process will take place as above, for the second half of the year (January-June).
3. October/November — Upon completion of the yearly effort confirmations, a final report will be distributed.  This report will note any adjustments required given the finalized distribution of effort for the entire preceding fiscal year. Theoretically, this could result in funds being pulled back (for example, if a change is made between July-October whereby effort is removed from a grant).

Summer salary

This coming summer will be the first summer in which the new guidelines will apply. Therefore, shifts in effort into this coming summer of more than three weeks of time on existing projects (funded or submitted but not funded) will need approval from the Department/School Head before being submitted to the Research and Finance Offices for final review. This process is initiated by the budget assistant that supports the unit’s salary schedules. Grant applications being submitted now for a performance period that includes the upcoming summer can distribute effort according to the new guidelines.