Summer Semester Appointment Procedures
The Summer Semester Appointment procedures for faculty and academic staff are listed below. The use of the term "faculty" in these procedures refers to both faculty and academic staff.
IMPORTANT: The process for submission of summer appointments has significantly changed with implementation of the new HR/Payroll System. The information below provides general information. Detailed information on the process is included in a webinar recording and reference guides located on the EBS support site.
The webinar recording from the AY Summer Appointment educational session is now available for your viewing on the EBS Support site, Faculty and Academic Staff Appointments and Hiring page. The webinar highlights the changes made to the AY summer appointment process and includes information on how to initiate, submit and track a summer appointment. Additionally, two new reference guides have been published to the EBS Support site: Creating Summer Appointments and Summer Pay Activity Report.
Site Labs are scheduled to assist you with the AY summer appointment functionality and process. Additionally, two new reference guides have been published to the EBS Support site: Creating Summer Appointments and Summer Pay Activity Report.
Due to the complex nature of the process and changes that require the use of college-level summer school accounts, departments are advised to take advantage of in-person support that is offered in site labs.
A. APPOINTMENT INFORMATION
B. PAY RATES AND PAY DATES
C. CALCULATIONS
D. CONTRACTS AND GRANTS
E. AMENDMENTS
F. UNTF REQUIREMENTS
G. MISCELLANEOUS
A. APPOINTMENT FORMS AND DATES
Academic Year (AY) Summer Appointment:Summer appointments for faculty who are appointed on an academic year basis are initiated and submitted via the Unit Administrator tab in the EBS portal. The AY summer appointment functionality can be found under the following path in the EBS portal-->Unit Administrator-->Administrative Services-->Employee-Related Services-->Enhanced Summer School Calculator.
Annual Year (AN) Summer Appointment: To appoint a faculty member on an annual basis for summer semester, use either the Appointment form or the Reappointment form located under the Unit Administrator tab in the EBS portal. Use the Appointment form for new appointments and use the Reappointment form for faculty who had a previous appointment that was active January 1, 2011 or later. For new appointments, a position may need to be created using the Academic Position Create Request Form (if a vacant position is not available), before completing the Appointment form.
Both the Appointment and Reappointment forms may require attachments to be submitted with the forms. See the List of Required Attachments for further information on attachments that must accompany these forms.
AY Appointment Dates: AY Faculty may be appointed for any period of time between May 16 and August 15. Faculty members may pursue teaching, research or service assignments up to a total maximum effort not to exceed 3/9 of the previous academic year salary rate.
AN Appointment Dates: AN faculty are normally appointed for any period of time between May 16 and August 15 in order to avoid overlapping appointment periods with spring and/or fall semester appointments. For AN faculty who do not hold a fall and/or spring appointment, the summer appointment period may vary to reflect the assigned duties.
Compensation for AY Faculty: The compensation that an academic year faculty member receives when appointed for a full month during the summer semester is based on a rate of one-ninth per month up to a maximum of three-ninths of the previous year's salary (i.e, May 15, 2012 salary).
Compensation for AN Faculty: AN faculty will be compensated on the basis of regular payroll conventions for the appointment period.
Partial Month Pay for AY and AN Faculty: For any summer appointment period that contains a partial month, e.g., August 1-15, the pay will be calculated based upon the number of working days within the partial month appointment. This means the amount to be paid is based upon a daily amount per work day multiplied by the number of days worked during the partial month appointment period. For example, consider a summer appointment from July 1 through August 15. The period of July 1-31 is not affected by this calculation because it is a full month. However, pay for the period of August 1-15 is based on a daily amount since it is a partial month.
In all cases, the summer salary rate cannot be lower than the minimum salary guidelines in the Provost's Academic Human Resources Salary Adjustment Guidelines or the Academic Human Resources Salary Adjustment Guidelines for the Union of Non-tenure Track Faculty (UNTF) Bargaining Unit- 2011-12.
2012 Pay Dates for AY and AN Faculty: Pay dates will be May 31, June 29, July 31, and August 31. The May and June payrolls will be charged to the 2011-2012 fiscal year. The July and August payrolls will be charged to the 2012-2013 fiscal year. More information on Payroll dates.
Summer School Account: Individual summer school accounts have been created for the Dean's Office in each College with a summer school allocation. Units must use the designated summer school account that has been assigned to each college. If unclear on what the account number is, contact the Dean's Office. Do not use the general summer school account number.
AY faculty who are engaged in instruction for the period May 16 through August 15 may receive up to 3/9ths of the May 15 salary rate from the college-level summer school account.
The subject, course and section numbers must be included in the 'Functional Area' field in the funding line for all AN and AY appointments paid from the college-level summer school account. If this information is missing, the appointment will be rejected.
All appointments to be paid from the college summer school account must be submitted to HR by September 13, 2012. No charges to the college-level summer school account will be allowed after September 30.
C. CONTRACT AND GRANT INFORMATION
National Science Foundation (NSF) Grants: Compensation for Senior Key Personnel on NSF grants is limited to two months during the MSU fiscal year unless otherwise approved in your Notice of Grant Award. See the NSF Grant Policy Manual.
National Institutes of Health (NIH) Grants: There is a salary limitation for all NIH grants and contracts. Effective for all new awards issued on or after December 23, 2011, the salary limitation has decreased to $179,700 for annual employees and $134,775 for academic year employees. Please note that the direct salary that can be charged to the NIH funds is proportionate to effort. Provided is a link of other mandated salary limitation amounts from prior years.
Note: The above salary policies from NIH and NSF apply to grant, contract, and cooperative awards that MSU receives directly from NSF or NIH, and to those NSF or NIH awards received via a subcontract from another entity. The limitations also apply to MSU's subcontractors under NSF or NIH awards.
Summer compensation is computed at the rate of one ninth (.11111) per month of the previous AY salary.
Please contact the Contract and Grant Administration Office at 517-355-5040 for further contract and grant related questions regarding the summer appointment process.
Routing for AY Summer Appointments: Summer appointment transactions submitted 61 or more days from the effective date of the appointment or change will be automatically routed to CGA for approval via electronic workflow.
Routing for AN Summer Appointments: Summer appointment transactions submitted 61 or more days from the effective date of the appointment or change will need to be routed to CGA for approval. Central HR will route these forms manually to CGA when the form is received at HR.
D. CALCULATION OF SUMMER PAY FOR FACULTY
In the absence of department/college definitions of workload, a full-time load is considered to be the totality of effort necessary to support:
1. 12 hours per week of lecturing, recitation, consultation or
2. Some equivalent combination of instruction, laboratory supervision, fieldwork, advising or workshops.
Percent of load is calculated to a maximum of two decimal points, e.g., 33%, 33.3%, or 33.33%. Number of months is calculated to a maximum of two decimal points, for example 1.5, 1.67, or 2.83.
E. AMENDMENTS
The AY Summer Amendment form should be used whenever a change is being made to a previously approved AY Summer Appointment. This would include adding to, changing, or deleting previously approved AY summer appointments.
UNTF Designation for AY Summer Appointments: All teaching appointments must indicate whether the appointment is covered by the UNTF agreement. To designate UNTF eligibility, type "UNTF" (for UNTF eligible assignments) or "NOUNTF" (for assignments not UNTF eligible) in the "Order" field in the AY summer appointment transaction.
UNTF Designation for AN Summer Appointments: There is no change in the process for designating whether an AN faculty summer assignment is covered by the UNTF contract; the designation is recorded on the appointment, reappointment, or change of status form.
A letter of offer is a required attachment for all AY and AN faculty appointments that are designated as UNTF.
Layoff Notice
Please be reminded of layoff notification requirements if a course is canceled (e.g., due to low enrollment). Article 17 of the Union of Non-tenure Track Faculty (UNTF) contract specifies that UNTF faculty:
"shall be given no less than 14 calendar days notice of indefinite layoff or in lieu thereof, two weeks pay at the employee's current regular salary rate, or a pro-rated combination of notice and pay. A notice of layoff shall be sent to the employee by certified mail, return receipt requested, or delivered in person to the employee."
If a UNTF faculty member is not given sufficient notice, the Summer Supplementary Instructional Budget funding cannot be used to pay any portion of the two weeks pay. If a layoff is to occur, please notify the HR Records department at (517) 355-1526 as soon as possible.
UNTF Eligible Assignments
To determine whether an assignment is UNTF eligible, please reference Article 1 of the UNTF contract.
Deadlines: Summer Appointment forms / transactions are due in Academic Human Resources by the deadlines specified for the appropriate pay period. Please visit the MSU Payroll website for a listing of the HR form / transaction deadlines: http://ctlr.msu.edu/COPayroll/payrollSchedules.aspx
The final date to submit 2012 summer appointment transactions/forms is December 7, 2012. All forms must be submitted within the same tax reporting year. In addition, all appointments to be paid from the college-level summer school account must be submitted to HR by September 13, 2012. No charges to the college-level summer school account will be allowed after September 30, 2012.
Forms/Transactions Electronic Routing: AY Summer appointment transactions, AN Appointment forms and Reappointment forms, including attachments, should be sent through the Dean's office to Academic Human Resources via electronic workflow. Approval at the Department level is not built into the transaction for appointments paid on the summer school account, however, approval at the department level should be maintained within each department.
Resources: Several reference guides will be provided in the near future.
Contact Information:
For technical questions regarding the process, please contact the AIS Help Desk at 517-884-3000 or email SummerAppointments@hr.msu.edu.
For questions concerning faculty and academic staff summer appointment policies and procedures, please contact HR Records at 517-355-1526.
For questions concerning graduate assistantships policies and procedures, please contact Staffing Services at 517-353-3720 or GraduateAssistants@hr.msu.edu
