An off-cycle sex or race/ethnicity equity adjustment is a base salary increase that may be granted to an employee under certain circumstances, such as a significant salary disparity to comparable internal positions within budgetary unit, department, division, college, or university wide. The intent of equity adjustments is to provide consideration to critical and/or unusual salary situations that cannot be explained using normal compensation factors. The primary mechanism for equity adjustments for non-organized Professional and Scientific staff is the Annual P&S Salary Equity Review Process.
The review process complies with the regulations of the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP), ensuring that employers doing business with the federal government comply with the laws and regulations requiring nondiscrimination.
Process and Timeline
The Annual P&S Salary Equity Review Committee is composed of selected staff from University Human Resources and the Office of Institutional Equity. After the university completes fiscal/calendar year salary adjustments, University Human Resources provides data to a project statistician for preliminary statistical tests to identify classifications where there are statistically significant differences in average salaries by sex and/or racial/ethnic minority status. For classifications flagged in the preliminary test, the committee calculates the relationship between salary and length of employment at the university and in the classification to determine expected average salaries. When possible, additional analyses are conducted within organizational units and departments for comparisons among similarly situated employees.
If length of employment and employing unit do not explain salary differences, the committee collaborates with the Senior Human Resources Leaders to research documentation such as job descriptions, organizational charts, career development documentation, performance records, resumes, and other related HR records to review the salary differences among individuals. Only legitimate, non-discriminatory reasons for salary differences are accepted as rationale, including differences in the employees’ performance, education, previous relevant experience, licenses/certifications, administrative and supervisory responsibilities, and market differences.
The final report and recommendations are reviewed, approved, and distributed by the chief human resources officer and associate vice president and the executive officer for diversity, equity, and inclusion and associate vice president. Deans, vice presidents, and the senior human resources leaders of the impacted units receive reports of recommendations in their units only.
Salary Adjustments
The committee recommends off-cycle sex or race/ethnicity equity adjustments to salaries that are not adequately explained by legitimate compensation factors. The department or designee initiates a Change of Status - Pay Adjustment (Race/Gender Equity) transaction in Self-Service to implement the adjustment. The effective date is typically on the first day of a month prior to the end of the fiscal year. In special circumstances, an effective date may be in the next fiscal year or divided up into multiple increases.
Other Staff Categories
The annual review process focuses on P&S non-bargaining staff. Salaries of staff represented by the SEIU collective bargaining agreement are subject to terms reached during contract negotiations and pay practices described in the UI Health Care Employee Manual for Staff Nurses and Allied Health Professionals. Salaries for Merit system positions (except supervisory or confidential positions) are subject to an AFSCME collective bargaining agreement and the State of Iowa Board of Regents Merit System Rules.