IFAS Nine Month Faculty Status Program for Tenure-Track Faculty
This was a voluntary program and available to faculty members who qualify based on the program's eligibility requirements. This program provided a change for faculty to a 9 month appointment in exchange for relinquishing discretionary salary increase opportunities for three years. The effective date for the faculty appointment change was January 1, 2019.
Program Outline:
Eligibility:
- Eligible faculty had to be in a 12 month tenure accruing faculty position
- Had approval from department chair and for faculty assigned to research and education centers, had approval from that director.
- For faculty with 50% or more extension appointment, the faculty needed support from the IFAS administration in addition to unit leader(s)
Exclusions:
Faculty members in any of the following categories are excluded from participating:
- Any employee who had received notice of termination, notice of non-renewal or cancellation of their employment, or had submitted notice of resignation.
- Non-tenure accruing or non- permanent status-accruing employees;
- TEAMS or USPS employee's
- OPS (temporary) employee's
Program Details:
- Enrollment period was from August 1, 2018 through August 31, 2018
- To complete the enrollment process, the faculty member had to perform the following:
- Obtain approvals from department chair and other relevant supervisors
- On or before 5 pm on August 31, 2018, execute the UF/IFAS Nine Month Faculty Status Agreement and return a signed copy to UF /IFAS Human Resources.
Salary:
The 9 month appointment annual salary stayed at the same rate as the 12 month appointment with the biweekly rate being adjusted to be 19.5 pay periods instead of the 26.1 pay periods.
Example: $120,000 annual salary paid over 26.1 pay periods will equate to a $4,597.70 bw rate
$120,000 annual salary paid over 19.5 pay periods will equate to a $6,153.85 bw rate
Vacation/Sick leave:
Faculty no longer accrued vacation leave upon a 9 month conversion. Each faculty member would be paid for up to 200 hours of unused vacation hours. Payment for those hours, if over $5000, would be placed in a tax-deferred account under the Special Pay Plan (a defined contribution plan authorized under Section 401(a)of the Internal Revenue Code. Information about the Special Play Plan can be found at https://benefits.hr.ufl.edu/retirement/special-pay-plan/ . If the payment is was $5,000 or less, the faculty received the payment in the form of a check.
Faculty would continue to accrue sick leave.
Benefits:
Nine month faculty are not guaranteed employment through the summer. The 9 month contract will be from August 16 to May 15 each academic year. (During a leap year the Spring Semester end date will be 5/14.) Since they are not guaranteed summer employment, it will be necessary to double deduct the cost of health insurance and other benefits during the Spring semester of each year.
Twelve Month Payment Option:
An optional program designed as savings method to help bridge the gap between the nine-month work year and the desire to have twelve months of income. This program will hold, in the form of an after-tax deduction, a portion of the 9 month salary after- tax income and distribute to the faculty member in six equal installments during the summer months. The faculty member had to enroll separately into this program. Information can be found at: http://www.fa.ufl.edu/departments/payroll-tax-services/twelve-month-payment-option-for-nine-month-faculty/.