Interim - Faculty Summer and Supplemental Pay Policy

This policy outlines the requirements governing compensation beyond regular academic-year responsibilities for faculty members at Georgia Tech. It specifies eligibility criteria, compensation caps, documentation requirements, and compliance with institutional and federal regulations. The following topics are addressed:

• Teaching Loads
• Summer Pay
• Course Overloads
• Supplemental Pay

Any forms of Supplemental Pay not covered by this policy (e.g., temporary pay and interim pay) should adhere to the requirements outlined in GTHR and USG policies and procedures. Refer also to GT’s Supplemental Pay Matrix for Faculty.

Teaching Loads
Each college or unit should establish standard workload expectations that specify the teaching, service, and research requirements for each faculty group (e.g., tenured, tenure-track, and lecturer-track). Expectations for Teaching Loads and any negotiated teaching releases must be clearly outlined in faculty offer letters and documented in GT-TRACS. Course releases may include those granted for the duration of an internal administrative appointment and those provided as part of the initial hiring agreement. 

Any changes to a faculty member’s Teaching Load require approval from the faculty member’s direct supervisor (e.g., School Chair) and must be documented in accordance with institutional workload practices (e.g., unit-level personnel file or GT-TRACS).

Summer Pay
Faculty members on an academic year contract may earn compensation during the summer months (May through August) for work performed outside the 9-month AY contract period. Following Board of Regents Policy 8.3.12.3, total compensation for summer work may not exceed 33.33% of the faculty member’s Institutional Base Pay (IBP, USG Business Procedures Manual 5.3.2.1) as of the end of the contract period of the previous academic year. This requirement ensures compliance with federal regulations [2 CFR §200.430(h)(5)] and USG guidelines. 

Per the USG BPM 5.3.2.1, calculating the Institutional Base Pay (IBP) includes the standard 9-month faculty salary and, if applicable, Administrative Stipend(s), but it does not include course overload pay, incentive pay, or other supplemental payments. The 33.33% cap applies regardless of the funding source and includes compensation from grants, endowed positions, and dual appointments. Teaching during the Maymester is regarded as summer teaching and contributes to the 33.33% summer pay cap. 

The 33.33% cap encompasses compensation from all sources, including instruction, advising, endowed chairs, grants and contracts, and dual employment agreements. It excludes relocation assistance, housing allowances, and incentive or award payments. 

All summer assignments must be documented, acknowledged, and retained at the Institute level according to guidance from the Office of Faculty Affairs to ensure that total summer earnings do not exceed the 33.33% cap.

Course Overloads
A Course Overload occurs when an instructional faculty member teaches more courses than the standard number defined for a given academic year. To qualify for an overload, the faculty member cannot have any course buy-outs for the contract period. USG Board of Regents’ policy (4.11 Faculty Overloads and Instructional Staff Responsibilities) requires that the unit first review and, when possible, adjust the Faculty Workload. When a workload adjustment is not feasible, an overload is permitted, resulting in the associated Supplemental Pay. As a type of Supplemental Pay (described below and in USG BPM 5.3.2.2), Course Overload pay is subject to the same caps and requirements.

Supervisors (e.g., School Chairs and Associate Deans) must review and approve all Course Overload assignments to ensure compliance with departmental and unit staffing needs. Furthermore, the faculty member’s home department/unit must monitor for potential conflicts of commitment and keep appropriate documentation throughout the process.

Degree Program Directors must work with the faculty member’s home unit to document these assignments and ensure compliance with workload management and Conflict of Commitment guidelines.

More information on processing Course Overloads can be found in guidance from the Office of Faculty Affairs.

Supplemental Pay
Faculty Workload refers to the standard set of responsibilities assigned to a faculty member, which includes teaching and instruction, student success activities, research, scholarly endeavors, and service activities. As noted above, each academic unit should establish and document standard workloads for all faculty groups, as tasks that constitute a faculty member’s standard workload do not qualify for Supplemental Pay. Faculty Workload must be documented in employment offer letters, administrative appointment letters, and all other formal agreements, all of which should be retained in GT-TRACS.

Faculty service activities -- including but not limited to committee participation, faculty governance, accreditation reporting, and student mentoring -- are part of the standard expectations for full-time faculty and do not qualify for supplemental compensation, even when they extend beyond regular hours. Research is also a core responsibility of most academic faculty members and is generally considered part of the standard workload. Additional research commitments that exceed the
contractual load are not eligible for Supplemental Pay unless the appropriate permissions have been granted and filed.
Faculty Workloads may be adjusted through a formal agreement between the faculty member and their supervisor (e.g., School Chair or Associate Dean), typically during the annual performance review process. Workload adjustments must be
documented in writing and recorded in their unit-level personnel file and/or GT-TRACS file.

While Faculty Workload encompasses standard responsibilities that are integral to their primary appointment, certain tasks that go beyond these foundational duties may qualify for Supplemental Pay, provided they meet specific criteria. To be eligible as supplemental duties to the regular Faculty Workload, these tasks:

• must occur outside standard work hours or require the use of annual leave if conducted during standard work hours; and
• must not overlap with their standard work duties.

All Supplemental Pay requests must be made, approved, and documented following the Procedures for Interdepartmental Offers from the Office of Faculty Affairs. This guidance document addresses Supplemental Pay requests across different units. When a supplemental pay request originates from the faculty member’s home unit, every effort should be made to ensure it complies with the same standards of review, approval, and documentation. 

Georgia Tech policy caps annual Supplemental Pay to 30% of a faculty member’s Institutional Base Pay per fiscal year, annualized for faculty members on 9-month contracts. The method for calculating the 30% cap on Supplemental Pay is detailed in the guidance provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs. If Supplemental Pay exceeds the 30% cap due to extraordinary circumstances, units must offer additional justification and obtain prior approval. The process for providing additional justification is outlined in the guidance from the Office of Faculty Affairs. Faculty members on full (100%) leaves of absence are generally eligible for Supplemental Pay; however, faculty members on partial leaves of absence are not, as Supplemental Pay must exceed a regular full-time (100%) workload. Refer to the guidance document from the Office of Faculty Affairs.

Exceptions to Supplemental Pay Compensation Cap
Georgia Tech acknowledges that certain academic programs generate significant growth and substantial revenue, thereby requiring additional faculty engagement beyond standard Teaching Loads. As a result, teaching assignments in the following programs may exceed the standard 30% supplemental pay cap when they occur outside a faculty member’s regular workload: (1) Executive MBA Programs, (2) Professional Master’s Programs, and (3) Online Master’s of Science (OMS) Degree
Programs. Teaching assignments in non-credit Professional Education courses do not qualify for this exception. Compensation for assignments in these programs is provided as a fixed dollar amount per course. Because these teaching assignments fall outside the core academic curriculum, they are classified as non-standard instructional duties, which
justifies Supplemental Pay. 

As with all Supplemental Pay, these assignments should adhere to the Guidance on Academic and Research Faculty Appointments, Procedures for Interdepartmental Offers, and be approved before the start of the assignment. Refer to the guidance document provided by the Office of Faculty Affairs for exception approval processes. 

Faculty members exceeding the 30% supplemental pay cap while teaching in specified programs (Executive MBA Professional Master’s, and Online Master’s Degree Programs) may also receive Supplemental Pay for activities in other
programs or units. In such cases, any additional Supplemental Pay must be reviewed and approved as an exception, following the process outlined in guidance from the Office of Faculty Affairs.