Institute personnel, to include staff, academic faculty, and research faculty, may be paid extra compensation for performing certain duties in addition to their normal job responsibilities. This Policy is intended to augment applicable Board of Regents (BOR) Policy and Procedures and 1) describes when extra compensation from Georgia Tech may be allowable, 2) establishes a consistent approach to setting compensation for additional duties, and 3) sets limits so such activities do not interfere with the normal work of the employee.
Extra compensation for certain activities may be paid in accordance with the criteria described in the BOR Business Procedures Manual, Section 5.3.2, Extra Compensation.
In accordance with Board of Regents policy, and absent special program approval granted by the BOR, extra compensation may be paid to employees for tasks performed (services rendered) outside their normal business hours for duties not included in the employee’s normal job responsibilities, provided the following three criteria are met:
- The task(s) must be outside of the employee’s regular department. See FAQ section.
- The Extra Compensation Departmental Agreement Form must be completed and routed for signatures by the appropriate department heads prior to commencement of activities of the employee.
- The employee must meet at least one of the following criteria (from the Official Code of Georgia Annotated Section 45-10-25):
- Chaplain
- Firefighter
- Dentist
- Certified Oral or Manual Interpreter for Deaf Persons
- Registered Nurse
- Licensed Practical Nurse
- Licensed Physician
- Psychologist
- Teacher or Instructor of an evening or night course or program (see additional rules applicable to Professional Education Courses included below)
- Professional holding a doctoral or master’s degree from an accredited college or university
- Part-time employee
An employee meeting all three criteria listed above may be paid extra compensation for a task providing:
- The task is not part of their normal job responsibilities;
- The task is outside their department;
- The task is not during their normal job hours or if the task is during their normal job hours and the employee takes annual leave for the portion of time being used for the task receiving extra compensation.
Also, an employee meeting all three criteria listed above may be paid extra compensation for a task for another department during normal job hours if the task is not part of the employee’s normal job responsibilities, and the employee takes annual leave for the portion of time that is being used for the task receiving extra compensation.
Employees that have been determined by the institution to be non-exempt, as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), and are performing extra duties qualify for overtime pay. Please consult the SSC regarding clarification of overtime pay requirements. Non-exempt employees should be paid at least the overtime rate or more.
Under no circumstances should an employee receive extra compensation for a task while receiving normal compensation for the same time period. Extra compensation does not add to earnings used for retirement calculations, and no retirement deductions are taken from extra compensation pay.
Classified staff and employees who accrue annual leave are not permitted to take consulting leave. Only faculty who do not accrue annual leave may report their leave as consulting for time spent on approved outside professional activities. For more information on Consulting, refer to Georgia Tech Policy 5.6.5 Consulting and 5.4 Conflict of Interest
Employees receiving extra compensation shall be paid said extra compensation through the institutional payroll. Such compensation shall be subject to existing federal and state regulations as to taxability and/or withholding taxes. No compensation, as defined above and paid to employees who are on the institutional payroll, shall be paid as per diem and fees or as stipends.
Cross-school instruction and work for research centers/institutes, when outside one’s home department, typically involves tasks considered part of an individual’s normal job responsibilities and therefore would not qualify for extra compensation. Based on the criteria above, instances where extra compensation for staff is allowable for performing different tasks are not common. Whenever there is uncertainty by the providing department as to whether tasks qualify for extra compensation, the supervisor should seek guidance from their School/unit’s leadership, appropriate Vice President/Provost, Faculty Affairs, or Georgia Tech Human Resources’ Payroll and Total Rewards Department.
Extra compensation does not add to earnings used for retirement calculations, and no retirement deductions are taken from extra compensation pay. Employees receiving extra compensation are paid through the Institute’s payroll. Such compensation is subject to existing IRS regulations as to taxability and/or withholding taxes. No compensation, as defined above and paid to employees who are on the institutional payroll, shall be paid as per diem and fees or as stipends.
University System of Georgia (USG) Dual Employment Agreements are subject to the same general rules governing extra compensation. In these agreements, extra compensation is paid by the providing institution (employee home) to the employee and reimbursed to the providing institution by the institution requiring the service (the host institution). Payment for the performance of an employee’s normal job duties is typically reimbursed to the home institution by the host institution using the employee’s standard base rate of pay plus applicable fringe benefits. Not all Dual Employment agreements involve extra compensation.
Compensation Rates
In order to ensure additional duties do not interfere with the performance of normal job responsibilities, total extra compensation for both sponsored and non-sponsored activities shall typically not exceed 30% of the employee’s expected regular annualized compensation. In unusual cases when extra compensation is anticipated to exceed the 30% threshold in a fiscal year, additional justification and advance approval by the Provost or appropriate Executive Vice President depending upon the employee’s home department/unit is required. Compensation paid for sponsored activities must be consistent with applicable external rules, regulations, and award terms and conditions.
Additional Requirements - Professional Education Courses
Professional education activities should be in compliance with the Faculty Handbook: Section 4.6, Georgia Tech Professional Education. GTPE is the Requesting Department for all professional education activities, and compensation paid for professional education activities shall be established based on the following criteria:
- Compensation paid for a sponsored activity must be consistent with the terms and conditions of the award and Federal or other rules applicable to the sponsoring agency or organization.
- Absent sponsor restrictions, compensation rates should be in line with salaries paid to faculty in the discipline being taught.
- Rates may be adjusted based on the type of course (e.g., non-credit courses vs. professional masters).
- Rates should be expressed as a lump-sum payment for the course being taught rather than as an hourly rate.
- Extra compensation may neither be contingent on a program’s revenues nor based on a percentage of income generated by the activity.
- Prior to extra compensation being paid, the appropriate department head must complete, sign, and return the Departmental Agreement Form (DAF) to GTPE. See the Flow Chart for DAF process guidelines. The department head is responsible for ensuring compliance with this policy in terms of allowableness, individual amounts, and rates.
This policy applies to Institute personnel to include staff, academic faculty, and research faculty, who, by virtue of their education, training or experience are selected to perform additional duties and in accordance with other BOR applicable policies.
This policy does not address additional or specific policies related to Summer Salary Arrangements, External Consulting by Faculty, Dual Appointments (formerly Joint Staffing), Moonlighting, Temporary Assignments, or Acting/Interim Title pay adjustments. For purposes of this policy, prizes and awards received are not considered extra compensation and are not considered part of an individual’s regular annual salary. Those matters are governed by separate policies and rules. See Section 10 – Related Information.
This policy does not apply to Overloads for Academic Faculty. Board of Regents Academic and Student Affairs Handbook: Section 4.10 Faculty Overloads and Instructional Staff Responsibilities discourages the payment of extra compensation for overloads. The policy advises that when possible, workload adjustments should be made to encompass the additional duties. If the school and college determine that a workload adjustment cannot be made, a request to pay overload compensation should be submitted to the Office of Faculty Affairs. Full-time faculty members with academic status, who are budgeted at 100% time for the full year may qualify for overload compensation. Approval must be obtained from the School Chair, Dean, Provost, and President prior to the start of the assignment
Definitions
| Normal Job Responsibilities | The duties outlined in the job description or work statement of a position currently held by an individual (employee). |
| Professional Education Activities | The instruction, laboratory supervision, design, marketing, coordination, evaluation, and other effort that faculty and administrators participate in to conduct Professional Education (GTPE) programs. |
| Requesting Department | The academic department or non-academic unit desiring to obtain or facilitate the services of an individual. If the details of the instance are known by the requesting department, it can describe why the services of the individual are needed on the Departmental Agreement Form. The requesting department may also describe why the instance is in the best interest of the Institute on the DAF. |
| Providing Department | The academic department or non-academic unit employing the individual. When an individual initiates the instance with extra compensation, the individual/providing department should complete the part of the DAF describing the details of and the reason why the services are needed. The supervisor of the individual being requested must provide a written statement that the individual is available to provide the desired services and the performance of the services will not detract from the individual’s normal job responsibilities. |
| Moonlighting | Employees may pursue a variety of endeavors for financial gain that are not directly related to the person’s field or discipline. These efforts are part of the non-faculty member’s private life and do not come under Institute regulation for this policy. Such endeavors may be pursued only after the primary commitment to the Institute has been fulfilled. |
| Departmental Agreement Form | The Departmental Agreement Form (DAF) should be completed for each instance creating the need for extra compensation by the employee’s home department (Providing Department) and the department receiving the services (Requesting Department) of the employee prior to provision of any services by the employee. Providing Department typically initiates the DAF process. If additional approval is required for an instance causing an individual’s total extra compensation to exceed the 30% threshold in a fiscal year (July 1 through June 30), advance approval from the Provost or appropriate Executive Vice President shall be obtained and noted by signature at the bottom of the DAF. If similar instances, creating the need for extra compensation, are expected to occur over a period of time, a DAF may be completed for a period of time, rather than each instance (up to quarterly or a three-month period). For example, multiple short courses are going to be taught. |
Frequently Asked Questions:
May I receive extra compensation for services performed outside my normal working hours for Georgia Tech affiliates that are separate 501(c)(3) organizations, such as the Athletic Association?
Yes, faculty and staff may work outside their normal working hours for Georgia Tech affiliates such as the Athletic Association and receive compensation for those services. This type of compensation is generally considered a type of “moonlighting”, is allowable, and would not count towards the 30% threshold.
Are there exceptions to the three criteria above with regards to qualifying for extra compensation?
There are a few situations where extra compensation is allowable even though the three criteria above have not been met. For example, some academic programs are allowed to pay faculty for instruction even though the faculty member may be performing the additional duties for their department. Examples include the Executive MBA, Evening MBA, GTPE Professional Master’s, and the Online Master’s Science – Computer Science. In these cases, the program has received approval from an authoritative body for extra compensation, the work is carried out in addition to a normal full load, the program generates sufficient tuition/fees in direct support making it self-sufficient and the additional duties are not so heavy to interfere with an individual’s regular duties.
Can I perform work for another Georgia Tech department and receive extra compensation if the funding source is a non-Georgia Tech funding source, such as the Georgia Tech Foundation?
Only if the three criteria mentioned above are met. The funding source is not typically a determining factor on whether extra compensation is allowable.
Do retirees classified as “Retired but Working” qualify for extra compensation?
Pay rates for Retired but Working (RBW) employees should be established and approved based on specific duties to be performed during the stated period. For this reason, RBW employees are not eligible for extra compensation. For additional information about RBW reemployment, please visit the Retirees reference data on the GTHR website at: http://ohr.gatech.edu/employment/hiringtalent/retirees
8.1. The Providing Department is responsible for initiating and completing their part of the Departmental Agreement Form.
8.2. Working with the Georgia Tech Human Resources as necessary, the Providing Department is responsible for ensuring the employee’s extra compensation does not exceed the 30% threshold defined in this policy in any single fiscal year without additional approval as indicated below, point 8.3.
8.3. The Providing Department is responsible for attaching additional justification with the DAF and seeking advance signature approval by the Provost or appropriate Executive Vice President to exceed 30% of the employee’s annual, regular compensation.
Employees who receive extra compensation contrary to this policy may be in violation of O.C.G.A. Section 45-10-23 relating to unlawful conflicts of interest. Employees authorizing or receiving extra compensation in violation of this policy may be subject to discipline as provided in the Faculty Handbook and the Administrative Policies of the Institute.
The Institute’s Payroll Office along with the Division of Administration and Finance will periodically monitor extra compensation activity to ensure compliance in terms of allowableness, administration, and amounts/rates.
To report suspected instances of noncompliance with this policy, please visit Georgia Tech’s EthicsPoint, a secure and confidential reporting system, at:
https://secure.ethicspoint.com/domain/en/report_custom.asp?clientid=7508
| Revision Date | Author | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 08/15/2018 | Office of Human Resources | Clarify Policy |
| 12/2/2016 | Office of Human resources | New Policy |