Change in Bi Weekly Salary & Promotions During the Freeze on Increments (Steps)

If you are wondering why your paychecks are slightly lower each pay period now than in the previous year, it is because the number of work days increased to 218 for 10 month employees and 262 for 12 month employees.  All bi-weekly salaries are calculated based on the annual salary and the number of work days. The number of work days fluctuates only minimally over the course of an agreement, but it does affect the bi-weekly calculations. Steps/Increments were frozen on June 30, 2015, while at the same time the new fiscal year for work days increased by one.  We have posted the 2015-16 bi-weekly salaries on our website under Agreements/Full-Time 2011-15 Salary Charts so that you can find out if you are being shorted in your gross pay.

Despite the freeze on Steps (Increments), Promotion increases will continue as they have in the past with a freeze, albeit without an across-the-board annual salary increase.

The process of correctly calculating your new salary when you receive a promotion/range adjustment may seem a little confusing. However, we urge you to follow the process below to ensure that you are placed in the correct range and step and paid accordingly. After you make your own calculations, if you feel your HR/Payroll department has made an error, please notify your local immediately.

Correctly Calculating Salary for Promotions or Range Adjustment in Four Easy Steps (reprinted from the September 2013 Voice)

1. Go to the Annual Salary Schedule in the State-Union Agreement and find your existing range and step prior to the effective promotion or range adjustment date. Note that you have to check the dates for 10-month or 12-month employees, as appropriate, on the salary charts. (The Annual Salary Schedule is also available on line at the Council’s web site www.cnjscl.org. Click on the Agreements link.)

2. Next go to to the Annual Salary Schedule based on the effective date of your promotion. Find the salary in the range and step you would have been on without your promotion or range adjustment. Also be aware that you may be entitled to move up an additional step due to your anniversary date. Then look at the increment column (second from the left on the chart). Add the one step increment amount in your current range to that salary.) For anyone who is at step 12 and receives a promotion, the effect of adding an increment is a de facto step 13 for calculation purposes.

3. In that same Annual Salary Schedule (the one based on your promotion date) go to the new range you received as a result of your promotion.

4. Look for the salary step that is equal to or the next highest based on the calculation in #2 above. This will be your new step and salary in the range to which you have been promoted. Remember, the key element is to do this calculation based on the effective date of your promotion – not on the date you were notified.

What follows are two examples of the calculation process.

Example #1: It’s April 1, 2014. Sandy Milagros, a PSS IV professional staff member at step 6, range 18, received notice of her promotion from range 18 to range 21 under a new PSS III title effective July 1, 2014. On April 1 her current annual salary is $54,651,76. She will move up to step 7 on July 1, 2014 absent the promotion.

Using the Annual Salary Schedule for 12 month employees, her salary at step 7 on July1, 2014 would be $57,831.81. Add one increment of $2,223.65 to this amount and the new total is $60,055.46.

Go to the Range 21 salary for July 1, 2014 and find the salary that is equal to or greater than $$60,055.46. In this instance, there is no salary equal to that amount so the next highest salary is $61,810.84 at step 5. This is the new step and salary for Sandy Milagros. She received an annual salary increase of $7,1159.08 over her old range 18, step 6 position.

Example #2: It’s April 30, 2014. Thomas Excalibur is an Associate Professor at range 26, step 8. He received notice of his range adjustment from range 26 to range 28 effective September 1, 2014. His annual salary on April 30, 2014 is $87,227.28.

Go to the Annual Salary Schedule for 10 month employees for his effective September 1, 2014 date. That salary would be $88,753.76 if he had not received a range adjustment. Add one increment at range 21 of $3,288.24 to this amount and the new total is $92,042. Go to range 28 for September 1, 2014 and find the salary that is equal to or greater than $92,042. In this instance, there is no salary equal to that amount. The next highest salary is $94,228.87 at Step 7. Thomas Excalibur, on September 1, 2014 is on range 28 at step 7. He received an annual salary increase of $7,001.59 over his old range 26, step 8 position.

We hope these two examples give you a better idea of how to calculate Promotion/Range Adjustments. Please bear in mind that as a result of promotions/range adjustments, your anniversary date could change. For more information on that issue see Article XXII, pages 34-36 of the 2011-2015 State-Union Agreement.