Department responsibility for pay equity review
WA state law promotes fairness through equal pay, which requires employers to provide equal compensation to similarly employed workers except for specific reasons. UWHR encourages departments to holistically look at employee performance and wages, considering merit-based salary increases, increase of duties and/or criticality of employee retention to ensure fair compensation. In advance of finalizing a decision to increase pay, consider:
Type of compensation: Does the compensation mechanism you are using match the situation? There often are several types of salary increase options for classified and professional staff so make sure you are using the option that best aligns with the situation.
Professional staff
| In-grade salary adjustment | Position review | Temporary pay increase | Retention incentive | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent change in level of duties and responsibilities | X | X | ||||
| Temporary additional duties and responsibilities | X | X | ||||
| Temporary assumption of higher-level administrative responsibilities | X (ADS) | |||||
| Meritorious performance with increased level of functioning | X | X | X | |||
| Market-related pressures (external equity) | X | X | ||||
| Employment offer / active recruitment from outside of UW | X | X | ||||
| Misalignment of salary relationships (internal equity) | X |
Classified staff
In addition to specific provisions in a collective bargaining agreement, the following chart outlines typical mechanisms for pay increases:
| Position review | Temporary salary increase | Career Enhancement/ Growth Program (925+WFSE) | Recruitment and retention program (additional steps) | Retention incentive | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Permanent change in level of duties and responsibilities | X | ||||
| Temporary change in level of duties and responsibilities | X | ||||
| Meritorious performance with increased level of functioning | X | X | X | ||
| Market-related pressures (external equity) | X | ||||
| Employment offer / active recruitment from outside of UW | X | X | |||
| Misalignment of salary relationships (internal equity) | X |
Unit policy requirements: If your department has a policy that governs promotional pay increase decisions, have you followed it?
Wage compression: Will this compensation action create compression among similar positions? If so, what are the risks and mitigation efforts? Have you considered future impacts resulting from a higher state salary threshold for the exemption from overtime?