UCSB HR: Contract Policies

UCSB Employment Contracts June 2001

Templates

Contract/Amendment Templates available on Human Resources Web Page in the Forms section under Employment/Contract Templates.

PSS General Use (Sr. Analysts, CNT III‘s & IV‘s, etc.)

PSS Coach

PSS Development Officer (Sr. or Prin Analysts, etc.)

PSS Senior Recreation Supervisor

PSS Senior Resident Advisor

PSS Student Health Position (Podiatrists, Optometrists, etc.)

MSP General Use (Directors & Mgrs of Functional Areas, etc.)

MSP Coach

MSP Development Officers

MSP Student Health Position (Staff Physicians, Sr. Physicians, Assoc & Asst Dentists, etc)

Amendment

Contract Policies

Policies governing the use of contracts, as referenced below, are also located in the UCSB Local Policy manual, Types of Appointment, Policy 3.B.3, Use of Appointment Types (Contract):

Types of Appointment Policy 3

B. APPOINTMENT TYPES

3. Use of Appointment Types (Contract)

Terms and Conditions of Employment:

The terms and conditions of employment, including compensation and duration of employment, are limited to those written in the employment contract. A contract terminates automatically upon the expiration date of the contract, unless, prior to the expiration date, the appointment is ended or extended and the contract is amended or renewed in writing. The amount of time of all appointments, whether on contract or not, cannot exceed 100%.

Persons appointed to contract positions may be terminated during the life of the contract when, in management‘s judgment, the needs or resources of a department or the performance or conduct of an employee does not justify the continuation of an employee‘s appointment.

Eligibility. A contract appointment may only be established under the following conditions:

The position is in the Professional and Support Staff (PSS) (Tier I) program or Managers and Senior Professionals (MSP) (Tier II) program;

AND

The position has special salary requirements or unique occupational terms and conditions of employment which, by industry standards, is typically covered by an employment contract. Examples of these are physicians, development officers and coaches. Although these contracts may be renewed annually, the position is expected to be of indefinite duration. These types of contracts do NOT require open recruitment and are referred to as "Industry Standard Contracts".

The position is normally associated with projects that have a specific ending date. An employment contract for a ‘term appointment’ is normally of one year‘s duration and may be extended beyond one year to a maximum of three years. Re-appointment in a contract position beyond that date is not permitted. These types of contracts DO require open recruitment and are referred to as "Term Contracts".

Employee Rights and Benefits.

The terms and conditions of employment for a contract position shall be only those specified in the employment contract.
Eligibility for University Benefits programs and the University of California Retirement Plan are determined by the Standing Orders of the Regents and the Group Insurance regulations.

(Basically, if the appointment is at least 50% time or more, for one year or more, and not BYA, then the employee would be eligible for full benefits and membership in the UCRP-retirement plan. As of 1/1/01, an employee in a limited appointment will become a UCRP member after accumulating 1,000 hours on pay status during a rolling 12-month period. This policy also applies to employees in contract appointments.)

3. Service Credit: Employee‘s on contract are not eligible to earn Service Credit for the purpose of computing vacation accruals. If the employee converts to a career appointment, their time on contract is not counted.

Salary.

Once the classification level of the contract position has been determined by the Compensation unit, the salary for the entire term of the contract is negotiated by the department head and the employee before the appointment commences. The salary amount cannot exceed the range maximum for the assigned classification title. Conditions for variable compensation can be stipulated in the contract. When the contract terminates or is amended through re-negotiation during its current term, the salary and other provisions can be altered.

Responsibilities and Procedures.

The department head and Human Resources collaboratively designate contract positions, decide whether or not recruitment is applicable, and establish the terms and conditions of employment, including salary. Recruitment for contract positions is normally emphasized unless for reasons of compelling business necessity, the recruitment should be waived (see PPSM 20.C and Local Policy 20.B.3, Waiver of Recruitment).

Recruitment is not applicable for a contract appointment when the position meets the definition "industry standard". In such cases, local policy on Waivers of Recruitment does not apply.

The department head is responsible for assuring that the contract employee possesses all the knowledge, skills and abilities required to perform the duties of the position.
The written contract is prepared by the department, signed by all appropriate parties and reviewed by Human Resources. Models of employment contracts can be obtained from Human Resources.
The contract is not effective until the appointee has completed all University paperwork necessary to become a University contract employee, including the State Oath of Allegiance, Patent Agreement, Job Description, etc. The contract is not in effect until it is signed-off by the head of the department and the employee.
The department is responsible for identifying funding sources for all payments to an employee under contract.

Additional Contract Policies/Procedures

A. Terminating a contract early: In order to terminate a contract before the original end date specified in the contract, an amendment must be created, signed, and sent over to Human Resources for approval.

B. Conversion from Contract to Career: If a contract position was openly recruited (through the Employment Office) at the onset of the appointment, then the conversion can be made without further recruitment. The employment unit in Human Resources must be consulted in situations like this.

C. Conversion from Contract to Limited Appointment Status: Contract appointments can be converted to limited appointment status immediately upon termination, as there are no recruitment requirements for hiring a limited appointment employee. Time as a contract employee does not count towards the 1000 hour limitation of a limited status employee.* However, for the purposes of UCRP (Retirement Plan) eligibility, hours may be counted and/or applied differently. Please refer to the benefits office (x2489) for more information.

D. Changes to Contract: Minor modifications in wording may be made to the contract language when it involves such instances as variable pay, variable working hours, variable percentages of time, or appendices of performance expectations. NO changes may be made to the Policy sections 1-3 (PPSM and UCSB Local Policies), however, Policy section 4 may be included or excluded at the discretion of the department.

E. Recruiting for a Contract: In order for a department to recruit for a Term Contract, they must submit a recruitment packet (requisition and job description) to the HR Employment Office INCLUDING a copy of the contract to be used. These packets must be reviewed by Compensation before recruitment commences.

F. Reclassing a Contract: Contracts do NOT go through the reclass process. If a department wishes to change duties in a contract position that warrant a higher level classification, they first need to have Compensation review a draft job description for the appropriate level. Upon verification from Compensation, they should go ahead and submit an amendment to the original agreement with a newly signed job description attached.

G. Contract Record-keeping: Originals of all contracts and accompanying job descriptions are housed in the Human Resources ‘Records’ unit (lektriever), NOT in the Classification Files.

H. Contract Processing: Upon receipt of an original signed Contract and Job Description the Contract Administrator:

Reviews the documents for accuracy and appropriate classification level, including exemption status and appropriateness of salary. (If there are errors in the Contract the department will be notified by phone or email. Additional documentation may be required.)

Job Descriptions are classified at the appropriate level and contracts are signed by the Human Resources’ representative.

Copies of the signed Contract are then returned to the department to file for their records.

Original signed Contract and Job Description are housed in Human Resources.

* This statement assumes that the employee has only one appointment.