School of Social Welfare Faculty Bonus Payments from Salary Release Funds

Based on the KU Salary Savings Incentive Policy for Faculty, the KU School of Social Welfare (KUSSW) can award a bonus payment one-time each fiscal year to tenured and tenure track faculty members from excess salary release from grants or contracts or funds generated from grants and contracts (i.e., PI F&A accounts, fee accounts). Only principal investigators or co-investigators for the grants or contracts from which the buy-out funds originate are eligible for the salary savings bonus payments. Excess salary release from grants or contracts occurs when the faculty member has been bought out of one or more workload units and the School’s cost to provide a replacement amounts to less than the salary amount released. The bonus payment will be calculated by taking the amount of the salary release and subtracting a 10% administrative overhead and then subtracting from the remaining amount the replacement costs of hiring an adjunct lecturer. The remaining funds will be the amount available for the bonus payment. All University and School responsibilities and related financial obligations required to support the project (e.g., postdoc, graduate, and undergraduate student salaries, fringe and tuition, coverage of research and support staff, matching funds and indirects) must be met before salary savings can be used on behalf of the faculty member for other purposes. In addition, the faculty member must have a meritorious record in teaching, research, and service. A meritorious record is one that demonstrates successful execution of the faculty member’s negotiated workload.

Faculty may request a bonus payment annually in April from salary release funds from that academic year. To apply, a request for endorsement detailing the grant(s), contract(s), and/or account(s) supplying the excess salary and fringe is sent to the KUSSW Associate Dean for Research. In collaboration with the KUSSW Business Manager and the KU Office of Research, the KUSSW Associate Dean for Research determines the factual, financial basis of the request, assuring that all financial obligations to support the project(s) have been met. The KUSSW Associate Dean for Research forwards the request to the Dean, certifying whether or not all financial obligations have been met. The Dean reviews the individual’s performance in research, teaching, and service, based on their annual performance evaluation, to determine if the faculty member demonstrates a record of research, teaching, and service which reflects their negotiated workload and therefore enables them to receive a bonus payment.

Such bonus payments will be made through the University’s additional pay process and will not affect the individual’s base salary. A bonus payment, no matter what the source of funding, will be in addition to the faculty member’s established base salary for that year. A faculty member may be eligible for a bonus payment only once each fiscal year. Faculty members may receive bonus payments in consecutive years, but each such payment will require a separate consideration. The receipt of a bonus payment in one year does not guarantee or imply any subsequent bonus payments, nor will it be used for purposes of salary adjustments for subsequent years.

This policy will be evaluated by the Dean and KUSSW Associate Dean for Research every two years with regard to its impact on the overall school budget and its success in promoting efforts to secure external funding.