Position Control and Funding

Introduction

This policy provides a coordinated approach for the establishment, monitoring and control of all employee positions in the Operating Fund.

This policy also sets forth the financial and other arrangements connected with:

• the appointment of academic administrators,
• the transfer of an academic administrator to an academic unit at the end of the administrative term, and
• the budget implications resulting from a termination of employment.

Policy

Term Positions

Prior to being established, term academic and administrative positions must receive approval from a Senior University Officer, which, in many cases, will be either the Provost and Vice-President (Academic), the Vice-President (Administration) or Vice-President (Research) according to the reporting structure of the Unit hiring. Term academic appointments of three years or shorter duration are the purview of the Faculty Dean, and do not require further approval. 

Funding for term positions will come from a Unit’s discretionary budget.  The associated benefit costs will be funded from the central benefits provision budget.

Subsequent salary adjustments resulting from increments or negotiated salary increases will also be funded by the Unit’s discretionary budget. The associated increase to benefit costs will be funded from the central benefits provision budget.

Base Budgeted Positions

Prior to being established, base budgeted academic and administrative positions must receive approval from a Senior University Officer, which, in many cases, will be either the Provost and Vice-President (Academic) or the Vice-President (Administration) or Vice-President (Research) according to the reporting structure of the Unit hiring.

This approval is normally granted during the annual budget making process and communicated through a formal budget letter that is sent to academic and administrative units after the Board of Governors approves the annual budget.  In rare circumstances, the Senior University Officer may approve the creation of a new base budgeted position outside the annual budget making process.

Initial funding for base budgeted positions along with the associated benefit costs will normally come from the central salary and benefits provision budget.  Initial funding can sometimes be derived from allocations of existing base budgets within a Unit or a combination of Unit and central budgets. 

Once initial funding has been established, any subsequent salary adjustments resulting from increments or negotiated salary increases along with the associated benefit costs are funded from the central salary and benefits provision budget.

Academic Administrator Appointments

The instructional and scholarly work of an academic unit should be neither enhanced nor impaired by the appointment of an academic administrator whose academic home is in that unit.

When an individual who holds a base funded academic position moves to an academic administrator position, the base budgeted position will remain with the academic unit.  When an academic administrator leaves the administrative office, the individual will be placed in a vacant base funded faculty position in the academic home.  If no vacant base funded positions exist in the academic home, the individual will be placed in an unbudgeted supernumerary position, and annual funding will be provided to the academic unit until a vacancy becomes available and the individual can be placed in the vacant position.

Consequences for Noncompliance

If positions are established without appropriate prior approval, it could result in the employee not getting paid.  Hiring employees without appropriate approvals could result in discipline up to and including termination.

If an academic administrator is appointed and the funding is not arranged as outlined in this policy, the work of the appointee’s academic unit could be negatively affected.

Processes

Requesting a New Position Number

1. Once a unit has received approval to establish a new position, it requests a new position number from the Director, HR Service Centre in Human Resources. The request should be submitted using the prescribed form available at https://ursource.uregina.ca/hr/assets/docs/forms-payroll/position-request-form.docx
2. When a request for a position number is received, Human Resources creates the position number in Banner and informs the Director (Budget Services) in Financial Services.
3. Financial Services makes any budget changes that result from the creation of the new position.

Budget Adjustments upon Termination from a Base Budgeted Position

When an employee who is assigned to a base budgeted position terminates employment with the University, the salary budget of the position will be adjusted as follows:

1. In the fiscal year that the termination of employment occurs, the salary budget of the position will remain intact at the level it was at immediately prior to vacating until the end of the fiscal year in which the termination occurred. For example, if a termination occurs on 30 June, the Unit will continue to have the full salary budget of that position until the end of the fiscal year, which is 30 April the following calendar year.

• If the total salary paid in the fiscal year is less than the budget for the position, the unit will have the benefit of the budget fall-in from the date of termination to the end of the fiscal year.
• If the total salary paid in the fiscal year is greater than the budget for the position prior to vacating (i.e. termination takes place near year end and unused vacation is paid out), no budget fall-in will be available to the end of the fiscal year and the unit will be required to fund any shortfall.

2. On May 1 of the fiscal year following the date of termination, the salary budget for the vacant position will be reduced to the floor of the salary range for the position. For vacant Professor, Associate Professor, and Assistant Professor positions, the budget will be reduced to the floor of an Assistant Professor.
3. If the position is filled either during the same fiscal year that it was vacated or in a subsequent fiscal year, the budget will be adjusted to the actual salary of the new incumbent when it is filled.
4. At the end of each fiscal year, a report of vacant positions will be provided to the Provost and Vice-President (Academic), the Vice-President (Administration) and the Vice-President (Research) identifying positions which have been vacant over two or more fiscal years. This report will be used to generate a discussion with the appropriate Dean/Administrative head to determine if there are any base budget positions which should be eliminated.  The budget from any position eliminated will be returned to the center to be reallocated out in the next budget round.

Funding at the End of an Appointment

1. When an academic administrator resigns from or completes the term of office, the individual will be placed in a vacant base budgeted academic position in the individual’s academic home. The salary and benefits budget for the academic position will be adjusted to the level of the individual’s actual academic salary as calculated by Human Resources (as defined in EMP-030-005 Compensation for Out of Scope Employees).
2. If more than one academic position is vacant, the one with the highest budget will be assigned to the transferring academic administrator.
3. If no vacant position exists in the academic home, then a new supernumerary position will be created and the academic administrator will be transferred to this new position. This supernumerary position will be centrally funded annually until a vacant academic position becomes available.  When the next vacant academic position becomes available the academic administrator will be placed in the vacant position and the budget will be adjusted to reflect the current salary of the academic administrator. The supernumerary position then is ended.
4. When an Associate Dean returns to their base budgeted academic position, the position budget will also return to that position at the current level.

Administrative Leaves

If an academic administrator is granted an administrative leave upon completion of the academic administrator role, the budgetary arrangements discussed above will take effect at the end of the leave.  The cost of the leave will be borne centrally by the University.

Related Information

• EMP-030-005 Compensation for Out-of-Scope Employees