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C50: Faculty Contracts

Policy

Contracts are usually issued during May or June for the following year. For most faculty members, contracts call for nine (9) months of service (see Dates of Campus Duty).

Payments in every case are made in monthly installments, on the last working day of each month. Faculty members who are employed on a nine-month basis have the option of choosing payment of their salaries in ten (10) or twelve (12) installments. For example: for a given year, the first check is paid at the end of August; faculty members may decide whether they wish to receive their contracted salaries in twelve (12) equal installments ending on July 31 or in ten (10) equal installments ending on May 31.

The following procedure has been established for computing the salary of a faculty member whose period of employment 1) does not begin with the start of the academic year, or 2) ends before Commencement. Count the number of weeks of service and relate that number to 39 weeks in the nine-month academic year.

  • Example A: A faculty member starts work in February on a date which is 14 weeks before Commencement; salary amount will be 14/39 of a nine-month base salary.
  • Example B: A faculty member who starts work one (1) week before classes begin, as is customary, finishes work at the end of the first semester; salary amount will be 50 percent of a nine-month base salary, and contract dates for one (1)semester will include 19.5 weeks.

The contract of a person employed for the fiscal year administrators and certain faculty is written to indicate a 12-month period of employment, it being understood that a one-month vacation, i.e., annual leave on an accrual basis, is implicit in the agreement. One month here is construed as 21 working days, and a paid holiday in a vacation period is counted as a holiday and not as a day of vacation. While vacations will be granted whenever possible to satisfy individual requests, continuity of operations must be maintained. Consequently, vacation must be scheduled with the approval of the dean or director concerned.

For full-time faculty members on 12-month contracts: vacation is accrued at a rate of 1.75 days per month for a total of 21 days per year; to earn vacation during a given month, faculty must receive pay for at least twelve (12) days during that month; faculty may accrue up to a total of 31.5 days. Faculty members on 12-month contracts may not accrue annual leave while on sabbatical leave.

For part-time faculty members on 12-month contracts for at least 1/2-time but less than 3/4-time work, vacation is accrued at a rate of 7 hours per month for a total of 84 hours per year with maximum allowable accrual of 126 hours. For such persons working at least 3/4-time but less than full-time, the accrual rate is 11 hours per month, or 132 hours per year with a maximum allowable accrual of 189 hours. To earn vacation for a given month, 1/2-time employees must work a minimum of 48 hours in that month, and 3/4-time employees must work a minimum of 64 hours in that month.

Employees on 12-month contracts with the University who are terminating their employment are expected to take all accrued annual leave within the contract period. If, however, accrued annual leave extends beyond the contract period, and if the employee has given adequate notice of termination, the employee's supervisor may request that an additional contract be issued to include payment of accrued annual leave (not to exceed 21 days for full-time faculty, 15.75 days for 3/4 time faculty, and 10.5 days for 1/2 time faculty). Employees terminating employment for retirement purposes (under The New Mexico Educational Retirement Act) would be paid for the full unused annual leave credits not to exceed the maximum allowed accrual.

When a nine-month faculty salary is converted to a twelve-month salary, the nine-month salary is multiplied by 11/9. A twelve-month salary figure is converted to a nine-month salary by multiplying the twelve-month figure by 9/11. This procedure recognizes the different leave policies required by the contracts and compares nine (9) months' work with eleven (11) months' work, with no annual leave accruals for those on nine-month contracts and one (1) month's annual leave within the twelve (12) month contract.

For a person on a 12-month contract whose period of employment does not coincide with the start and end of the fiscal year (July l-June 30), salary is computed as follows:

Divide the annual base salary by 12 and multiply the quotient by the remaining number of months in the budget year; i.e., a person employed on December 1 on an annual base salary of $36,000 would receive a contract for $21,000-$3,000 per month for the 7 months remaining in the fiscal year.