Ohio University announces 2023 bonuses, details for 2024 salary increases

In appreciation for the hard work of OHIO’s faculty and staff, University leadership has approved a one-time bonus for eligible employees in fiscal year 2023, and merit-based salary increases for eligible faculty and staff in fiscal year 2024. Guidelines for bonuses and merit increases are outlined below.

FY23 Bonus

Eligibility Requirements*:

• Faculty, Administrators, and FOP union members must be hired prior to January 1, 2023.
• AFSCME 1699 and AFSCME 3200  employees  shall receive a $2,000 bonus and should refer to the language within their respective collective bargaining agreements and other related agreements for eligibility requirements.
• Eligible employees must be in active pay status as of the following dates:
  • Faculty employed as of May 15
  • Administrative and FOP employees employed as of May 22
  • AFSCME 1699 and AFSCME 3200 employees employed as of May 5
• Administrative employees who are temporary, term, intermittent appointments, or who are involuntarily terminated with cause are not eligible to receive this bonus.
• Temporary faculty are not eligible unless they are benefits-eligible appointments. Eligible faculty include Tenure Track (full or part-time), Instructional Faculty (non-tenure track, full or part-time) and Clinical Faculty (non-tenure track; full or part-time; HCOM and CHSP only). Early retiree faculty are eligible for a prorated bonus.

Payment Details:

• Full-time employees meeting the above eligibility will be paid a $2,000 bonus.
• Part-time employees will receive a prorated amount based on their Full Time Equivalency (FTE). 
• Semi-monthly paid employees will receive their bonus on their May 30 paycheck.
• Bi-weekly employees will receive their bonus on their May 31 paycheck.
• Bonuses are considered supplemental wages and are taxed at the supplemental rate of 22% for federal taxes and 3.5% for the state of Ohio.
• All employees covered by collective bargaining agreements should refer to the language within their respective collective bargaining agreements and other related agreements for payment details.
• The University follows the State Teachers Retirement System (STRS) and Ohio Public Employee Retirement system (OPERS) guidance regarding whether retirement plan contributions are applied to a bonus. 
  • STRS provided guidance that they consider this bonus to be “earnable salary” and retirement plan contributions must be applied.  This means the current employee contribution and employer contribution for STRS members and academic employees enrolled in the Alternative Retirement Plan will be applied to this bonus.
  • OPERS provided guidance that this bonus is not eligible for retirement plan contributions under their rules.  This means employee and employer contributions will not be applied to this bonus for OPERS members and administrative employees enrolled in the Alternative Retirement Plan.

FY24 Salary Increase

Eligibility Requirement:

• Employees must be hired before January 1, 2023.
• Administrative employees who have received a salary increase due to a promotion or incumbent review on or after January 1, 2023, are not eligible for the raise pool. Exceptions can be granted by the provost or planning unit head for non-academic units.
• Administrative employees who have received a salary increase due to market adjustment or equity alignment on or after January 1, 2023, are eligible for the raise pool.
• Post-doc and grant funded position increases must follow the above raise pool guidelines unless increases are prohibited by the grant. 
• AFSCME 3200, AFSCME 1699, FOP Police Officers, & FOP Police Lieutenants should refer to the language within their respective collective bargaining agreements. 

The basis for the raise pool distribution will be as follows: 

• Divisions have been instructed to allocate a raise pool equaling two percent of salary for all eligible employees that will then be distributed based on merit.
• Colleges and Planning Units may set aside up to 0.50% for a Dean/Vice President/Vice Provosts’ discretionary pool to address exceptional merit and market/compression. Specific unit guidelines for distribution of merit increases should be communicated within each planning unit.
• Merit increases are to be based on the quality of an individual's performance as evidenced by their performance evaluation. The Provost (or Planning Unit Head for non-academic units) must approve merit increases outside the approved minimum of 0.50% (for meeting expectations) and a maximum of 5.00%. Those requests must be submitted to the Provost (or Planning Unit Head) before the submission deadline. Employees who receive an increase outside the approved range are to be provided with a written explanation of the reasons. Units can consider documented performance ratings during the past two years as well when determining increases.

Faculty Promotions:

• Promotion to Associate Professor –$6,000
• Promotion to Professor –$9,000
• Promotion to Associate Lecturer –$4,000
• Promotion to Senior Lecturer –$6,000

Other Provisions:

If an annual increase brings an employee’s pay to a value that is at or below the maximum for the pay grade of the job, then the entire increase will be added to the employee's base pay.  If annual increase would bring the new pay to a value that exceeds the maximum for the pay grade of the job, then the employee's situation is described as "red-circled," and the raise will be provided as a combination of a (possibly zero) base pay adjustment together with a single lump-sum payment at the start of the fiscal year, according to the following method: 

• If the old base pay is at or above the pay grade maximum, the base pay is frozen, unchanged, and the entire raise is provided in the lump-sum payment. 
• If the old base pay is below the pay grade maximum (but so close to it that the increase would exceed the pay grade maximum), then a first portion of the raise is used to bring the new base pay up to the pay grade maximum, and the remaining portion of the raise is provided in the lump-sum payment.

For FY2023-24, the faculty, administrative, AFSCME 3200 and FOP unions health plan cost sharing (deductibles, copays, out of pocket maximums, prescription copays, etc.) will remain at current levels.

Health plan premiums will continue to be based on salary, and the salary brackets used to set premiums have been adjusted.  Health plan premiums for single plans, employee plus one dependent plans, and family plans will increase by approximately 9.5%.  Dental premiums will increase by 11%. Vision, Life, and Short-Term Disability insurance premiums will remain at current levels. 

AFSCME 1699 members should refer to their collective bargaining agreements for health plan cost share and premium increases.

Thank you for your continued commitment to Ohio University. Please contact the Employee Service Center at uhr@ohio.edu or 740-593-1636 if you have questions or concerns.

*Updated Tuesday, May 16 for clarification purposes.