| Questions |
|
| What is the City's Minimum Wage? |
The City of Austin's minimum wage is $10.90 per hour as of October 2, 2005. This is the result of a City Council decision to up the Living Wage for the City of Austin. This wage applies only to regular city employees. The federal minimum wage remains at $5.85 per hour as of July 24, 2007. For more information, please refer to the Department of Labor's Wage and Overtime Pay web page
|
|
|
| How is Overtime Pay determined? |
| Overtime Pay works in compliance with Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requirements. For more information on FLSA, please visit the web site.
|
|
|
| Who is eligible for Overtime Pay? |
Payment of Overtime:
- Exempt Employees:
Exempt employees are salaried employees and, except as provided, are not eligible for overtime compensation. However, the Director of Human Resources may in some cases approve additional compensation for exempt employees.
- Non-Exempt Employees:
Non-exempt employees will be compensated for any overtime worked when such compensation is required by law. Generally, overtime is any time worked in excess of forty hours in a week. However, a Department Director may utilize any overtime standard permitted by law if the Director of Human Resources has approved it. Employees will not be permitted to donate work time to the City. Overtime will be paid at one and one-half times the employee’s regular rate of pay. A Department Director may choose to use compensatory time in lieu of cash payment for some or all of the department’s employees. Before the overtime is worked, employees must be informed that they will be compensated with compensatory time off rather than cash. Compensatory time shall be credited at the rate of one and one-half hours for each hour of overtime worked. Any additional overtime will be paid in cash. An employee who requests the use of accrued compensatory time shall be permitted to take such leave within a reasonable period after making the request, unless the employee's absence would unduly disrupt the operations of the department.
|
|
| What is the hiring pay rate? |
The hiring pay rate is the beginning rate at which a person is hired into a position.
|
|
|
| What is a salary survey? |
A salary survey is a gathered sample of data regarding fixed compensation for services, paid to a person on a regular basis.
|
|
|
| What is Service Incentive Pay and who is eligible? |
Service Incentive Pay is a benefit for regular, non-Civil Service employees who have completed at least five (5) years of continuous service with the City of Austin.
|
|
|
| What is the formula for Service Incentive Pay? |
The formula for employees with five (5) and up to seven (7) years is:
- Completed years of uninterrupted service (up to seven years) X .0025 X hourly rate X scheduled work week (e.g., 40) X 52 (weeks of the year) OR $500, whichever is less.
For employees with seven (7) and up to fifteen (15) years:
- Completed years of uninterrupted service (up to fifteen years) x .0025 x hourly rate x scheduled work week x 52 weeks of the year OR $1000, whichever is less.
The formula for employees with more than fifteen (15) years of service is:
- Completed years of uninterrupted service x .0025 x hourly rate x scheduled work week x 52 weeks OR $1500, whichever is less.
|
|
|
| What is the City of Austin's Pay for Performance program? |
| Pay for Performance is a pay strategy developed by the City of Austin to reward employees who meet or exceed job expectations. Pay for Performance is based on the Success Strategy Performance Review (SSPR), a tool that tells employees how well they are doing in their jobs. SSPR evaluation results determine who is eligible for pay increases under the program. |
|
|
| Who is my departmental contact for Compensation information? |
| To find out who your Human Resources Liaison is for your specific department, please call or e-mail Compensation. |
|
|
| Definitions |
|
| Benchmark Job |
| A job that is commonly found and defined, used to make pay comparisons, either within the organization or to comparable jobs outside the organization. |
|
|
| Compa-Ratio |
| The ratio of an actual pay rate (numerator) to the midpoint or some other control point for the pay range (denominator). |
|
|
| Exempt |
| A term referring to employees who are exempt from the overtime provisions of the US Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (FLSA). These employees include executives, administrative employees, professional employees and those engaged in outside sales as defined by the FLSA. |
|
|
| Job |
| The total collection of tasks, duties and responsibilities assigned to one or more individuals who work has the same nature and level. Also called a position. |
|
|
| Job Analysis |
| The systematic, formal study of the duties and responsibilities that comprise job content. |
|
|
| Job Description |
| A summary of the most important features of a job, including the general nature of the work performed (duties and responsibilities) and level (i.e., skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions) of the work performed. |
|
|
| Job Enrichment |
| The practice of adding more responsibility and/or diversity to a specific job to make it more challenging for the incumbent (i.e., vertical expansion of duties and/or responsibilities). |
|
|
| Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities (KSAs) |
| Common job specifications. Knowledge refers to acquired mental information necessary to do the job (e.g., principles of nuclear physics), skills refers to acquired manual measurable behaviors (e.g., lathe operation) and abilities, to natural talents or acquired dexterity (e.g., capacity to lift 200 pounds). |
|
|
| Labor Market |
| A place where labor is exchanged for wages. |
|
|
| Non-Exempt |
| A term referring to employees who are not exempt from the minimum wage and overtime pay provisions of the US Fair Labor Standards Acts of 1938 (FLSA). |
|
|
| Pay Range |
| The range of pay rates, from minimum to maximum, established for a pay grade or class. |
|
|
| Reclassification |
| The (re)assignment of a job to a higher or lower grade or range in the organization's job worth hierarchy due to a job content and/or significant change in the going rate for comparable jobs in the external labor market. |
|
|
| Salary Structure |
| The hierarchy of job grades and pay ranges established within an organization. The salary structure may be expressed in terms of job grades, job-evaluation points or policy lines. |
|
|
| Total Compensation |
| The complete reward/recognition package for employees, including all forms of money, benefits, perquisites ("perks"), services and in-kind payments. |
|
|
