FAQ

All staff positions have a classification description that includes the SHSU position title, EEO skill category, position class, grade, FLSA status, department, education and experience requirements, nature and purpose of position, supervision given and received, primary responsibilities, and other specifications related to the position.

The official position title is used for all HR related records; however, for internal purposes, departments may use a functional or working title.

A promotion occurs when a current employee is selected as the successful candidate of a posted vacancy that is at a higher grade than the employee’s previous position.

A reclassification is a formal study of the duties and responsibilities that comprise a position, taking into consideration the nature and level of work performed and the specifications required for an incumbent to perform the job completely. A reclassification occurs when the job duties and/or required qualifications of a position are re-evaluated and the position is assigned a new classification. The change in job duties, essential functions and/or qualifications of the position should be sufficient enough as compared to when the position was originally established to warrant a study by HR. A position that is reevaluated may be assigned a new title and be classified at a lower or higher grade and salary range. Please refer to SHSU Finance & Operations Human Resources Policy WS-1, Classification of Non- Faculty Jobs, for more information regarding classification changes.

The Federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) determines whether employees are subject to or exempt from overtime provisions. If employees are determined to be serving in a non-exempt position, overtime pay or compensatory time must be provided for working more than 40 hours in a defined workweek (Sunday 12:01am until Saturday 12:00 midnight). When non-exempt employees work over 40 hours during their scheduled workweek, they are entitled to time-and-a-half pay or compensatory time calculated at time-and-a-half for all hours actually worked in excess of 40 hours. All overtime for non-exempt employees should be approved in advance by their supervisor.

A reclassification request is necessary in order to

Reclassifications of existing positions are processed in accordance with the needs of the University on an as-received basis with a maximum sixty (60) calendar day window to complete. In order for reclassifications and new positions to be processed, the required approved documentation is electronically submitted to Human Resources through the Position Management system:

Reclassification of existing positions is limited to no more than once every two years. With Vice President approval, exceptions will be considered during complete departmental reorganizations.

The value of all jobs is influenced by the going rate in the labor market. In some cases, the market value of a job is the most appropriate measure in establishing the salary. A market adjustment is allowed when necessary to stay competitive in the labor market. To make a market adjustment to a staff job, the Dean or Program Director should contact HR for details on the collection of relevant data and how to prepare the proposal. Market adjustments should be presented during the annual budget preparation process in ample time to be included in the next fiscal year budget. Adjustments must not be retroactive.

New employees (external hires with either no prior SHSU employment history or 30-day break in service as defined by the State) may, at the discretion of the supervisor, receive a six-month pay adjustment, not to exceed 6%, upon completing six months of service. This is not considered a merit pay increase. It will be the responsibility of the supervisor to evaluate the employee’s performance, complete the Six-Month Review task within Talent Management, and process the six-month pay adjustment at a time as near as possible to the completion of six months in the new job. The amount of adjustment is based on the progress the employee has made in successfully fulfilling the requirements of the job and for outstanding performance. An EPAF, with appropriate justification, is submitted to process a six-month pay adjustment. Adjustments must not be retroactive.

Merit salary increases may be granted to staff employees whose job performance and productivity is consistently above that normally expected or required (Meritorious Service). A merit pay increase may be requested by the supervisor as a result of the Annual Performance Appraisal. The request is submitted by the employee’s immediate supervisor, through administrative channels, to the Budget Office.

The Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) provides an entitlement of up to 12 weeks of job-protected, paid or unpaid leave during a 12-month period to eligible, covered employees with continuation of group health insurance coverage.

SHSU employees must have a total of at least twelve (12) months of state service credit and have actually worked at least 1,250 hours during the 12-month period immediately preceding the commencement of leave.

No. The 12 months do not have to be continuous or consecutive; all time worked for the employer is counted. However, an employee must have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months preceding the FMLA leave period to meet eligibility for FMLA.

No. The 1,250 hours include only those hours actually worked for the employer. Paid leave and unpaid leave, including FMLA leave, are not included.

SHSU calculates a "rolling" 12-month period measured backward from the date an employee uses FMLA leave.

No. SHSU employees do not have the option of choosing whether or not to designate leave as family and medical leave (FMLA) for a qualifying event.

In all circumstances, it is the employer that determines whether leave qualifies as FMLA leave. SHSU counts FMLA qualifying events toward the maximum total of 12 workweeks of FMLA leave in a 12-month period.

No. The FMLA does not require your employer to pay you during your leave. SHSU requires one to use accrued paid and unpaid leave you are eligible to use.

For the duration of FMLA leave, the employer must continue to pay for the employee's health-insurance coverage as it normally would. The employee must pay for optional coverages while on leave. Payroll deductions for optional coverages will continue as long as the employee is on a paid-leave status during the leave period.

If a leave without pay status applies to the FMLA leave, an employee is encouraged to contact the Insurance and Benefit Specialist in Human Resources to inquire about appropriate payment procedures for optional coverages.

Yes. If an employee does not return to work after 12 weeks of FMLA, the employer can stop making insurance payments. The University may recover any premiums for maintaining coverage for the employee if he or she does not return from the leave; unless the failure to return is due to a continuance or recurrence of the cause of the medical leave or due to other circumstances beyond the control of the employee.

“Family members” are defined as those individuals who reside in the same household and are related by kinship, adoption, or marriage, as well as foster children certified by the State. This would include:

No. Employees have the right to take FMLA leave only to care for someone who is a biological or adoptive parent. An employee can also take leave to care for an individual who acted as his or her parent during the employee's childhood.

An employee’s use of sick leave for family members not residing in that employee’s household is strictly limited to the time necessary to provide care as a direct result of a documented medical condition.

A SHSU employee who is the father of a child may use his sick leave in conjunction with the child's birth only if the child is actually ill or to care for his spouse while she is recovering from labor and delivery.

FMLA leave can simply be extended (with proper documentation). This common situation comes up when an employee plans to be out for a few weeks (i.e. a surgical procedure) and then needs another few weeks to recover from complications that develop; all eligible leave counts toward the 12-week allotment.

One should know that an employee does not get a new 12-week entitlement each time a new serious health condition arises — whether the conditions are back-to-back or separate.

A serious health condition under FMLA is defined as an illness, injury, impairment, or physical or mental condition that involves either an overnight stay in a medical care facility or continuing treatment by a health care provider for a condition that prevents the employee from performing the functions of the employee’s job.

A husband and wife who are eligible for FMLA leave and are employed by SHSU may be limited to a combined total of 12 weeks of leave during any 12-month period if the leave is taken for:

Example: If each spouse took 6 weeks of leave to care for a newborn child, each could use an additional 6 weeks of leave due to his/her own serious health condition or to care for a child with a serious health condition.

An employee who is eligible for FMLA is entitled to a maximum of 12 weeks of leave in a single 12-month period. If taking leave to care for an injured service member an employee is eligible for a one time allotment of 26 weeks in a single 12 month period.

Yes. Family Medical Leave may be taken intermittently when medically necessary. An employee may take leave in blocks of time such as an hour, a half-day, a day, a week, four weeks or 12 weeks- to care for a family member.

Yes. FMLA permits you to take leave to receive “continuing treatment by a health care provider,” which can include recurring absences for therapy treatments such as those ordered by a doctor for physical therapy after a hospital stay or for other medically necessary treatment.

No. SHSU employees are entitled to a total of 12 weeks of FMLA leave in a single 12-month “rolling” period.

Yes. FMLA leave and workers’ compensation leave run concurrently provided the reason for the absence is due to a qualifying serious illness or injury and the employer properly notifies the employee in writing that the leave will be counted as FMLA leave.

Please contact the Insurance and Benefit Manager in Human Resources.

Yes. FMLA covers any pregnancy-related leave that is medically necessary.

Yes. An eligible employee is entitled to a total of 12 weeks of FMLA leave in a single “rolling” 12-month period. If the employee has to use some of that leave for another reason, including a difficult pregnancy, it may be counted as part of the 12-week FMLA leave entitlement.

Leave for these events must be taken within the 12-month period beginning on the date of the birth or placement.

Yes. Employees will need to have a doctor complete a medical-certification form (WH-380-E or WH-380-F).

The certification form (WH-380-E or WH-380-F) must include the reason for leave, a specific date for leave to begin, a specific date the leave is expected to end and doctor's signature.

The employee ordinarily must provide 30 days' advance notice when the leave is foreseeable. An employer may require medical certification to support a request for leave because of a serious health condition and may require second or third opinions (at the employer's expense) and a fitness-for-duty report to return to work.

No. Medical records are not provided. A medical certification form (WH-380-E or WH-380-F) is required to confirm a serious health condition exists.

The employee will not be protected by FMLA, and leave will not be approved. The employee is responsible for completing the application for leave form, providing supporting documentation, and following up on approvals. Disciplinary action may be taken for unapproved leave or job abandonment.

If you are an "eligible" employee who has met FMLA's notice and certification requirements (and you have not exhausted your FMLA leave entitlement for the year), you may not be denied FMLA leave.

Employees who are unable to return to work and have exhausted their 12 weeks of FMLA leave in the designated “12 month period” no longer have FMLA protections of leave or job restoration.

SHSU may deny reinstatement to an employee who fails to provide the certification of fitness for duty to return to work, or may delay reinstatement until the certification is submitted.

Employees who give unequivocal notice that they do not intend to return to work lose their entitlement to FMLA leave.

SHSU may deny the continuation of FMLA leave due to a serious health condition if you fail to fulfill any obligations to provide supporting medical certification. SHSU will not return you to work without appropriate and completed documentation. If you are placed on intermittent or reduced schedule leave, SHSU may reassign you as appropriate to the certification.

Upon return from FMLA, an employee will be restored to the original or an equivalent position with equivalent pay and benefits.

The requirement is 8 hours for staff; 12 hours for managers during the annual rating period.

It’s easy to access and complete courses in the LinkedIn Learning library. Use the steps below:

1. Navigate to the SHSU LinkedIn Learning Environment.
2. Login with your SHSU username and password.
3. If desired, link your existing LinkedIn Learning account.
4. Browse the catalog or search with keywords. Look for the branded SHSU logo to ensure you are on the correct site.
5. Complete a course.
6. Add the course as external training to your transcript in Talent Management.

In most cases, you are considered a manager if you a) supervise staff; b) write performance appraisals; and c) approve time off.

Your requirements are prorated depending upon your FTE number. For example, if your FTE is .5 and you are non-exempt staff, then the required number of hours for the rating period is .5 x 8 hours, or 4 hours total.

Yes, compliance training counts toward meeting the requirement.

Not at this time. The Management Academy is reserved for those employees who supervise staff (whether the manager is staff or faculty). However, both managers and non-managers are eligible to take courses in the “Leadership at Every Level” track. This track addresses leadership principals of interest to leaders at every level of the workforce, whether they have the title of “supervisor/manager” or not.

Training University sessions are eligible for all staff and faculty employees.

When registering for a training, you selected the blue Request button next to the title of the training at the top of the page. This will put your training in an Approved status for the event, but not a Registered status for the actual instance or session of the event. If this happens, the words “Select Session” will display under the Options column on the Active tab of your transcript. Just click on whichever displays to register for the actual session you want to attend (even if there is only one available, you still have to select the session). Another reason this might happen is that the session is full and you have been placed on a waiting list. Please check your transcript prior to attending the training to see if you are officially registered. If a class doesn’t say “REGISTERED,” you are not registered for the class.

Generally, all ILT courses will be offered on campus. Some courses will be offered virtually through Zoom, however, and as such, can be attended by those not located on campus. Please check the description and location of the training in Talent Management.

Most classes will be offered only once. Occasionally, due to popular demand, a class may be offered more than once. However, there are many courses offered through the LinkedIn Learning Library available to all employees. You may be prompted to log into My Sam with your credentials. From there, you’ll go directly into the LinkedIn Learning library, where you can browse the catalog or search for keywords in the search field at the top of the page to select the courses you want. Look for the branded SHSU logo to ensure you are on the correct site. You will need to add completed courses in the LIL as external training to your transcript in Talent Management.

Class capacity will vary depending on the estimated interest for each course. The overflow will be moved to a waitlist. Additional seats may become available for those on the waitlist prior to the class date.

Not all sessions are conducive to being recorded, but when circumstances and the nature of the session allow, they will be. This will depend on the preferences of the presenter, whether the session is face-to-face or via Zoom, and whether it is feasible to record the session.

Yes! We encourage all staff to take advantage of as many professional development opportunities as they can, allowing for workload and within the constraints negotiated between you and your supervisor.

Professional development hours earned between January 1 and December 31 will count toward the annual professional development requirement. Mandatory training will count toward the minimum required hours as well.

That is correct. Not all training in Talent Management will count toward the requirement. Any classes in the Learning Academies count as professional development, and classes in the LinkedIn Learning Library will as well. Those that might not count could include retirement seminars offered through Human Resources, for example, or other general informational sessions not considered professional development. This does not mean the courses are not useful and beneficial; it only means they do not count toward meeting the minimum professional development requirement in the Employee Development policy (F&O HR B-5).

Non-exempt employees should not exceed the 40-hour work week as a result of professional development training. Therefore, their hours would need to be adjusted accordingly for the week.

If your supervisor has approved the conference, course, seminar, etc., and/or will verify that the college courses you are taking are related to professional development (i.e., it enhances current skill sets or prepares you for future opportunities related to your position or career goals), then yes, they will count.

Please see our step-by-step tutorial for instructions on how to add external training to your transcript. Please be prepared to provide verification of your completion status to your manager if so requested. A step-by-step tutorial is on our Professional Development and Training website.

There are quick video tutorials in Talent Management for several functionalities. You can search for them in the search field in the upper right corner of the welcome page by typing “Quick Vid” to display a list of videos that are about 2 minutes or less in length. In addition, you may request the latest version of the Tips & Tricks for Getting the Most out of Talent Management guide by contacting TJ Bittick at tjb005@shsu.edu.

The Staff Professional Development Program estimates credit earned for external ILT classes, workshops, seminars, etc. by how much time is actually spent in training on an hour-to-hour basis, or “in chair” time spent training. For example, if you attend a conference that lasts for 6 hours, and one of those hours is set aside for lunch, then you would subtract 6 − 1 = 5 hours of external training credits. If you attend a college course for one hour twice a week, then you would earn 2 hours of professional development credit each week you attend the course.

This link displays if you have correctly registered for a class; the option you have then is to Withdraw from it. To confirm that you are registered, you would look in the Status column. If it says Registered, you are registered for the class. If you find you cannot attend, please withdraw yourself by clicking on the Withdraw link, and the system will automatically withdraw you from the class, making the seat available for someone else. This also will prevent the class from displaying as a “no show” on your transcript.

Users can run a transcript report from their transcript using the simple instructions for doing so in the “Quick Vid” How to Run a Transcript Report to Determine Professional Development Credit. Be sure to uncheck the “Event” type of training options and to ask for both “Total Hours” and “Total Credits” as shown in the video to get an accurate picture of the total credit earned for the period.

To assist you in determining if your subordinates have met their annual professional development requirement, Human Resources has created and shared with you a report that shows the training credits for your subordinates in Talent Management. To run transcript reports for your team, supervisors will now use the new Reporting 2.0 functionality in the system since vendor support for the previous Custom report functionality has ended.

This 3-minute tutorial, "Quick Vid: How to Run Transcript Reports for Your Team in Talent Management (Reporting 2.0)," will walk you through the steps of pulling a transcript report in the new functionality.

Each employee can still pull their own individual transcript reporting by following the instructions in this tutorial: How to Run a Transcript Report to Determine Professional Development Credit.