One-time, non-base building payment

In recognition of the challenges employees met during the past year’s pandemic and the compensation cycle shift approved by the Board of Regents on April 8, 2021, the campus is providing, for this fiscal year only, a one-time, non-base building payment to eligible faculty, research faculty and university staff employees. 

Eligible employees include regular faculty, research faculty and university staff who have an active appointment as of July 1, 2021, and who also meet the conditions below. Temporary employees are not eligible.

• Regular faculty and university staff who received a “meeting expectations” or higher performance rating during the 2020-2021 performance management cycle.
• Research faculty who held active appointments as of Jan. 31, 2021. (Due to the timing of the performance evaluation cycle, research faculty will generally not have performance scores on file by July 2021.)  

As approved by the Colorado legislature, classified staff employees will receive a 3% across-the-board base-building merit increase effective July 1, 2021, instead of the one-time, non-base building payment. 

What does “non-base building” mean?

“Non-base building” means the pay increase is temporary or one-time and does not add to the employee’s continuing regular salary rate. An increase that raises an employee’s continuing/ongoing salary is considered a “base-pay” increase. A non-base building pay increase has an end date. In this case, it is a one-time payment.  

How is this one-time payment calculated? 

The one-time payment is based on the employee’s regular salary rate as of June 30. Temporary campuswide pay reductions will end on June 30. The one-time payment is based on the employee’s regular salary rate as of June 30 after the temporary campuswide pay reduction is ended. The one-time payment covers the six-month gap between the previous July 1 merit date and the new Jan. 1 merit date. This results in a payment for the employee equivalent to 1% of their annual academic year contract or 12-month salary. This does not include summer appointments or other administrative/academic appointments for academic faculty. Only the academic year, or 12-month (for faculty with 12-month appointments), base salary for faculty will be considered in the calculation.

When will I receive the one-time, base-building increase? 

The one-time, non-base building payment to eligible faculty, research faculty, and university staff employees will be included on the July 30 paycheck. 

For additional information, please review the One-Time Non-Base Building Frequently Asked Questions and the Compensation Cycle Shift Frequently Asked Questions. For questions, please refer to the CU Boulder Employee Compensation Form