Employee Bonuses

Bonus & Award Details

Employee Classes CE, CN & HR

Process: Both hourly and classified bonus payments must be sent to Human Resources on a specific "immediate recognition" type form for review, monitoring and tracking. Once Human Resources has logged in the bonus payment, the forms are sent directly to the Payroll Office for payment processing.

Discretionary bonus payments are not required to be included in the base and no overtime recalculation is required.

Non-discretionary bonus payments given to non-exempt employees must be included in base salary and any overtime given must be recalculated. The Payroll Processing Supervisor is in charge of performing the overtime recalculations.

Bonus payments made to classified and hourly staff may not be "grossed up". Generally, bonus payments will be charged to the same labor distribution accounts as the individual's regular pay unless specified otherwise. All bonus payments are charged to sub account 4036 using the BON earnings code. The supervisor, budget unit director on the budget code to be charged, appropriate Vice President and Human Resource approvals are required before these type payments can be processed by the Payroll Office.

These payments are issued through the normal payroll process - no manual checks will be issued.

Employee Class FA

Process: Faculty Administrator recognition bonus payments are all performance based and should be sent directly to Human Resources on a specific "immediate recognition" type form for processing. Since Faculty Administrators are generally considered "exempt" employees not subject to FLSA overtime provisions, no overtime recalculation in required.

Bonus payments made to faculty administrators may not be "grossed up" and are charged to sub account 4036 using the BON earnings code. Generally, bonus payments will be charged to the same labor distribution accounts as the individual's regular pay unless specified otherwise. The Faculty Incentives Options Policy #5401(or #6403) applies to all faculty administrator bonus payments. When the payment is made as a hiring or retention incentive, this requires a formal written agreement between the University and the individual and will be approved and signed by the President. When the payment is made as a recognition incentive this requires the Department Chair and/or Dean of the College and the appropriate Vice Presidential or higher approval before these type payments can be processed.

These payments are issued through the normal payroll process - no manual checks will be issued.

Employee Classes F1 & F2 

Process: Instructional Faculty bonus payments must be sent to Human Resources on a specific "immediate recognition" type form for processing. Human Resources does not track or monitor these payments in any way. Since Instructional Faculty are generally considered "exempt" employees not subject to FLSA overtime provisions, no overtime recalculation in required.

Bonus payments made to instructional faculty may not be "grossed up". Generally, bonus payments will be charged to the same labor distribution accounts as the individual's regular pay unless specified otherwise. All bonus payments are charged to sub account 4036 using the BON earnings code. The Faculty Incentives Options Policy #5401 (or #6403) applies to all instructional faculty bonus payments. When the payment is made as a hiring or retention incentive, this requires a formal written agreement between the University and the individual and will be approved and signed by the President. When the payment is made as a recognition incentive this requires the approval of the Department Chair and/or Dean of the College and the Vice President for Academic Affairs before these type payments can be processed by the Payroll Office.

These payments are issued through the normal payroll process - no manual checks will be issued.

Employee Classes AJ & NF 

Process: Part Time Faculty bonus payments must be sent to Human Resources on a specific "immediate recognition" type form for processing. Human Resources does not track or monitor these payments in any way. Since Part Time Faculty are all considered "exempt" employees not subject to FLSA overtime provisions, no overtime recalculation in required.

Bonus payments made to part time faculty may not be "grossed up" and are charged to sub account 4036 using the BON earnings code. Generally, bonus payments will be charged to the same labor distribution accounts as the individual's regular pay unless specified otherwise. The Faculty Incentives Options Policy #5401 (or #6403) does not apply to part time faculty. Approvals from the Department Chair and/or Dean of the College are required before these type payments can be processed by the Payroll Office. These approvals should be obtained prior to forwarding the form to Human Resources.

These payments are issued through the normal payroll process - no manual checks will be issued.

Employee Classes RA, TA, SH, ST & WS or Non-Employees

Process: Both undergraduate and graduate student awards and bonus payments are sent via memo directly to the Payroll Manager for processing through Payroll. They can be "grossed up. "All student awards and/or bonus payments (all considered "awards") are charged to sub account 4034 using the AWC earnings code. Students receiving awards who are not already employed by the University must have an "award position" set up for them. The award is then processed using the AWC earnings code. Students who are already employed will simply receive the award on their regular position using the AWC earnings code - no "award position" needs to be set up for already employed students. Individuals with budget unit authority on the budget code to be charged are the only authorizing signatures currently required.

Manual Checks
Generally, no manual checks will be issued. However, in some limited situations, these awards may be issued as manual checks, and then recouped on the next available payroll. The Payroll Manager must approve all exceptions to the general rule in advance. $50 charge may apply.

Employee Relocation Bonus

Newly hired full-time faculty, administrative professional, and classified employees who relocate from their former residence may be issued a one-time relocation bonus, if deemed appropriate. See ODU Employee Relocation Bonus Guidelines PDF for details. Contact the HR Recruitment & Employment team for questions.

Please see Awards & Recognition for info about policies associated with employee recognition programs.

See Compensation & Classification for info about employee position and pay.

Please see Awards & Recognition for info about policies associated with employee recognition programs.

See Compensation & Classification for info about employee position and pay.

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