Compensation

College of Eastern Idaho is committed to providing a competitive total compensation package, including salary and benefits, that will attract, retain, and reward qualified employees. The college strives to pay employees according to market and merit, subject to the availability of financial resources and individual employee performance. Each full-time staff position is assigned a pay range based on a competitive pay rate for comparable positions and the unique duties and responsibilities of the position. The employee's salary within the pay range depends on performance, education, experience, qualifications, relevant competitive markets, and internal alignment within the department and the college. Human resources, in collaboration with managers, is responsible for ensuring that compensation decisions are made in a fair, consistent, and equitable manner.

Pay for any given position is subject to the annual budgetary process and, as such, may be subject to increase, reduction, or status quo maintenance for any time period.

Payroll

College of Eastern Idaho has 24 pay periods each calendar year on a semi-monthly basis. Payroll calendars are published on College of Eastern Idaho's website. If a pay day falls on a federal holiday or on a weekend, employees will receive their paycheck on the preceding workday. Please refer to the payroll calendar, on the CEI website, for specific dates.

All employees of College of Eastern Idaho are required to participate in direct deposit for payroll. Through direct deposit, employee paychecks are electronically deposited into the employee's chosen bank account on the scheduled payment date. All employees must provide written direct deposit authorization via the "Direct Deposit Form." 

Pre-Note Process

The initial direct deposit transaction will be a pre-note. Pre-noting is a "dry run" to ensure that there are no problems with the routing or account number used to set up the direct deposit. During the payroll cycle in which the direct deposit is a pre-note, usually the first pay cycle, employees may receive a physical check. The payroll cycle following the pre-note, generally the employee's second payroll cycle, will be the first one where funds are sent via direct deposit.

Please note that if the banking information provided comes back rejected for any reason during the pre-note process, the direct deposit implementation could be delayed.

Time Records

All non-exempt employees are required to complete accurate weekly time reports showing all time actually worked. These records are required per governmental regulations and are used to calculate regular and overtime pay. At the end of each pay period, the employee and his or her supervisor must sign and approve the time sheet attesting to its correctness before forwarding it to the human resources department.

Per FLSA regulations, organizations can ask exempt employees to keep time records; however, these records are not the basis for an exempt employee’s pay. Exempt employees are required to submit accurate timecards each pay period. Exempt employees must ensure that they indicate any exception time including holiday, vacation leave, and sick leave that is taken during the pay period.

All employees are required to use CEI's time keeping system.

Falsification of a time record may be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Overtime

The use of overtime is generally discouraged and should be avoided through proper scheduling of department workloads. However, when required due to the needs of CEI, an employee may be scheduled to work overtime. All overtime should be scheduled and approved in advance by the supervisor, with the exception of certain emergency situations.

Agreeing to work overtime when requested by a supervisor is a condition of employment. Refusal to work a reasonable amount of overtime, especially under emergency conditions, may result in disciplinary action. Additionally, employees who work unapproved overtime will be subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination.

Overtime is actual hours worked in excess of 40 in a single workweek. Non-exempt employees will be paid overtime compensation at the rate of one and one half their regular rate of pay for all hours over 40 worked in a single workweek. Paid leave, such as holiday, sick leave, vacation leave, and jury duty, does not apply toward work time. All overtime work must be approved in advance by the employee's supervisor.

Exempt employees do not receive overtime pay.

Deductions from Pay/Safe Harbor Exempt Employees

College of Eastern Idaho does not make improper deductions from the salaries of exempt employees and complies with the salary basis requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Employees classified as exempt from the overtime pay requirements of the FLSA will be notified of this classification at the time of hire or change in position or per changes to exempt requirements as set by the FLSA.

The FLSA limits the types of deductions that may be made from the pay of an exempt employee. Deductions that are permitted include:

• deductions that are required by law, e.g., income taxes;
• deductions for employee benefits when authorized by the employee;
• offset for amounts received as witness or jury fees, or for military pay;
• unpaid disciplinary suspensions of one or more full days imposed in good faith for workplace conduct rule infractions; or
• deductions for time taken for personal leave, vacation or sick.

During the week an exempt employee begins work for CEI or during the last week of employment, the employee will only be paid for actual hours worked. In addition, an employee may be paid only for hours worked during a period when the employee is using unpaid leave under the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA). Employees are required to use all their accrued vacation and sick leave before taking an unpaid leave of absence.

If an employee believes that an improper deduction has been taken from his or her pay, the employee must immediately report the deduction to the Human Resources Department. The report will be promptly investigated and if it is found that an improper deduction has been made, CEI will reimburse the employee for the improper deduction.