PI Resources

In accordance with UC campus, federal and state rules/regulations, the Earth Research Institute Payroll Team is responsible for managing personnel processes including but not limited to: hires, separations, payroll/funding adjustments, job description facilitation, vacation/sick accruals and budget projections; electronic time reporting via Kronos; benefits (initial guidance only - Human Resources has main authority); recruitments, appointments, and advancement (merit and promotion) for academic employees; coordination of visa applications, extensions, and transfers; and ensuring e-verify federal regulations are met. 

Hiring

Before any employee begins working on a project administered by ERI, they must first be actively hired in UCPath and authorized to work. A full hire takes a minimum of two weeks to process, so be sure to contact the Payroll Team at payroll@eri.ucsb.edu as soon as possible when you are planning on hiring an employee. Please include the title, start/end dates, salary, percent time, project code and employee’s email address with your request.

Selecting a Payroll Title

• Selecting a payroll title should start with an assessment of the proposed job duties and an assessment of the proposed candidate. For assistance with staff classification, please visit HERE.  For assistance with academic classification, please visit HERE and HERE.

Selecting a Salary Rate

• Salary should be determined primarily on experience. Staff salary rates can be found HERE by searching for the appropriate title code. Academic salary scales can be found HERE.

Job Descriptions

• Every non-student staff position MUST have a job description approved by HR before any hire action can be taken. To create a new job description, please download the "New JD Creation" file under "Useful Links." Fill out that form to the best of your ability and send it to the ERI Payroll Team from processing. 

Staff Recruitments

• To open a new staff recruitment, email the Payroll Team with the following information:
  • Title of the position
  • Job Description (see above)
  • Salary Range
  • How long the recruitment will be open for (minimum 2 weeks)
  • Expected start date
  • Project Code that will fund the position
  • Where the posting will be advertised (if applicable)

Academic Recruitments

• The Earth Research Institute works with faculty to process open recruitments for academic positions via UC Recruit. Performing an open recruitment ensures that our department complies with equal opportunity & affirmative action laws required by the Federal government. Our recruitment and academic personnel activities are monitored by regular UC-wide audits performed by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, OFCCP.
• If you would like to recruit for an academic position, please view and complete a UC Recruit Search Plan Worksheet with the position description, basic and desired qualifications, required and optional materials and a list of interview questions for top candidates. Please also have an idea in mind of the date range, urgency and approximate salary of the position.
• Recruitments must be advertised to a diverse audience based on Federal and UC-mandated requirements. Please see our list of diverse job sites and pricing and be sure to inform the Payroll Team of any upcoming events (conferences) or specific groups/sites to which you would like to advertise the position.
• What titles REQUIRE a recruitment?   
  • Project Scientist Series,  Specialist Series,  Researcher Series,  Academic Coordinator Series
• What titles do NOT REQUIRE a recruitment?  
  • Postdoctoral Scholars,  Graduate Student Researchers,  Student Assistants
• For all correspondence regarding recruitments, please contact the ERI Payroll Team.

Limited vs Career Employees

• Limited appointments may be established at any percentage of time during which the appointee is expected to be on pay status for less than 1,000 hours in a period of 12 consecutive months. Limited appointments are typically of short duration. 
• Career employees are in permanent staff positions at the University. If funding is no longer available to pay the employee, a formal layoff needs to be issued by HR.

Visiting Scholars

• International visitors are selected to participate in the Institute’s research projects through open recruitment activities or through collaboration with affiliated international organizations. The visitor and ERI work together with guidance from the Office of International Students & Scholars (OISS) to comply with Federal rules and regulations of DS-2019 issuance. Once the visitor receives a DS-2019, they may apply for a U.S. J-1 Visa and enter the U.S.
• ERI sponsors J-1 visas in the following categories:
  • Short-Term Scholar
    • 6-month maximum
    • Bachelor’s Degree required
    • Most common category for brief visits for collaborative research
  • Research Scholar
    • 5-year maximum
    • Bachelor’s Degree required
    • Most common category for Postdoctoral Researchers and other long-term appointments requiring Academic Personnel approval
    • Upon completion of program, visitor must wait 24 months before returning to start another program (24-month bar)
  • Documents required when applying for a DS-2019 / J-1 Visa:
    • Passport
    • C.V.
    • Invitation or Appointment Letter (ERI processes & provides)
    • Department Approval Form
    • Proof of Degree (Diploma, conferral letter, etc.)
    • Proof of Finances (bank statement, letter of financial support from home institution, etc.)
    • Proof of Insurance
  • *All documents submitted in a language other than English must be translated

Work Study

• The Work-Study Program (WSP) encourages the part-time employment of UCSB's undergraduate and graduate students. Their earnings help them to defray the cost of their education. To the maximum extent practicable, WSP positions should complement and reinforce a recipient's academic and/or career goals, serve the public interest and, whenever possible, directly involve the recipient in community service activities.
• The Work-Study Program pays a percentage of your student employee's gross wage. The department pays only the:
  • Matching Share (Non-Profits): Forty percent (40%) gross WSP wage earned
  • Matching Share (For-Profit): Fifty percent (50%) gross WSP wage earned
  • Administrative Fee: Ten percent (10%) gross WSP wage earned
• Please reach out to the Payroll Team if you would like to hire a student that is eligible for Work Study.

 

Stipends

Stipends are used to pay individuals a one time payment for work completed on their own. Stipends are NOT to be used in place of payroll support. Ongoing payment for continual supervised work should be processed as payroll.

Benefit Rates

To view UCSB’s current Composite Benefit Rates, please go HERE.

Kronos for Supervisors

Timekeeping is the process of tracking and reporting hours worked and leave time taken. This process generates pay for some employees, and tracks leave taken for others. Employees, supervisors, and timekeepers all have a vital role to play in the timekeeping process:

1. Employees report hours worked and leave time taken on their timecards
2. Employees approve hours reported (or blank timecard) when final by the last day of the pay period
3. Supervisors review and approve their employees’ timecards
4. Payroll Managers (ERI Payroll) review and sign off on their units’ timecards

Upon getting hired and entered in the campus payroll system, an employee gets access to Kronos, the electronic timekeeping system at UCSB. Each user can access Kronos with their UCSB NetID and password. Automatic reminders will be generated (bi-weekly / monthly) to ensure employees enter their time on schedule and to ensure supervisors . The ERI Payroll Team will send additional reminders as needed.

Effort Reporting

UCSB’s Effort Reporting system is located HERE. To log in, scroll down to the teal box at the bottom of the screen.

View guide HERE for help.

Merits/Promotions

The Merit and Promotion process begins in September/October with the ERI Payroll Team reaching out to the Researchers that are eligible for a merit or promotion review. Review materials are usually due to the ERI Payroll Team in December. Information about what materials are required for reviews can be found HERE. Any title/rank/salary changes that are approved by Academic Personnel during these reviews go into effect July 1st of the following year.