Salary Equity Increase Guidelines
An equity increase may be granted under unusual circumstances and is typically based on a serious salary inequity
which cannot be corrected through the merit review process.
A salary inequity exists when an employee's salary is significantly below that of those in the same title code with
similar performance, experience, skills, knowledge, and assignments.
Equity increases should not be coordinated with merit increases and are not to be used in lieu of merit increases.
An increase in salary to remedy a salary inequity may be granted to current employees in accordance with applicable
guidelines. Unit directors have the authority to approve (or deny) an equity increase.
Examples of situations which may indicate a salary inequity:
a. Salary compression – the situation where longer-service employees in same pay grade/title are paid salaries
significantly lower than newly hired employees.
b. Peer pay equity – the situation where an employee's salary is significantly below his/her peer salary group
(peer group being those similarly situated employees in the same “area,” i.e., department, division, or control
unit, and same job title code, along with comparable performance, work experience, skills, knowledge and
assignments) and the Director can validate that the salary disparity cannot be remedied through the normal
merit pay process
c. Salary compaction – the situation where a “working supervisor” is paid a significantly less base salary than
a direct subordinate engaged in the same type of work. A disparity would not be deemed to exist because of
a stipend, temporary reclassification, special salary program situation, or in the case of a supervisor
providing just administrative oversight and not possessing the (same or higher) level technical skills,
knowledge, and abilities required of the subordinate’s role.
d. Competitive job offer – the situation where an employee brings forward to his/her management a
documented, current job offer of significantly higher pay. The Director may consider a pay equity increase
to counter a bona fide, documented job offer. The review should consider the skills the employee brings to
the current position, internal equity, and departmental budget considerations. The Director may request a
counter-offer, but one time only, to avoid bidding wars.
Factors to be considered in determining the amount of equity increase:

The rationale of the increase, supporting documentation, and conformance to established procedure;

The employee's job experience and current salary in relation to recruiting and retention difficulties for the
position;

Comparisons with other staff members performing comparable work in the unit, department, cluster and––
for higher level professional and management positions––across the cluster, division and campus;

Position in the salary range and the employee's potential for future growth.

Any combination of merit, promotional, reclassification, and equity increases which will exceed 25% in a
fiscal year requires approval by the Chancellor.
Form revised January 28, 2011
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Process for requesting an equity review:
1. HR Generalist completes salary analysis and submits to hiring manager, who completes the Equity Request
form and submits to the unit director for review/approval. The written request includes the following:
2.
o Proposed equity amount
o Reason(s) the increase is appropriate, including all relevant data, such as salary spreadsheets,
campus average, performance evaluation summaries, employee's written request, etc, (see
guidelines above).
o
Completed form and request is submitted to HR Director for review.
Form revised January 28, 2011
Page 2 of 2