Below is a list of frequently-used terms regarding RISD salary administration. While not exhaustive, the list provides a good foundation to help you better understand the terms and process.
Salary Structure: A tool to help administer our compensation programs. Salary structures group jobs with similar external market value and internal comparable work into grades with pay ranges.
Grade: Each staff job is assigned to a specific grade in a salary structure based on external market value and an internal assessment of comparable work.
Pay Range: the span between the minimum and maximum value in each grade, developed using competitive market data.
Segments: the visual representation of a grade’s pay range, displayed in thirds.
Job Description: A document used to identify the key duties, responsibilities, and qualifications necessary to perform the job. Managers are responsible for reviewing job descriptions and for ensuring that descriptions accurately reflect the current operational and academic needs.
Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA): Also known as the “Wage and Hour Law.” FLSA is a federal law that establishes minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, and youth employment standards affecting employees in the private sector and in Federal, State, and local governments. The FLSA sets the criteria that determine whether a job is considered “exempt” (salaried) or “non-exempt” (hourly-paid) from overtime and minimum wage provisions.
Exempt: A salaried employee who earns at least $684 per week and who holds a position that satisfies one of the FLSA exemption tests regarding the content of the job duties. Exempt employees are not eligible for overtime pay.
Non-Exempt: An hourly employee who earns less than $684 per week or who does not meet one of the exempt categories by satisfying a FLSA exemption test. Non-exempt employees are eligible for overtime pay for all hours worked in excess of 40 hours in one payroll week. Overtime pay is calculated at one and one-half times the employee’s regular hourly rate.
Rhode Island Pay Equity Act: A Rhode Island General Law which seeks to protect employees from experiencing wage discrimination from their employers. The law states it is unlawful for an employer to pay a differential wage based on race, color, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity or expression, disability, age, and country of ancestral origin for comparable work.