Understand how employment grades and steps set base pay, how tax and take-home pay are shown, and how approved additional compensation and academic breaks are handled.
How do employment grades and salary steps work?
The grade catalog defines the school's job levels and salary scope. A grade can contain a salary range or an ordered step scale. The assigned contract records the person's grade, step, and saved salary rate. Grade indicates the position's pay structure; step is the selected rate within that structure.
A promotion or step-up creates a new effective-dated contract version, leaving earlier versions in the record. Annual step progression is not automatic. When policy allows an annual step-up and a higher step is available, an authorized Institution Admin or Employment HR checks the employee's eligibility, reviews the proposed salary and date, selects the new step, and saves the new version. A step-up changes the pay step; a promotion may also change grade, designation, or department.
How do salary tax and take-home pay work?
The issued contract uses the tax schedule that applies for the employee's staff group, school/campus policy, currency, pay frequency, and effective date. When the schedule supports a calculation, the document shows the taxable salary basis, progressive bands and amounts, tax withheld or paid by the school, and estimated take-home amount.
The estimate uses the saved contract salary and applicable schedule. Actual payroll can differ due to unpaid leave, advance installments, approved compensation, later tax policy, or other deductions. Treat the contract amount as an estimate for the offered terms, not as a personal tax return or final year-end tax statement.
How are salaries, overtime, bonuses, and extra duties paid?
Base pay comes from the active contract version and its saved salary rate. Available pay frequencies include monthly, half-month, 14-day, and 7-day periods. Additional compensation is recorded separately and does not silently increase the employee's grade or salary step.
- Overtime: the employment policy sets eligibility and multiplier. Approved hours are calculated using the configured derived hourly rate and multiplier (default 1.5 where used; policy range 1–5), then included in payroll when eligible.
- Extra duties: a separately assigned responsibility can use a fixed amount or a per-hour, per-day, per-session, or other configured rate. It is additional compensation without a grade step-up.
- Annual bonus: a one-off award configured under policy and processed as additional compensation. It does not become recurring base salary unless the contract is separately amended.
- Performance bonus: a one-time award linked to an approved performance review or evidence and the school's authorization process.
- Visiting teacher: a separate appointment may pay per course, credit, lecture, hour, term, or fixed agreed amount. Approved eligible payments flow into salary processing.
Authorized staff use compensation workflows to review and approve entries. The payroll run picks up only approved and eligible amounts. Employees should not assume that an assigned extra duty is payable until its compensation record has been approved.
What happens to teacher salary during summer and winter vacation?
The school must configure and agree the vacation treatment in the applicable policy and contract. A contract may continue salary through summer or winter vacation, annualize salary across the year, pay only during term time, create a separate appointment for a vacation period, or define another arrangement. A vacation by itself does not pause the contract or establish a salary entitlement; the recorded contract terms and policy determine the treatment. Check both summer and winter vacation clauses before accepting.
Will my salary step increase automatically each year?
No. An authorized Institution Admin or Employment HR reviews the annual step-up and saves a new contract version with the approved salary rate and effective date.