An Employment Contract is needed:

1. For new and visiting faculty, or
2. When the terms and conditions of employment change:
   • administrative code
   • class code
   • work location
   • permanent change in FTE
   • administrative title
   • class title
   • appointment status; visiting or regular
   • tenure status
   • administrative supplements and/or
   • unit status

An employment contract is not required to document the withdrawal of all or a portion of years' credit towards tenure by a faculty member in accordance with CBA 16.7 (c). A memo should be submitted to the Provost Office to document and approve this request.

An employment contract is not required to document a Working Title. The Business Manager should prepare a Personal Action Form (PAF) for Working Title changes. Also, the course releases are not documented on employment contracts. Both working titles and course releases should be documented in the faculty member's annual work assignment.

Employment contracts procedure.

On May 15th, the Provost Office will distribute the college's Contract Prep Google sheets, which include all faculty (9-month and 12-month) with a Banner appointment on May 14th, and new faculty for whom we have received a signed offer letter. This list will include columns that identify the faculty administrative appointments, unit status, visiting appointments, the location code for each faculty member, and any special conditions that are included in the current employment contract. The Business Managers will review the list for any corrections or changes that require a new employment contract as described in item B. above, or any changes to the special conditions section of the worksheet, and notify the Provost Office by entering any changes that need to be made in the comments section. The worksheets should be returned by sending an email to Shelly Blake, Dezie Peters, Dacia Larin, and Fiorella Raffo by June 5th. Note that all changes in administrative appointments are due by June 1st.

If a faculty member is or has received a notice of non-reappointment, the standard non-reappointment language should be included in special conditions. The Business Managers should prepare Personal Action Forms (PAFs) no later than May 1 for any faculty who are not returning in the fall and need to be removed from the Contracts Prep Google sheet.

The Provost Office will make the changes requested to the worksheet and send a final copy along with a copy of the employment contracts and salary increase notifications to Human Resources, no later than June 15th. HR will use these worksheets, the employment contracts, and salary increase notifications to process the new faculty and changes to employment contracts. Once these appointments are entered in Banner, HR will notify Academic Affairs that the appointments can be reviewed on the Employment Contract Verification list, "OHR000086".

Employment contracts are prepared on the budget index. If a faculty member is to be temporarily paid from a funding source other than their budgeted index, effective at the beginning of the contract period (August 8th), such as a grant account, the Business Manager must prepare a PAF to change to the appropriate funding source (pay index).

After the June 15 submission, the Business Managers will email Shelly any additional new hires or changes that are needed. All draft and signed copies of offer letters for new faculty hires at this time should be emailed to Patricia Barlow with copies to Shelly Blake, Dacia Larin, Fiorella Raffo, Dezie Peters, Jamie Sprague, Nicole Zamary, and the Budget Office, budgets@uwf.edu. IMPORTANT: The deadline for New Hires is June 30. Signed offer letters should be emailed to the individuals in the preceding sentence. If the effective date of the hire is August 8th, HR will process the appointment based on the employment contract. If the date of hire is other than August 8th, a PAF must be processed by the Business Manager for HR to process the appointment.

For faculty hired during the year, an employment contract should be prepared by Academic Affairs and sent to the Colleges for signatures. The Business Manager should prepare a PAF and the SACS criteria form. HR also requires all essential documents.

New Hires ABD. When a new faculty member is hired as ABD, a copy of the transcript must be sent to the Provost Office once the degree has been conferred. A PAF should also be processed to make any changes to salary or the employment contract. The Provost Office will prepare a new employment contract after the PAF is received. If a PAF is not required (because there are no changes to salary, etc.), a copy of the transcript must still be sent to the Provost's Office. A letter on official stationery from the institution certifying that the doctoral candidate has completed the dissertation defense and all that remains is submission of the dissertation (however, the school wants to word it) is acceptable documentation to process the PAF to effect a pay increase, etc. The pay increase effective date should be the date when the Ph.D. is obtained. An official transcript must ultimately be on file and received in the Provost's Office.

Copies of Originals. OHR and payroll receive the same copy. The Budget Office also receives a copy. The Dean's offices will have access to electronic copies.

Sabbaticals.Only PAFs are needed for faculty on a full-year sabbatical at half-pay and two-thirds pay. Academic Affairs will provide a list to OHR of faculty members on a one-semester sabbatical, with any deferrals notated.

Updated 4-15-2026