UMass Lowell seeks to attract and retain qualified employees by maintaining a compensation system that is externally competitive and internally consistent. The university is also committed to ensuring fair and equitable compensation and promotional opportunities for its employees.

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Compensation's Role

The Compensation team oversees and monitors the university's classification and compensation structure, supporting pay equity for UMass Lowell employees. This includes:

  • Offering guidance on writing position descriptions
  • Participating in various compensation surveys
  • Auditing systems for competitive and fair compensation practices
  • Overseeing salary increases, including the reclassification process and program administration
  • Maintaining the university's classification structures
  • Reviewing minimum qualifications before posting to attract diverse candidate and broaden the candidate pool
  • Approving starting salaries for new hires

This page addresses compensation practices for benefited employees. Temporary employees, please consult your manager or submit any questions via the AskHR Inquiry form. See your union's Labor Relations page, if applicable.

Classified Employee Compensation

At UMass Lowell, we have three classified unions in which salaries are based on bargained pay grade and step tables.

University Police (Teamsters)

Classified/Technical Staff

Maintenance and Trades Staff

The Job Classification Appeal Process describes the process for adjustment requests within the bargaining unit, for example: Administrative Assistant I to Administrative Assistant II or Storekeeper II to Storekeeper III. For information on this process, see each Classified union's Collective Bargaining Agreement on its Labor Relations page or email: Compensation@uml.edu.

Professional Unit Employee Compensation

The University’s salary structure consists of pay grades with corresponding salary ranges for each pay grade for all professional staff positions for SEIU Professionals, Grants and Contract Professionals and Non-Unit Professionals.

Additional information specific to each Professional unit may be found in the Collective Bargaining Agreement or, for Non-Unit Professionals, the Personnel Policy on its specific Labor Relations page.

Professional Unit Employee Compensation Review

For SEIU Professionals,Grants and Contract Professionals and Non-Unit Professionals: When appropriate, managers or division heads may submit a request for the review of a staff person's salary equity, salary adjustment, or position grade change directly through PageUp. Staff seeking salary review are encouraged to speak with their manager and/or union representative. Requests are assessed by the Compensation team and will require approval of the appropriate executive cabinet member or designee. Requests are considered twice a year in most cases should be submitted 60 to 90 days in advance of January 1 and July 1.

For any questions, submit an inquiry via the AskHR Inquiry Form with the topic "Compensation".

Faculty Compensation

Faculty compensation for members of the Massachusetts Society of Professors' (MSP) union is determined by their collective bargaining union agreement, including provisions for hiring, promotions, and the salary review process.

Faculty pay distribution schedule: The base salary of most full time faculty is based on 9 months of effort, for the academic year, spread evenly across 12 months, beginning September 1. (The exception is Research Faculty, whose base salary is for 12 months of effort.) This provides benefits and a steady rate of the Regular salary year-round. 9-month faculty have the opportunity to earn up to 3 more months of salary at an equivalent rate, that is, 33% of their base salary, as additional compensation, which is not pensionable.

Adjunct Faculty compensation is determined by their collective bargaining union agreement and rates are posted at Adjunct Faculty Labor Relations.

Look Up Your Current Pay and Pay History

Begin by logging into HR Direct. On the top left, click the dropdown to change the view to Employee Self Service, if needed. Click the Payroll tile. Three options are available in the left side panel:

  • View Paycheck provides links to biweekly pay advices. For benefited employees, to learn your current salary: On the latest pay advice, in the Hours and Earnings Section, see the row "Regular" or "Regular No Accruals" (and rows for any paid time off during your regularly scheduled hours), which total 80 hours for Classified/Technical and Teamsters, 75 for all others. See the column under Current - Earnings. This is your salary for two weeks. Multiply this by 26 for your pensionable Annual Salary.
  • Paycheck Details provides a listing of weekly pay for the past two years. You may copy and paste this into Excel.
  • Faculty/Staff Additional Comp lists additional compensation payments.

Pay Components

How to Read Pay Advice includes a list of pay components on page 2.

Regular (Pensionable) salary: For benefited employees, your Annual Rate, also known as your "Regular" salary, or your pensionable earnings, is the basis for your retirement deductions and pension calculation. Your biweekly Regular Earnings on your pay advice, times 26, equals your Annual Rate. This may consist of:

  1. Base salary. This is the standard salary for your job.
  2. Pensionable stipends: If you also have an ongoing appointment such as Director, Chair, Associate Chair or Associate Dean, or the Faculty Recruitment and Retention Program (FRRP) role, the stipends for those roles are also pensionable. They are are core part of your ongoing appointment duties, so they are included in the Regular pay component on your advice, not listed separately. When viewing the Regular earnings rate on your pay advice, its change before and after your stipend begins reflects your stipend rate.

Job Descriptions

The Compensation Team assists managers to maintain job descriptions that accurately reflect professional and some temporary employees' responsibilities.

Personnel Actions for Benefited Employees

Personnel Actions for Benefited Employees includes information about requesting changes to Full Time Equivalent (FTE), schedule, funding, and more; as well as information about approvers for such changes.

Additional Compensation