UNO Campus Policies

Scope

This policy applies to University of Nebraska employees across all four campuses and central administration, including system employees, faculty, staff, and graduate students, who hold an active security clearance issued by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (DCSA) for an NSRI-classified research project.

All other university employees performing unclassified tasks or work efforts for NSRI are excluded from this policy and are paid through SAP under standard payroll procedures.

Policy Statement

NSRI Classified Salary is contract research governed by Regents Policy 2.7.4 and is not considered outside consulting under Regents Policy 3.4.5 

All salary charges must:

• Align with approved project budgets and institutional effort reporting requirements.
• Be recorded and certified through NSRI’s timekeeping system in compliance with the Project Verification Statement (PVS) Policy.
• Be tracked separately from regular university salaries, with employees receiving a separate W-2 for NSRI pay. 

Employees may allocate up to 0.20 FTE for NSRI-classified research while maintaining a full-time university appointment. This threshold is the preferred NSRI Classified Research Pay structure for state line-funded (hard funded) employees, as it allows them to maintain their full-time appointment without requiring FTE adjustments.

Classified assignments exceeding 0.20 FTE require a reduction to the employee’s university FTE accordingly and must be approved through institutional processes to ensure compliance with university effort and compensation policies.

Employees with a combined university and NSRI FTE below 0.50 will not receive benefits from either institution.

Reason for Policy

This policy ensures that NSRI-classified salary is properly managed and in compliance with federal, sponsor, and institutional requirements. It establishes guidelines for effort certification, FTE management, and payroll processing to maintain compliance with:

• Regents Policy 2.7.4., which governs NSRI consulting appointments and research assignments for university employees.
• Regents Policy 3.4.5., which defines NSRI-classified research as contract research and exempts it from outside employment approval.
• UNO’s Institutional Base Salary (IBS) Policy, which ensures salaries charged to NSRI-classified research align with UNO’s salary structure and compensation rules.
• UNO’s Project Verification (PVS) policy, which ensures that all personnel costs charged to NSRI contracts are properly documented, certified, and compliant with federal effort reporting requirements.

Failure to comply may result in financial penalties, effort disallowances, and restrictions on future NSRI funding.

Procedures

Budget Preparation & Approval

• A budget must be prepared at the start of the proposal to determine FTE impact.
• Prior coordination between the PI, NSRI, and the university is required to ensure project budgets are not exceeded.

Salary Charging & FTE Requirements

• Salaries for NSRI-classified research must align with FTE allocations and project funding levels.

NSRI-classified research may be spread across multiple projects, but total combined NSRI effort must not exceed 0.20 FTE (approximately 35 hours per month).

• Employees may allocate up to 0.20 FTE for NSRI-classified research while maintaining a full-time university appointment. This threshold is the preferred NSRI Classified Research Pay structure for state line-funded (hard funded) employees, as it allows them to maintain their full-time appointment without requiring FTE adjustments.
• If classified work exceeds 0.20 FTE, additional conditions apply:
  • The employee’s university FTE must be reduced accordingly to maintain accurate effort reporting.
  • Benefits eligibility and salary structure may be impacted, as described in the Benefits & Reimbursements section directly below.
  • If a university employee is paid ‘9 over 12,’ their NSRI hourly rate will be adjusted to ensure alignment with their 9-over-12 salary structure, unless otherwise arranged as part of their joint appointment with NSRI. Faculty will be compensated at this adjusted rate for NSRI work as completed. Budget adjustments will not be made to provide funds from NSRI to pay a university employee 9 over 12 pay during the summer months.

Benefits & Reimbursements for FTE Adjustments

• If classified work exceeds 0.20 FTE, additional conditions apply:
• NSRI will reimburse the university for the employer’s share of benefits (health, dental, life insurance) on a pro-rata basis when an employee’s university FTE is reduced.
  • Retirement contributions will be adjusted based on the employee’s participation in either the NSRI retirement plan or the university’s plan.
• Employees with a combined university and NSRI FTE below 0.50 will not receive benefits from either institution.

Timekeeping & Payroll Processing

• Classified researchers are paid hourly based on actual hours worked during the pay period.
• All classified research hours must be recorded daily in NSRI’s timekeeping system, and signed at the end of each pay period.
• PIs must review and approve NSRI classified salary expenditures to ensure compliance with sponsor and institutional policies.
• Employees will receive a separate W-2 for NSRI Classified Salary.
• Employees receiving NSRI-classified salary must coordinate with NSRI and university payroll teams to ensure correct tax withholding and avoid unintended income tax implications.

Definitions

Full Time Equivalent (FTE): Full-time equivalent, or whole-time equivalent, is a unit that indicates the workload of an employed person in a way that makes workloads comparable across various contexts. FTE is often used to measure a worker's involvement in a project.

Academic Year Appointment (AY): Up to 9-month academic appointment paid out over 12 months.

Institutional Base Salary (IBS): Annual compensation paid by the University for an employee’s appointment, whether that individual's time is spent on research, instruction, service, administration, or other activities.

Project Verification Statement (PVS): PVS is a project-based methodology that focuses on a system of internal controls. These controls involve the amount and type of documentation required to support salary, wage, and benefit charges to federal, federal pass-through, and cost share awards. One report is generated for each project three times per year, listing all employees assigned to it.

Additional Contacts

Related Information

• Regents Policy 2.7.4 – NSRI Consulting Appointments & Research
• Regents Policy 3.4.5 – Outside Employment
• UNO Institutional Base Salary (IBS) Policy
• UNO Project Verification Statement (PVS) Policy

History

This policy was developed and approved prior to the implementation of the campus policy development and approval process approved by the Chancellor’s Cabinet in October 2015.

Minor revision on November 24, 2020 to update timekeeping procedure identified in Section 5. NSRI Classified Researchers.

Updated in April 2025 to align with UNO’s policy template, improve clarity, and better organize existing procedures. As of this revision, content previously identified in Section 5 (NSRI Classified Researchers) has been incorporated under "Budget Preparation & Approval”.