2024 Compensation Announcements 

FLSA Salary Threshold 

The U.S. Department of Labor has increased the minimum annual salary threshold required for exempt status under the Fair Labor Standards Act overtime exemption from $35,568 to $43,888, effective July 1, 2024. This threshold determines eligibility for overtime pay under federal wage law.  

General Counsel, HR, and Finance leadership have carefully reviewed the new FLSA rule and its impact. 

Due to the increased salary minimum, some positions currently classified as exempt will be reclassified as non-exempt, making employees in those roles eligible for overtime pay when they work more than 40 hours in a work week.  

We aim to make this transition as smooth as possible for impacted employees while ensuring compliance with federal wage law. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to contact your campus HR office. HR contacts are listed below. 

Market Structure Adjustment 

Since implementing UT’s market-based staff job classification structure in 2021, a system-wide collaborative team of compensation experts has analyzed market data across various job families. The market-based structure aims to ensure that our salary offerings remain competitive, attracting and retaining top talent. 

Effective July 1, 2024, all market ranges will be increased by 2%. This increase is part of the ongoing maintenance of our market-based structure. It will allow us to support the compensation philosophy to provide fair and competitive pay through relevant job market analysis. 

Job Family Market Changes 

In addition to our annual adjustments to the market structure, we continuously assess our job family roles to ensure they align with market standards. We rely on aggregated salary data from board-approved peer institutions, comparable roles, and external market data to inform our decisions. 

Effective August 2024, we will implement market range adjustments to specific job family roles to reflect current market trends better. It is important to note that not all positions will be affected by these changes. Maintaining our market-based structure necessitates continually reviewing job roles to ensure accurate alignment. Any job family roles not impacted in this round of updates will be reassessed in future cycles and adjusted as necessary. In addition to this annual process, in 2024, we will have a full salary study conducted through a 3rd party vendor. This periodic process provides additional data to ensure we are continuously driving our compensation strategy in a competitive direction to ensure that we attract and retain top talent.  

A full list of impacted jobs is listed (Market Range Updates) 

How does this affect you? 

If your position is assigned to one of the job family roles with a new market range, that new market range will be associated with your job classification effective July 1, 2024 (your job classification will not change). This will have no impact on your current salary. 

How do you find out if your job has a new market range? 

Market ranges can be found on the job family website UT Job Families and will be updated on July 1, 2024. 

What if my salary falls below my new market range minimum? 

Each campus will assess the impacts of the job market changes on individual employees and develop a path forward. To learn more, don’t hesitate to contact your campus compensation team. 

Campus Compensation Contacts 

UTSA 

Laura Sloan – lsloan1@tennessee.edu 

Justin Haynes – jhaynes8@tennessee.edu 

UT Chattanooga 

Gohar Sheikh – Gohar-sheikh@utc.edu 

UT Health Science Center 

Damon Davis – ddavis24@uthsc.edu 

UT Knoxville/UTIA/IPS/UTSI 

Tarah Keeler – tkeeler3@utk.edu 

Kirsten Schroeder – kschroe3@utk.edu 

UT Martin 

Michael Washington – mwashi24@utm.edu 

UT Southern 

Jamie Hlubb – jhlubb@utsouthern.edu