-Completion of Higher Level Education. A. Hours of credit for use in setting unit employees' salary or to determine qualifications are restricted to semester hours of credit in courses or degrees earned from an accredited college or university, as listed in the United States Office of Education Directory. Education obtained at a non-accredited institution is acceptable to the extent it has been accepted for further studies at an accredited institution. Questions con- cerning the acceptance of credit or degrees from a non-accredited institution of higher learning shall be submitted through xxxx- xxxx for individual determinations to the Office of Dependents Schools. The only credits or degrees (except for the Bachelor's degree pay lane) acceptable for pay purposes are those graduate level courses that may improve a unit employee's teaching ability in his/her current position/subject area or which may provide advancement to another position within XxXXX or which is in a discipline generally recognized as educationally oriented in content. Any other credits or degrees to be acceptable for pay purposes must be approved by ODS prior to commencement of such study.
B. A unit employee who completes the advanced education required to qualify for a salary under a higher education salary schedule shall be assigned the higher salary rate effective on the first day of the first pay period following the date the education was completed. Such adjustment shall be made upon receipt of written documentation in which the college or univer- sity concerned specifies the date when the unit employee complet- ed the advanced education, or the date when the unit employee met the requirements for a specific degree.
-Completion of Higher Level Education. A. Hours of credit for use in setting unit employee salary or for advancing a unit employee to a higher salary lane are restricted to hours of credit in courses and/or degrees earned from an accredited college or university, as listed in the U.S. Office of Education Directory. Any hours of credit earned at a non-accredited institution are acceptable for any hours of credit accepted for further studies or towards a degree at an accredited institution.
B. A unit employee may use any hours of credit or courses accepted by the Employer for certification or recertification purposes for use in setting unit employee salary or for advancing a unit employee to a higher salary lane.
C. When a unit employee completes the required credit hours to be advanced to a different salary lane on the applicable salary schedule, the request to be advanced to a new salary lane will include documentation from the applicable college or university. The documentation will provide the date the unit employee completed the required course or the date the unit employee met the requirements for a specific degree.
D. The unit employee shall submit a request to the Employer to be advanced to the new salary lane in accordance with the Back Pay Act. Subsequent requests for additional information or documentation from the Employer to the unit employee regarding the request to be advances to a new salary lane will not be a reason to consider the request untimely.
E. The Employer shall process unit employee requests retroactively to the first pay period following the date the education or courses were completed and in accordance with the Back Pay Act. The Employer shall notify the unit employee in writing of precisely how many creditable hours that employee has earned for pay purposes.
