Human Resources

Honoraria and One-Time Payments

Please inform employees that they need approval before they take on additional work. For lecturers, the department should be assigning work, the lecturers shouldn’t be defining additional work for themselves. Per policy, honoraria are not to be used as a form of compensation for academic/job-related duties. Any additional work needs to be approved by the division in advance before work is done or payment is promised.

If an academic employee gives an artistic performance (plays a musical instrument or gives a theatrical performance such as a monologue, dance, or recitation) at an event, they can be paid an honorarium via the one-time payment process. We cannot pay staff employees a one-time payment for this same type of work, and have to work with SHR to ascertain if and how the payment may be processed.

If an employee is at 100% time, they cannot be assigned additional work. (Academic employees can still receive honoraria for artistic performances if they are at 100% time – see above. We also are allowed to pay academic employees at 100% time on other UC campuses honoraria for guest lectures, but this isn’t allowed for academic employees at their home campus). Lecturers are able to do additional teaching in the summer. View summer compensation for lecturers. Any work outside of teaching duties must be reviewed by the Arts AHR team and pre-approved.

For lecturers, teaching/job related activities during the academic year are typically compensated with an appropriate course equivalency, either included in a lecturer’s appointment percentage, or provided as a supplemental assignment. This applies to work that is ongoing. If additional ongoing work is required as part of the curriculum, the request should be submitted through the CLP proposal process. If the additional ongoing work is funded by an external resource it should be routed to the department manager for consultation and then to the division for approval.

For academic appointees at less than 100% time, a one-time additional compensation payment (title code 3999) may be appropriate for a one-time or short duration academic/job-related activity. For lecturers, a course equivalency should be assigned when additional duties will be expected for longer than two weeks (in general).

Honoraria and one-time payments do not count towards retirement service credit, benefits, or leave and FMLA eligibility. It disadvantages a lecturer to receive a one-time payment when the additional work should really be set up as an additional course equivalency. Also, any paid leave is compensated at the lecturer’s base percentage. When they are compensated with a one-time payment, their salary while on leave will be less than it would have been if they were paid with a course equivalency.

International students may not receive one-time payments if they are already working at 50% time during the quarter (as a TA, GSI, Reader, GSR, etc.). It’s advisable to check with our office in advance, so that we can analyze a given student’s citizenship status and whether or not they have employment during a certain quarter that would disallow them from receiving a one-time payment. There are no exceptions to this policy, as paying international students above 50% time jeopardizes their visa status.

To request a one-time payment for an academic employee, please fill out this form.

After you submit the form, we will ensure the work is appropriate and the employee is eligible for additional compensation. We will then submit the request to the Academic Personnel Office for approval and processing. Please direct any questions to Laura Jackson.

Note on funding: FOAPALs with fund type 19900 cannot be used for honoraria, but most other fund types are OK. FOAPALs with fund type 19933 cannot be used for honoraria for UC employees, but can be for non-UC employees. Please contact the Arts Business Office prior to submitting honoraria requests on 19933 funds.

For more information on one-time payments, please see:

Last modified: Feb 12, 2025