No. Most faculty have 9-month academic appointments, from August through May. (Exceptions include Department Chairs, whose appointments may extend into the summer.) Neither the duration nor the timing of your academic appointment will change as a result of this schedule change.
Yes. Faculty members have always been 12-month employees of Lehigh. Faculty receive employment benefits 12 months a year, and are bound by Rules & Procedures (R&P) and other Lehigh policies 12 months a year. The new schedule does not change the fact that you are employed by Lehigh 12 months a year; it only changes the start and end dates of your pay schedule each year.
No. Expectations for faculty during the summer are the same as they have always been at Lehigh. Most faculty use summer months for research, course preparation, and other professional activities, as well as to take some time off from work. When student and departmental needs arise during the summer, faculty are asked to address those needs if and when they can reasonably do so. The new schedule does not change how or how much you are expected to work during the summer; it only changes the start and end dates of your pay schedule each year.
Merit raises will now take effect in your July paycheck each year, rather than your September paycheck. The change has no effect on the PAR process or other aspects of merit raises.
Most new faculty hired to start in Fall 2024 or later are already on the new pay schedule. Current faculty who are on a 12-month pay schedule will transition from the old pay schedule to the new one on July 1, 2025.
If you are on a 12-month, September–August pay schedule as of June 2025 (as most current faculty are), Lehigh will pay out the remainder of your owed salary in June and transition your pay schedule to July–June. That means that your June 2025 paycheck will be about 3 times as large as usual—it will include the salary that would have been paid to you in July and August 2025. (Remember that this is deferred salary from AY2024–25.) You will then receive paychecks in July and August 2025, which are in advance of the AY2025–26 academic year.
No, you are not receiving a bonus. If you are on a 12-month, September–August pay schedule, your larger-than-usual paycheck in June 2025 reflects the fact that you are receiving the balance of your salary for AY2024–25, some of which had been deferred.
On the other hand, the change has implications for when you eventually retire or leave Lehigh. (See the next question.)
Under the old pay schedule, if a faculty member had unpaid deferred pay on their retirement or resignation date, the unpaid deferred pay was paid out as a lump sum on that date. Under the new schedule, faculty pay aligns better with the AY calendar, and lump-sum payouts will not be required (except in unusual circumstances).
For example, suppose you plan to retire on June 30, 2030. Under the old pay schedule, 2 months of your AY2029–30 pay would have been deferred to July and August of 2030, and those 2 months of pay would have been paid to you as a lump sum on your retirement date. Under the new schedule, your AY2029–30 pay will be complete on June 30, 2030, so there is no lump sum paid.
If, instead, you were to retire on December 31, 2030, then under the old pay schedule, you would have deferred a little more than 1 month of salary, which would be paid as a lump sum on your retirement date. Under the new schedule, as of December 31, 2030, you will have worked exactly half of the academic year and have been paid for exactly half of the academic year, so there is no lump sum paid.
Note that under any scenario, faculty are paid exactly for the time worked, no more and no less. The new pay schedule does not change the total amount any faculty member earns for the time they work.
In general, your tax withholding under the new schedule will not differ substantially from your withholding under the old schedule. Your June 2025 paycheck will close out your AY2024–25 pay schedule, which may result in a larger paycheck than usual. The additional monthly compensation may result in a higher withholding rate. Lehigh University withholds taxes according to IRS, state, and local requirements. Please consult with your tax planning professional for more information.
Merit raises will go into effect in July each year. If you draw summer salary from a research grant in June, it will use your salary for the previous academic year, while if you draw salary in July or August, it will use your salary for the coming academic year.
If you are on a 9-month pay schedule, you have the option to switch to a 12-month pay schedule at any time by emailing inpayrol@lehigh.edu. If you remain on a 9-month schedule, you will receive paychecks in September through May, as you currently do.
No, there will be no change to your employee benefits.
No. Faculty who are on 12-month pay schedules no longer have the option to change to a 9-month pay schedule. (Faculty who are already on 9-month pay schedules will be permitted to remain on such schedules but are encouraged to consider changing to a 12-month pay schedule.)
It applies to tenured/tenure-track faculty, as well as term faculty (Teaching/Research Professors, Professors of Practice), provided they are paid on 12-month pay schedules. It does not apply to Visiting Professors or Adjunct Professors.
For questions about salary or paychecks, please contact the Payroll Office. For questions about academic appointments, please contact the Deputy Provost for Faculty Affairs at lvs2@lehigh.edu.