Section 3. General Provisions.

1. Salary rates of full-time employees are set forth in Appendix F of this Agreement and are attached hereto and hereby made part of this Article.
2. The salary rates set forth in Appendix F shall remain in effect during the term of this Agreement. Salary rates shall not be increased or decreased except in accordance with the provisions of this Article.
3. Employees shall be compensated on the basis of the salary rate for their official job classification.

Section 4. Regular Part-Time Employees.
A regular part-time employee shall be entitled to the provisions of the Article in the proportion that his/her service bears to full time-service.

Section 5. Salary Adjustments for Employees Entering From Other State Bargaining Units

1. An employee entering a position within the bargaining unit covered by this Agreement, without a break in service from a position in another Commonwealth of Massachusetts public employer, in a bargaining unit not covered by this Agreement, from a position determined by Human Resources to be of a type with similar duties and responsibilities to the positions in this unit, in the grade level of the position which they are being hired into, shall be placed at the first step-in-grade up to the maximum of the grade, which at least equals the rate of compensation received immediately prior to his/her entry into the bargaining unit.
2. An employee entering a position within the bargaining unit covered by this Agreement, without a break in service from a position in another Commonwealth of Massachusetts public employer, in a bargaining unit not covered by this Agreement, from a position determined by Human Resources to be of a type with similar duties and responsibilities to the positions in this unit, which are at a lower grade level than the position which they are being hired into, shall be placed at a step-in-grade in accordance with the provisions of Section 3 of this Article.
3. An employee entering a position within the bargaining unit covered by this Agreement, without a break in service from a position in another Commonwealth of Massachusetts public employer, in a bargaining unit not covered by this Agreement, from a position determined by Human Resources to be of a type with similar duties and responsibilities to the positions in this unit, which are at a higher grade level than the position which they are being hired into, shall be placed at a step-in-grade within his/her new job grade based upon the employee's creditable years of service in the equivalent new job grade or higher job grade, provided that in no event shall the employee be placed in a step-in-grade which results in the employee receiving a salary rate equal to or greater than the average salary received by the employee for the preceding six (6) months.

Section 6. The salary increases as provided in this Article shall apply only to those employed on the execution date of the agreement. However, former bargaining unit members who died, retired or transferred out of the bargaining unit but remained in the employ of the Employer during June 30, 2001, and the execution date shall receive appropriate increases as provided in this Article for their period of employment.

Section 7. Human Resources may create a recruitment range if the entry-level salary for a particular position or class of positions is insufficient to permit recruitment and/or retention of employees in those positions and the rate normally paid is not competitive in the appropriate labor market. Labor Relations shall notify the Association of the University's intent to establish any recruitment range and, if requested, the parties shall meet to bargain the issue. The decision to create a recruitment range and the placement of employees within the range shall not be subject to Article 27 of this Agreement. When implementing a recruitment range, Human Resources will consider the experience and training of existing employees at the time of hire and adjust salaries accordingly.