Speaker Honorariums Procedure

Summary

This procedure clarifies the processes involved with additional payroll compensation for faculty and staff at Delta College, related to either stipends/honorariums or awards/rewards. 

Procedures

External honorarium

This is related to when speaker might be invited and may or may not be compensated financially. Such situations might include a speaker in a seminar series or a keynote speaker.

• • Examples of the speakers include: President’s Speakers series; Latina leadership panel; Delta Political Forum; Black History Month panel; Cybersecurity Panel discussion; BEDI speakers; BEDI panel discussions; Student-Athlete Leadership series, etc.
  • Plans to pay any speaker should be discussed and approved in advance by a member of the President’s Cabinet prior to scheduling the speaker.
  • Delta will only consider approving a payment to a speaker, if a cost center has been identified with funding and a justification can be given for the payment.
  • It is reasonable to offer to reimburse travel costs incurred by an external speaker. However, those items should be negotiated in advance and must be in alignment with Delta College travel guidelines for mileage, per diems or lodging costs. The College encourages staff to consider recognizing a speaker not through an honorarium, but rather through a token of appreciation, such as a Delta College related item from the Bookstore.
  • Payments to speakers should not become routine or expected within a department or as part of a speaker series.
  • Payments may be made to persons invited to speak whose primary employment is as a paid speaker (a “circuit speaker”) according to the individual speaker's “usual fees” or another negotiated rate.
  • All written contracts for speakers are to be handled by Delta College’s Business Services staff, who will ensure all payment details are accurately documented.

Internal honorarium

This involves a pre-approved payment to pay faculty or staff members who are assigned additional work for a fixed, but temporary period of time.  This may include work as part of an Endowed Teaching Chair or other additional duties as approved by the President.   Other work, such as leading internal Professional Development training or serving on special committees, would not be eligible for stipend payments.

• • Internal honorariums or stipends are payments that are considered part of the person’s salary and must be processed through Delta College’s payroll system.
    • Exclusions - Stipends are not intended for work that is done during regular working hours or to compensate exempt employees for performing work outside normal business hours.
    • No payment of any form should be made to Delta faculty, staff, or students for speaking, even if the forum or workshop includes a sponsored budget with payments for external speakers. 
    • Whenever possible, work projects should be distributed to current employees to complete during their regular working hours, with a flexible attitude of working together for the good of the College.
    • Tangible gifts are the preferred method for recognizing an employee, but not cash or cash equivalents. Tangible items must be of a de minimis value. Compensation in addition to basic annual salary must meet the requirements for supplemental pay, such as extra service.
    • All payments must be in alignment with the faculty’s Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA).

Participation
All full/part-time regular employees

Revision/review dates
03/25