The UC system’s 2009 payroll database went public this week.

“Consistent with its commitment to transparency and public accountability, the University of California discloses employee payroll information annually, and makes it broadly available to the public as well as to the news media,” officials said in introducing a summary and analysis of the pay database.

The database includes breakdowns of UC pay by individual employee, personnel category and fund sources, and provides a summary of compensation for the university’s top leaders.

In a courtesy note to employees, the Public Records unit of the Office of the President noted that the May 27 disclosure parallels last year’s, and is consistent with practices at many other public institutions.

According to UCOP’s summary and analysis, UC’s work force of roughly 184,000 in October 2009 reflected a decrease of 0.7 percent from 2008. The payroll total grew from roughly $9.6 billion in 2008 to a little more than $9.8 billion, an increase of a little more than 2.5 percent, which is less of an increase than in prior years.

Officials attributed the increase in payroll to a combination of likely factors, including market pressures for more competitive compensation, particularly in the areas of health care, instruction and research — paralleling increases in UC’s instructional, research and public service activities overall:

• Enrollment grew by nearly 2 percent from 2008 to 2009.

• Overall research expenditures grew 6.5 percent.

• Inpatient days at UC medical centers grew almost 1 percent.

In their summary and analysis of the pay database, UCOP officials noted that delivery of educational services, research and health care is labor-intensive — personnel costs account for roughly 50 percent of UC’s $20 billion annual operating budget.

UCOP’s summary and analysis is available online, along with three tables (compensation by occupational group, compensation by fund source and compensation for senior leadership); and executive compensation, broken down by individual.

Authority for disclosure

The Public Records unit cited staff and faculty policies allowing for the release of individual pay data:

• Personnel Policies for Staff Members (PPSM) 80(C) — “Information which is public information and which should be released upon request includes name, date of hire, current position title, current salary, organizational unit assignment, date of separation, office address and office telephone number, current job description, full-time or part-time, and appointment type.”

• Academic Personnel Manual (APM) 160-20(b)(4) — Any “nonpersonal” information “is public information and is available upon request to any person or entity without limitation.” According to the policy, “nonpersonal” academic personnel information includes name, date of hire or separation, current position title and current rate of pay.

The Public Records unit announced that it is making the pay database available to the media upon request. In addition, the database is available for review in campus libraries upon request. (Shields Library is the UC Davis location.)

Questions about access to payroll data should be directed to Information Practices-Public Records Offices at the campus level. At UC Davis, the contact is Lynette Temple, information practices coordinator, Office of Campus Counsel, telephone (530) 752-3949, e-mail lstemple@ucdavis.edu.