University of Wisconsin–Madison
Human Resources

No Pay Appointments

Overview

A No Pay appointment is a temporary unpaid position used to provide an official affiliation and identification with the University. Use cases include but are not limited to:

  • visiting scholars
  • honorary fellows
  • individuals collaborating with a current project on research
  • individuals closing out research duties after ending a project

A No Pay appointment is not appropriate for alumni or donors who have university affiliations who wish to keep their university email and systems access. These appointments should only be set up if a working relationship is established between the individual and your School/College/Division.

No Pay Appointment vs. Contingent Worker

  • If the individual is currently an employee or contingent worker within the Universities of Wisconsin, the new record must be a No Pay appointment. To set up the appointment, create a position.
    • If the existing record is a contingent worker, the HR professional that supports that contingent worker's sup org will need to convert the contingent worker to a No Pay position. This may mean collaborating with other campuses or hiring divisions as needed.
  • If the individual is not currently affiliated with the Universities of Wisconsin, the hiring unit can either contract a contingent worker or appoint as No Pay by creating a position. The individual may or may not have past affiliation with the Universities of Wisconsin.
Current Affiliation With UW: Create Position
Step 1: Create Position

Follow the steps in the Create a Position process, making note of the following field values:

  • Position Request Reason: Create Position > Create Position > No Pay Basis
  • Job Posting Title: Fill in what is most appropriate to describe the purpose of the appointment
  • Number of Positions: Defaults to 1
  • Availability Date: This is the first day you can see the position in the sup org. Best practice is to enter the current date.
  • Earliest Hire Date: A worker cannot be hired into this position prior to this date. Best practice is to enter the first day the individual will need systems access.
  • Job Profile: Select By Job Family > Other Group > Other > select applicable title
  • Job Description: Leave blank
  • Location: Enter a four-digit code from the searchable campus database.
  • Time Type: Enter part time
  • Worker Type: Employee
  • Worker Sub-Type: Terminal
  • Scheduled Weekly Hours: Can be left at 0
    Note: You will see a soft error (Yellow) notifying you that the FTE is set to zero and to confirm whether this was intentional. This is informational and can be clicked through.
  • Difficulty to Fill: Captures information related to position cap, based off of the selected Job Profile. Update this field if the default value is not accurate. Ensure a corresponding JTAP form was submitted to justify the change. See Justification to Advance Position, Online Form for more information. 
  • Available for Overlap: Check this box if more than one person can be hired under this position number for a period of time. 

Click Submit to finalize this portion of the process, or click Save for Later to save and finalize at a later time.

Once this step is complete, the Change Organization Assignments task will be sent to the initiator.
Step 2: Assign Organizations 

Either click the pop-up or the inbox to review the task to Change Organization Assignments:

  • Cost Center, Fund, and Function: Defaults based on the sup org used
  • Compensation: Enter No Pay
  • Position of Trust: Update as necessary
  • Campus Security Authority (CSA): Check this box if this position is considered a campus security authority.
  • Note: Company should never be changed. Legacy information should not be updated/added for new employees.

Click Submit to finalize this portion of the process, or click Save for Later to save and finalize at a later time.

At this point, the Position will route to the HR Partner (Supervisory) for review and approval. No Pay Basis positions do not route to the Position Budget Manager nor the Cost Center Accounting Specialist to enter any default funding.
Step 3: Direct Hire/Add Job

Once the Position is created, you can either Add an Additional Job for the individual (if they have a concurrent appointment in the system) or Direct Hire the individual into the position (if this will be their only appointment).
Contract Contingent Worker
Step 1: Contract Contingent Worker

Follow the steps in the Contract Contingent Worker guide, making note of the following field values:

  • Contingent Worker Type: Contingent Worker
  • Job Profile: Select By Job Family > Other Group > Other > select applicable title
  • Time Type: Select part time
  • Location: Enter a four-digit code from the searchable campus database.
  • Supplier: Contingent Worker
  • Default Payment Terms: Leave blank
  • Contract End Date: Enter the end date for this individual's relationship with your unit
  • Contract Pay Rate: Leave this field as 0
  • Currency: Leave blank
  • Frequency: Leave blank

Click Submit to finalize this portion of the process.

Questions?

Contact OHR HRIS.

Updated: Feb. 24, 2026
Source URL: https://hr.wisc.edu/hr-guides/for-hr-professionals/no-pay-appointments/

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