(1) If an employee is currently at step L of a salary range, the employee will progress to step M of that same salary range six years from the date they were advanced or appointed to step L. The progression to step M is regardless of what has transpired in the six years since the employee was appointed to step L, provided that the employee is at step L in the same pay range as the pay range the employee was in at the beginning of the six-year period.

(2) With director approval, higher education institutions may make all movements to step M effective:

(a) The first of the current month for actions occurring between the first and the fifteenth of the month; or

(b) The first of the following month for actions occurring between the sixteenth and the end of the month.