HR-720 Policy on Salary Reductions for Faculty and Other Academic Appointees

Please note: On June 1, 2021, President Choi rescinded this policy related to COVID-19. While rescinded, some measures outlined may continue to occur based on existing authority. Please see HR Policy Manual Enhanced Policies (HR-700) index for additional policies and information.

Summary

CRR Section 20.021 authorizes the President to place into effect temporary lawful policies, procedures, or other measures to meet the COVID-19 public health emergency. CRR Section 320.020 delegates to the President authority regarding personnel actions. This policy states such human resources policies authorized by the President under those rules.

Policy

Per Collected Rules and Regulations (CRR) 20.021: President’s Temporary Authority for COVID-19 Response (Bd. action on 03-16-20):

1. Notwithstanding any limitations or restrictions placed on the President in Section 20.020 or elsewhere in these Collected Rules and Regulations, the President shall have authority to place into immediate effect any temporary lawful policies, procedures, or other measures which in his judgment are necessary or appropriate to meet the public health emergency associated with the novel coronavirus and COVID-19 disease, including but not limited to safeguarding persons and property and maintaining University activities as appropriate.
2. Temporary lawful policies, procedures, or other measures adopted by the President under this authorization shall be effective notwithstanding any contrary provisions of these Collected Rules and Regulations and shall remain in effect until such time identified by the President or the Board of Curators, or until such time as the Board of Curators withdraws the authority granted in this rule or otherwise directs.
3. The President shall keep the Board of Curators advised as to policies, procedures, or other measures adopted under this rule.

Per CRR 320.020: President’s Authority:

1. The President shall have the following specific authority:
   
   1. To make or change academic appointments or salaries within the budget,
   2. To accept resignations and discharge faculty,
   3. To make or change appointments, change salaries, accept resignations or discharge employees in non-academic positions, including the Crippled Children's Service.
   4. Exception – Any appointment or change of appointment of Vice Presidents, Chancellors or Curators Professors shall be reported to and approved by the Board before the effective date thereof.
2. All such appointments shall be made, regardless of the terms named in the appointments, subject to termination at the pleasure of the Board of Curators.
3. All annually appointed personnel actions shall be made in writing and filed with the Secretary of the Board prior to the date on which the action shall become effective, and shall be reported to the Board of Curators at the next meeting thereof.
4. Any appointments so made shall be in accordance with existing policies and scales of pay for the University in effect at the time of such appointment.

Further HR Policy Provisions

1. General Temporary Salary Reductions. Each chancellor may implement temporary salary reductions that will apply to general categories of faculty and other employees on academic appointments. Student academic appointments (such as graduate teaching assistant, graduate research assistant, and similar appointments) are excluded from this policy. Reductions can be made for future pay periods after notice to the affected employees.
   
   1. The salary reductions will be for the shortest period of time and in the smallest increments necessary, but they may not exceed one year and 25%, unless this policy is otherwise revised in the future.
   2. The salary reductions may be limited or applied in different percentages based on one or more of the following:
      
      1. Types of academic appointment;
      2. College, school, department, or other similar unit; or
      3. Salary level.
   3. The salary reductions will be calculated based on the individuals’ annualized base benefit rate (ABBR) to apply the monthly salary reduction. Salary reductions may also apply to incentives, stipends and other forms of compensation as appropriate.
2. Criteria-Based Salary Reductions for Tenured Faculty. Each chancellor may approve and implement criteria for reducing salaries of faculty members on continuous appointments. Criteria may be established by the chancellor on a university-wide basis, or they may be developed by a college, school, department, or other similar unit for use within that unit and submitted to the chancellor for approval.
   
   1. Criteria must rely on published departmental standards for satisfactory performance or objective and documented indicators of productivity, budget, enrollment or workload needs. Criteria must be developed and applied so that salary reductions will apply on an equitable basis to similarly situated faculty members and will not be used to single out individuals.
   2. A faculty member will be notified by the department chair or dean of the amount of any salary reduction, when it will go into effect, and the reason for the reduction based on the established criteria. The faculty member may seek review of the reduction by submitting a written request to the provost within 5 days of being notified. The provost will approve, deny, or modify the salary reduction.
   3. The salary reduction may not be  more than 25 percent. If it is 10 percent or more, it will be accompanied by a commensurate reduction in FTE if requested by the faculty member.
   4. A salary reduction based in whole or in part on performance or productivity criteria will go into effect no earlier than the beginning of the next academic year. A salary reduction based only on criteria concerning budget, enrollment or workload needs can go into effect in the pay period following notice to the faculty member.
   5. This section will be added to Executive Order No. 6 (CRR 320.030) as subsection F, with appropriate changes in number formatting.
3. Salary and FTE Reductions for Employees on Term Academic Appointments. The salaries and/or FTE levels of NTT faculty, unranked faculty, and other employees on non-regular academic term appointments may be reduced at the time of renewal for mission-related reasons, including, but not limited to, budget matters, performance, curricular needs, availability of extramural funding, contribution to strategic areas of focus. Reductions will be communicated in the appointment renewal. For benefit eligible employees, the following limits apply unless the employee is first offered the option of layoff: the salary reduction may not be more than 25 percent; the FTE reduction may not reduce the employee’s FTE level below .75; and any combination of salary and FTE reduction should not reduce the employee’s compensation by more than 25%.
4. Actions under this policy will be administered in a manner consistent with the requirements of the Fair Labor Standards Act, immigration laws, and other applicable laws and regulations. Units must maintain documentation of actions and decisions taken under this policy.

Date created: 05/04/2020;