Academic Staff Executive Committee Minutes 12-09-21
Approved 01-06-22
ASEC
Minutes
2:00 –
4:30 p.m. Thursday, December 9, 2021
53
Bascom Hall
https://uwmadison.zoom.us/j/93936751067
Members Present: Jenny Dahlberg; Tim Dalby, chair;
Stephanie Elkins; Mallory Musolf; Leslie Petty; Lindsey
Stoddard Cameron; Bill Tishler
Guests: Kayla Armstrong, Bruno Browning, Lesley
Fisher, Karen Massetti-Moran, Mark Walters
The meeting was called to order at 2:01
p.m.
The minutes of December 2 were
approved.
General Reports
Tim Dalby, ASEC Chair, reported
that there has been an increase in COVID cases after Thanksgiving, and campus
is watching developments with the omicron variant. Testing in the spring will
consist of both PCR testing and antigen tests. Flu cases are also up. Employees
are beginning to move back into the Chemistry Building. Tim attended the PPPC
meeting on Wednesday, at which was discussed possible future edits to ASPP.
Jake Smith, Secretary of the
Academic Staff, reported that the recent Academic Staff Chat on transitions in
work style was well attended. There will be a virtual session on this same
topic in January. Jake asked for ASEC members to consider interest in filling
liaison roles and committee seats for Leslie Petty due to her departure from
the university in January. Jake discussed concerns regarding salary breadth
with the co-chairs of the Compensation and Economic Benefits Committee. Jake
also met with a number of individuals involved in
surveying faculty and staff to discuss the development of a campus-wide climate
survey with the hope of distribution in the spring. There will be more
information on this in late January.
Liaison Reports
Mallory Musolf
reported on the UW System Representatives meeting. The academic staff reps put
in a request to extend the deadline for filing formal TTC appeals to February
18. The reps also discussed the timeline for finalist interviews for the UW
System President search. The aim is to vote to appoint the new System President
at the February Board of Regents meeting. The System reps composed a letter to
Regent President Edward Manydeeds and Regent Vice
President Karen Walsh asking that all shared governance groups have
opportunities to engage with the finalists in the search. There were also
discussions regarding extension of the SAT/ACT waiver, a behavioral health
initiative, and a framework for student well-being. The Joint Committee on
Employment Relations may not meet until January to vote on the state pay plan.
Lindsey Stoddard Cameron reported
that the Campus Diversity and Climate Committee endorsed the resolutions passed
by the Academic Staff Assembly and the Faculty Senate in support of academic
freedom to teach race and gender justice and Critical Race Theory.
Guest: Bruno Browning, Ombuds
Office
The Ombuds Office is made up of
retired academic staff, faculty, and university staff that meet with employees
in a confidential setting to listen to concerns. Bruno shared the annual report
of the Ombuds Office, which will also be presented at the Assembly meeting on
Monday. The Ombuds are starting to look at the preliminary data for this year
and see the same trends continuing in terms of areas of concern. The number of
visitors rises every year, and the areas of concern remain the same, the
majority of which fall into the category of evaluative relationships (i.e. employee/supervisor). Instances of hostile and
intimidating behavior seem to have decreased during the pandemic. Single pay
was not an issue the Ombuds heard much about, but there have been numerous
concerns around return to onsite work and the implementation of TTC. The cases
that the Ombuds are encountering are more numerous and more complex. The
members of the Ombuds Office continue to discuss issues related to diversity,
HIB tracking, and impacts from the pandemic.
Business
· Planning
Subcommittee Reports
ASEC
heard updates from its different subcommittees related to communications, CASI
support, and diversity, equity, and inclusion.
· December
Assembly Prep
ASEC
discussed the resolutions on the agenda for the Assembly meeting. Mallory Musolf will move approval of the resolution regarding
future pay plan distribution.
· Meeting
Format Discussion
ASEC
will continue to meet in person with a hybrid component through January and
February.
Guests: Mark Walters, Chief Human
Resources Officer, and Karen Massetti-Moran, Director of Total Rewards, Office
of Human Resources
At present, there have been 82
title changes via the informal resolution process. Of these, 61 were for
academic staff or limited appointee positions across 13
schools/colleges/divisions. There are 122 formal appeals either in draft or
pending review. Of these, 98 are from academic staff. The number of appeals
received at this time is lower than expected, and there are discussions
regarding a change to the deadline for appeal submission. OHR is also currently
working on a process flow for those employees who have issues connected to
titles that are under OHR review. In addressing issues related to maxima with
certain titles, issues related to minima may also arise. In looking at salaries
for academic staff and limited appointees within the quartiles, at this point
there are .38% that are under the minima for their titles, and 4.29% over the maxima.
The rest break down as follows: 33.19% in the first quartile, 33.20% in the
second, 20.29% in the third, and 4.29% in the fourth. Karen presented quartile
breakdowns by job group as well.
UW-Madison is pausing the vaccine
mandate due to the court case in Georgia. OHR is working on the communications
to send out to impacted employees on Monday. At this point, there are
approximately 150 religious exemptions that have been approved and a handful of
medical exemptions. Review of accommodation requests is being paused, and
testing requirements will still be necessary.
Regarding performance bonus funds,
close to 900 have been processed, and another 1000-1200 are expected in the
next week. Data on distribution of discretionary compensation funds are not yet
available.
Business
· UW
System Pay Plan Distribution Policy Discussion
ASEC
discussed this policy, for which the feedback deadline is December 10. The
Assembly will be considering a resolution regarding future distribution of pay
plans as base increases, and UW-Madison has its own personnel authority in this
space.
· Topics
for Guests
Provost:
spring semester planning
VPFS:
strategies for getting baseline data on HIB; ideas for promoting availability
of professorial titles
Meeting adjourned at 4:36 p.m.
Minutes submitted by Jake Smith,
Secretary of the Academic Staff