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