The Implementation Team held workshops on February 12th and 13th to review and discuss implementation of the merit raise policy under (Article 26) of the CBA.
CBA GOVERNANCE IMPLEMENTATION GUIDE
MERIT RAISE POLICY, ARTICLE 26, SECTION 2 (C)
Article 26, Section 2 (c) states, in part:
All departments and units must have an approved policy for distributing merit pool money to bargaining unit faculty who meet or exceed expectations for teaching; research, scholarship, and creative activities; and service.
Process
- Faculty in the Tenure-Track and Tenured Professor classification and Career NTTF consider input by appropriate department or unit head, dean, VP, Provost or designee. Guiding principles from the Provost and Academic Affairs can be found on pages 2 – 3 of this document.
- In accordance with the department or unit’s internal governance policy, faculty will then develop a written policy, which will set forth criteria and procedures for the award of merit increases.
- Faculty submits recommended policy for review to the appropriate dean, vice president, or designee, who will provide a written explanation to the faculty and an opportunity to discuss any alterations he or she makes to the recommended policy before submission to Provost or designee.
- Provost or designee will have final authority to establish policy for each department or unit. If the Provost or designee materially alters the faculty-recommended policy, he or she will provide a written explanation for the change(s) to the faculty in the department or unit.
- Department or unit head, dean, VP, Provost or designee may initiate changes to established policies by informing the appropriate faculty of the change being considered, thereby initiating this process.
Policies
Article 26 requires the following:
- Decisions must be appropriately documented
- Departmental or unit merit raise policies approved by the dean or VP and the Provost must be posted on the Academic Affairs website and be available in the department or unit.
The Provost and Academic Affairs require that in developing a merit pool distribution policy, each unit consider the following:
- The specific mandatory criteria and other factors that might be used to evaluate teaching, scholarship, creative activities, research and service, in alignment with Article 19 (NTTF Review and Promotion) and Article 20 (TTF Review and Promotion).
- The kind of process that would work best in the department or unit, including
- If a committee is charged with making recommendations, who is eligible to serve on that committee and how is that committee selected?
- Is there a role for a faculty activity report?
- Is there a role for self-assessment? What information is sought?
- What is the role of teaching evaluations?
- Is there a role for peer review?
- A description of the standards that identify various levels of performance, as well as the way in which levels of performance will be utilized and described. For example, descriptors could be: exceptional, highly effective, effective, improvement required; or exceeds, meets, below expectations; or outstanding, above average, acceptable, needs significant improvement, inadequate performance.
- Whether increases will be as a percentage of base salary, or flat dollar amounts, or is that left to the discretion of the department head?
Note: Examples of various college and department existing criteria and procedures are posted on the Academic Affairs webpage.
Provost and Academic Affairs Guiding Principles
- Merit increases cannot be across the board.
- Merit increases for faculty should be based solely on performance as evidenced by teaching, scholarship, creative activities, research, and service.
- Merit increase policies must include clear criteria and factors.
- Merit increases should be given on the basis of systematic comparative evaluation of merit, and in consideration of each individual’s professional responsibilities and total contributions.
- Regardless of percentage of appointment, each faculty is eligible for consideration for the highest merit rating. The salary adjustment for each is prorated based on percentage of employment.
- The process for evaluating accomplishments should be clearly described; open and transparent; and incorporate a collegial and consultative structure.
- The process must minimally include timely performance reviews; the consideration of a current CV, as well as any relevant material submitted that is not captured in the CV.
- Faculty should be informed of the amount of their merit increase.
- Each time merit increases are awarded, it should be clear what period of time is under consideration. For FY 15, the criteria for allocating the merit pool shall take into account all teaching, research and service accomplishments since January 1, 2008.
- The Provost must approve any individual salary increase that is greater than 10% of base salary, including merit and across the board.
For additional information, go to Academic Affairs.
