02/05/2024

New Side Letter: Complexity

Introduction:

Previously, UVM administration prevented supervisors and employees from considering job complexity when determining pay at UVM. UVM Staff United continues to hold that UVM was always able to consider job complexity in salary justifications and that our contract never prohibited anyone from doing so. Now, the new complexity side-letter agreement upholds our reading of the contract.

This means that complexity must explicitly be taken into account and that it is impossible to be equitable without considering job complexity.

What is a side letter?

Sometimes, situations such as a dispute over the interpretation of a small part of a contract arise that must be addressed before it’s time to negotiate the next version of the contract. Side letters are binding agreements between the University administration and UVMSU that amend or add to the contract without renegotiating the entire thing. It’s a way to problem-solve, edit, and clarify.

What does this agreement about job complexity mean?

This agreement provides a critical pathway for UVM Staff United employees to initiate review of their salary as it relates to equity and/or increased job complexity, without the previous requirement of a precipitating event.

This consideration of job complexity for determining pay is applicable to salary justifications at time of hiring, for equity reviews, for off-cycle pay increases due to increase in job complexity, and for reclassifications.

What makes something “complex”?

While it’s not in the letter itself, UVMSU and UVM admin have agreed on the definition of “complexity” as it is outlined below:

“An analysis of job complexity may include but isn't necessarily limited to the following:

The nature of the task
The number and diversity of internal and external stakeholders
The degree of constraint/autonomy present
The number and type of variables taken into account when making decisions
The diversity of tasks
The consequence of error
Financial budget and other resource responsibility
Time taken to train someone for a role
Level of Education/skills required/years of experience (minimum qualifications)
Level/nature of communication required
Degree of problem solving required”

What does this mean for you?

That depends!

Were you hired since our first collective bargaining agreement (May 20, 2022)?
Has your Position Description (PD) changed since our first collective bargaining agreement (CBA)?
Have you had a failed reclassification attempt since our first CBA?

If you answered YES to any of the above, you might be eligible for an off-cycle salary increase. Speak with your supervisor, and if you have further questions or encounter difficulties, contact your area steward.

Have your job duties, but not your PD, significantly changed since our first CBA?

If you answered YES to this, you might need a reclassification. This requires an update of your PD, which is initiated by a conversation with your Supervisor. You should review your PD before meeting with your supervisor–you now have access to your PD at all times by logging into PeopleAdmin (https://www.uvmjobs.com/hr). See a screen shot guide for how to find your PD below.

Subsequently, your supervisor must submit for a PD change (and classification change if appropriate) in the PeopleAdmin system (they cannot just “tell HR” that you asked about it, they need to take action in PeopleAdmin). If updating your PD doesn’t result in a reclassification, you may still deserve an off-cycle pay increase to account for any increase in job complexity as reflected in your updated PD.

Do you believe there is an inequity across colleagues of your same classification in your department/unit?

If you answered YES to this, you might deserve an off-cycle pay increase. Contact your area steward. Receiving an off-cycle pay increase now will not prevent you from receiving future reclassifications or equity reviews.

What do supervisors need to know and what has HR told them?

On January 18, 2024, HR informed supervisors of the side letter with the following email:

“Effective January 11, 2024, UVM has entered into a side letter with UVMSU to allow job complexity to be taken into account when setting pay for members of that bargaining unit. While this is a change from the practice in place since ratification of the contract between UVMSU and UVM in May 2022, assessing job complexity and applying it as a factor in setting pay will be familiar to many as this was standard practice for this group of employees before May 2022 and is still employed for non-union employees at this time.
There are a number of circumstances in which those setting pay for UVMSU-represented employees may now consider job complexity.
Setting relative pay for new employees: When an employee is brought into your unit, you may now consider job complexity in addition to years of experience when determining what they should be paid relative to other employees in the same classification.
Off-cycle pay increases: When an updated position description is submitted to reflect an increase in job complexity, even if this increased complexity does not rise to the level of a reclassification, an off-cycle pay increase may be appropriate.
Equity assessments: Units may wish to assess pay equity within a classification, taking job complexity into account. With this change, units will be free to assess relative job complexity in addition to years of experience among employees in the same classification and submit a proposal for off-cycle increases to Classification and Compensation.
All requests for off-cycle increases and equity assessments must be submitted to Classification and Compensation through the PeopleAdmin system. Please be sure to discuss contemplated pay adjustments with employees and keep them apprised of the status of any such action. All such requests will be processed within 60 days. Thank you for your patience, as we expect a significant increase in requests resulting from this change. If you have questions about this change and/or wish to discuss potential actions for your unit, please contact your Labor and Employee Relations representative.
Maggie Ferron, Co-Director, HR Partners
Chris Lehman, CHRO”

Critically, the agreed-upon definition of job complexity was not included in this email. When advocating for a review of job complexity in your position, we encourage you to share the definition provided here to aid in your conversation/collaboration with your supervisor.

As noted above, the initiation of any pay change occurs in the PeopleAdmin system by your supervisor. This requires them to provide information about the position(s) in question and an explanation of why they are proposing the increases.