We met on September 15, 2016 at 11 am

For Academic Human Resources (AHR): Heather Horn and Sharon Reynolds

For AAP-IEA/NEA: Joseph Roy and Steve Vaughan

  1. Overtime rules: AHR posted a link to here this week explaining the changes. These were summarized in an email by AHR to us on Friday. [Please note that for visiting academic professionals, the union retains the right to bargain the impact of any of these changes for our members once the final rules are announced. All employees should be informed of their status by mid-October. If you have any questions about the information from your unit or are concerned about your classification, please contact us (from a non-university email address) at aapillinoisedu@gmail.com]
    1. We expressed concern that leave for pre-approved events maybe denied to those employees who are eligible for overtime (this is hinted at on the FLSA website, but a final determination has not been made).  Given that our members who are eligible for overtime are the lowest paid employees, it does not seem reasonable to exclude them from meetings that are convened by the administration to keep employees informed of the budget situation or the ongoing issues with healthcare on campus. Both AHR representatives informed us that the University would prefer to continue to offer pre-approved leave for these events overtime eligible employees, but the final decision has not been made.
    2. In an email from AHR, we were informed : “the exemption from overtime is not simply based on salary.  Overtime exemption is actually a two factor test of a) duties and b) being paid on a salary basis and the salary meeting or exceeding the threshold ($47,476 as of Dec. 1, 2016).  Both the duties and salary criteria must be satisfied in order for a position to be deemed exempt from overtime.  Individuals who hold positions that do not  satisfy one or both of those criteria are eligible for overtime compensation.  The FLSA requires payment of overtime and allows for compensatory time but it does not require an employer to offer it.  At this time, the University system has not made a final decision on whether we will offer comp time as an option for the salaried non-exempt employees. 

      Academic HR has several campus working groups and our staff is also part of the University System group that separately includes representation from University Administration, our campus, UIC and UIS.

      Individual employees will be specifically informed of the decision for their position, regardless of whether the decision is exempt yet salary remains under the threshold, exempt due to a salary increase above the threshold or salaried non-exempt.  All changes will be effective November 16, 2016 and employees will be notified prior to that date.  Our plans are for notifications to occur in October, once final decisions have been made. 

      Academic professional employees who are determined to be salaried non-exempt will retain their current AP appointment, including the monthly salary paid on the 16th.  There will be no change to their benefit status.  They will have an additional time reporting job that will then pay any overtime owed on a biweekly basis.  The employee class on the time reporting job will be “academic hourly” but the employee will NOT be classified as an academic hourly employee.  This is simply the coding mechanism to facilitate any overtime payment. 

      Please remember that you and your members can access information and FAQ’s on our dedicated webpage, http://go.illinois.edu/flsa and have a designated email address flsaquestions@illinois.edu.  This would be the definitive source of information to which employees should be directed.   For example, you can access a timeline and the presentation used in departmental discussions regarding our processes and decision making.  We will continue to add information to this site as decisions are made.”

       

       

  2. There was an issue with a members NOA who was transitioning from visiting to non-visiting.
    1. The member’s offer letter stated a start date of August 16, 2016 for the non-visiting position.
    2. The member’s generated Notification of Appointment (NOA), however, still had the visiting title and the appointment list that went to the board of trustees for the September 8th meeting still had the visiting title. The title in the directory and the salary statement for September reflected the new non-visiting position.
    3. We asked why there was a discrepancy and when did the non-visiting position officially start (i.e. when did the employee have notification rights if there NOA was incorrectly processed)?
      1. AHR assured us this was caused when the employee’s unit entered the position into the system after the deadline for BOT approval in September.  The Board, however, did vote to give the President the right to make non-visiting AP appointments this year and to notify the board (via the Secretary’s report) after the NOA has been generated.
      2. The specific employee was notified the new (non-visiting) that the NOA was generated before the weekend.
      3. If there is a delay between the start of a non-visiting AP position and the NOA, the AHR representatives said that their analysis would be that the notification rights attach the first day the employee starts performing the job duties assigned in the signed PAPE after the start date outlined in the offer letter.