Office of the President
Office of the President

A Memorandum Regarding the FY2014 Merit Program

To: President John J. DeGioia

From: Robert Groves, Howard Federoff, William Treanor and Christopher Augostini

Re: FY2014 Merit Program

You requested that we review the proposal, originally included with the financial plan, to delay by one year the staff merit increases that were anticipated for FY2014. You asked that we report to you with a detailed plan that eases the burden on staff and AAPs, does not impact the cost of education, and keeps us on track to meet our financial goals. We have completed our work and now transmit to you our recommendations.

We have had several open forums on each of the campuses to discuss the competitive and fiscal issues prompting the budgetary recommendations. We sought ideas and feedback on compensation issues and other issues of interest to our community. We have also heard directly from the Staff/AAP Advisory Council. We have found this input very helpful and informative as we have moved through this process.

We have considered each of the points raised by faculty and staff and are proposing the following policies be implemented for FY2014:

  1. We recommend that we fund a merit pool for FY2014 equal to .75% for staff and AAPs across the University. Non-Tenure line faculty at the Main Campus would also be included in this merit pool. This pool is estimated to cost $2 million. In order to generate the savings necessary to afford this additional cost, we recommend that FY2014 base salary increases for Tenure line faculty at the Main Campus and voting members of the Law Center Faculty be delayed by 6 months to take effect on January 1, 2014. In addition, given the uncertainty surrounding research funding issues stemming from federal budget cutbacks we continue to believe that freezing the “A” component of the Medical Center’s faculty salary plan is a prudent step to take. We believe this is a fair approach and responsive the sentiment expressed by many within our community during our review process that all members of our community contribute to the effort to improve the University’s financial situation.
  2. We strongly support the notion that leadership of the University should be first to contribute to improving the fiscal condition of the University. Therefore we are recommending that we retain the proposed salary freeze for the leadership group made up of Deans, Vice Presidents, Senior Vice Presidents and ourselves for FY2014.
  3. It was quite evident from our discussions that the University’s employees are exceptionally dedicated and hardworking, many putting in hours in the evenings and on the weekends to see that the academic mission is supported. We believe it is therefore time to include as part of the permanent University Holiday schedule leave days between Christmas and New Years. For FY2014 this will mean the addition of three additional holidays–December 26, December 27 and December 30. Because these days off will be Holidays, hourly employees who are required to work will receive time and one half for hours worked. Hourly and salaried employees who are required to work a holiday will receive another day off.
  4. Finally, we propose to continue the freeze on parking rates for the Main Campus and Medical School campus that was already proposed as part of the proposed budget for FY2014. In addition, parking rates at the Law Center will be frozen for FY 2014. We will also freeze tuition increases to Hoya Kids for FY2014 and at the Law Center’s Early Learning Center.

Taken as a whole, these measures provide for a fairer and more balanced approach to staff and faculty compensation in a highly constrained economic environment and keep us on track to significantly improve the University’s financial performance.