University of Louisville compensation restructuring angers employees

May 03, 2024

After more than 20 years of working at the University of Louisville, Michael Martin is seeking a new position at the institution.

It wouldn't be much of a change from his current role. The senior process engineer wouldn't have to abandon his circle of colleagues or meet with new superiors. He would not have to work with new equipment or even a new lab space. In fact, he already knows he can handle the responsibilities and duties.

Martin is confident he can do the job, he said, because it's the exact one he has now. The only differences are the job title and the pay: The job he's seeking pays an extra $18,000 a year.

Martin's peculiar situation is the result of a salary and job restructuring effort at the university that was intended to provide opportunities for career development and advancement while keeping employee pay competitive in the academic market.

Instead, the study has led to disproportionate pay for workers who are doing the same job, veteran staff members being paid the same as less-experienced coworkers, workers being reclassified into jobs they formerly held and some staff members being paid around the same level as student workers they manage.

Nobody received a pay decrease, and no jobs were eliminated. Approximately 20% of the university's 7,200 faculty and staff members received some kind of raise under the plan.

But still, workers are upset, and their union's ranks are surging.

"I should be happy. I mean, in the end, I got a 4% raise," said Martin, who makes around $64,000 but would see a significant bump if he lands the "research engineer scientist" job. "But just because of the way the administration is handling it, it made everybody so mad. It feels like we're not being heard.”

About two weeks after the compensation changes were announced in July, President Kim Schatzel acknowledged the rollout of the new structure was botched and announced plans to clarify and tweak some of the changes.

"Frankly, the university did a poor job communicating the purpose for the study and set unrealistic expectations for its outcome," Schatzel wrote in a July 25 email to faculty and staff. "I apologize for the lack of clarity and the negative impact it has had on many of our colleagues."

The salary study was launched in 2021. U of L contracted with Segal, a national consulting firm with a history of completing similar work for universities, to help review positions and corresponding wage rates for a compensation restructuring.

A spokesperson for Segal did not immediately respond to a message seeking comment on Monday.

During the study, substantial salary increases, excluding regular cost-of-living adjustments, were mostly frozen.

At the start of the study, Martin said, he and his lab colleagues were encouraged to help write their job descriptions and title history, which would inform how they would be later reclassified.

But when the changes were released in early July, it wasn't what many faculty and staff were expecting.

"We call that Black Wednesday," said Donald Dean, listening services supervisor at the Dwight Anderson Memorial Music Library.

Dean said some of his colleagues − among the lowest paid staff in library services − are now making about the same as student employees, who now get $15 an hour. And to add to frustrations, some of the staff members help supervise these students.

"There’s no doubt about how demoralizing and devaluing it is," he said.

Dean — a nearly 30-year employee who did not receive a raise beyond the uniform 2% cost-of-living adjustment — said he was reclassified from a library specialist to a library assistant, a position he previously held and from which he was promoted.

University officials have acknowledged that length of service was not taken into account for the compensation or classification changes.

In other cases, Dean said, employees who were at the midpoint of their job's pay range may have seen their job reclassified to a lower level, putting them at the height of the new job classification's salary range. That could limit their pay increases unless they are promoted to a different level.

Martin said one of his colleague was hired in the Micro/Nano Technology Center when the position was called "research scientist." But the job title was changed to "process engineer" by the time Martin and others were hired for the same position.

The job description was the same, but that hanging title made a big distinction, Martin said. While Martin received around a $2,500 raise, that colleague, who is still at the university, got a $16,000 bump.

Now, thanks to the departure of another of his colleagues, there's an open spot for the same job at a higher salary. The opportunity prompted Martin and another coworker − who works in the same lab and performs the same duties − to vie for the spot. This means there are now two employees competing to get a significant wage bump for work they both already do.

"It's just been so poorly managed," Martin said, adding there was a lack of transparency in the restructuring process overall.

Katie Kleinkopf, assistant professor in the comparative humanities department, said the changes have caused a lot of anger.

"A lot of people are unhappy with the way that U of L has been treating very loyal employees," said Kleinkopf, a longtime faculty member who is in U of L's chapter of United Campus Workers of Kentucky

Since the changes came out, she said she's seen a surge of faculty and staff reaching out for more details about what it means to have a labor union on campus. In just a few weeks, the chapter, which held a rally Tuesday with around 100 people in attendance, has signed up around 30 new members, raising its rolls to over 180 people.

Meanwhile, the university, which invested $12.4 million in the compensation improvements, is trying to smooth out the kinks in the new structure.

In a statement to The Courier Journal last week, U of L spokesman John Karman said the administration recognizes some long-serving employees are still paid below the market median for their positions. He said U of L leadership plans to work with the Staff Senate on future steps while conducting a similar analysis for faculty.

Schatzel, who became U of L's president earlier this year, also said in an email to faculty and staff that the university's human resources department is working with departmental leadership "to review job classifications and job descriptions." Additionally, a new compensation study website will be launched by mid-October.

Plus, she has said that people who preferred their old job titles could keep using them.

Schatzel noted some staff members have requested a deeper look into employee wages based on their experience, qualifications and years of service.

"Such an evaluation was not part of the purpose of the compensation study, so we have not done such a review," Schatzel wrote in the July 25 email. "That is important to know as we don’t want to misstep again and set expectations unwisely or unrealistically. However, we do commit to develop a plan to address this issue."

But in an Aug. 17 email, Schatzel added that administrators are drafting a plan to address salary gaps based both on years of service as well as positive performance reviews. A formal update about this plan will be released by Oct. 1.

She has unveiled two new training programs — an education-based session for supervisors on how the new structure works and a career coaching procedure for employees on how to advance in the new structure. While the supervisor training began this month, details for the career coaching program is slated to be released later this fall.

While Dean was reassured by the university's promise for further evaluation, he said he's also interested in seeing if there is follow-through from the administration.

While the administration's approach of "classifying jobs, not people" was entirely too impersonal, he said, "I’m somewhat encouraged that this president wants to stay here and stick around."

Martin said he wanted more from Schatzel's response. "It would be nice if there were strong immediate words that lead to action," he said.

He added that he's now considering joining United Campus Workers.

“I've never thought twice about joining a union,” Martin said. “Until all this happened.”