Administrative and Professional Assembly
April 24, 2007
2:30 p.m.
Room 213 Foy  

Meeting Minutes (Approved June 20, 2007)
 

Call to Order
Maria Folmar, Chair of the Assembly, called the meeting to order at 2:32 p.m.

Roll Call

Representatives Present : Christopher O'Gwynn, Kirsten Perkins, Barnese Adair-Wallace, Lisa Powell, Seth Humphrey, Julie Nolen, Katie Mantooth, Phillip Coxwell, Lisa Fleming, R. Greg Ruff, Teresa Logiotatos, April Staton, Ellen McManus, John Owen, Jane Hoehaver, John Folmar, David Hennessey, Robert McKinnell, Maria Folmar, Drew Burgering and Todd Storey (21)

Representatives Absent : Mark Wilson (1)

Number of A & P Members Present: ~50

Approval of Minutes
The minutes of the March 20, 2007 meeting were approved as posted.

Comments from the Chair

Maria Folmar, Chair, introduced Auburn University Classification and Compensation Project and asked that people keep their questions general and save individual questions. Upon recognition, people would be given the opportunity to address their question to Lynn Hammond or Chuck Gerards. She then introduced Chuck Gerards and Lynn Hammond.

Ms. Hammond shared that she was happy to have the opportunity to keep lines of communication open and straight forward and said she looked forward to answering questions. She recognized that it can be emotional to talk about change regarding ones job and salary grade, and she hoped that everyone would keep questions to policy and procedures and avoid asking regarding individual cases. Her first goal was to capture some main issues that she was aware of as questions:

1. All Auburn University employees should have received individual packets and brochures at this time as they were sent out to major divisions on March 2, 2007. She recognizes that some people still haven’t received them and those people should ask their supervisors about that.
2. Why April 1 as the implementation date? To give senior administration the time to offer feedback, they were delayed in getting information out, but they hope to get things confirmed in time to make changes coincide with the budget process and downloaded into Banner to create budget workbooks.
3. Appeals Process: Anyone can file an appeal without approval from a supervisor. However, it must go through the correct channels, which means supervisors will see the appeal. Dr. John Hix, an experienced compensation professional will be facilitating the appeals process along with two appeals committees who will be trained Auburn University employees. Human Resources will not be a part of the appeals process beyond that. The committees will be making the recommendations to senior administration. She encouraged people to visit the website for more questions.
4. If you feel you need more time to make an appeal, they do encourage you to complete it. However, in an attempt to not drag out the process, they have set the April 30, 2007 deadline to expedite the process. They provided the packets to the divisions so that employees should have had since before Spring Break to review the information. The forms are available on-line and pretty basic.
5. Job Family Level Assignments: It is true that there is no appeal for Job Family assignments. She recognized that some people have never been in a family before or others are moving to a family that has a different number of levels. To determine where people would go, they examined salaries relative to midpoint and if the family has the same number of levels, you would be moved to the same level. They wanted to treat people similarly and fairly using an objective method of moving people and units will work through any problems. They have gotten a lot of questions on this area and are still working through problems and are discussing adding appeals for this area.
6. Job Family Promotions: These are in consideration. Promotions were submitted in March. Promotions were not known at the time they generated the letters and will be considered for acceptance in October.
7. Why they took the job descriptions off the website: They continue to receive feedback about changes needed from senior administration and they were concerned about confusion it would cause if people were reading descriptions in trying to write their appeals. However, the goal is to have the descriptions back on the website later this week. They are also experiencing data base problems.
8. Why the initial appeals form changed: The original form talked about appealing the title and to list the best fit to your job. That was not their intent and they didn’t want it to be a content change but a better title for what you do. She reiterated again that the job descriptions are not meant to be specific to you unless you are the only person performing that job on-campus. Their goal is to capture the grasp of what you do, generally.
9. Extension: They have extended the deadline for appealing if you are moving from exempt to non-exempt. Moving people in this manner was based on Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) and overtime issues. The University will be penalized if this is not done correctly and criteria to consider are laid out very specifically.
10. FLSA Appeal: Those who are affected by a move determined by FLSA cannot appeal unless the description doesn’t fully grasp what you do and they have until May 1 to make that appeal. Also, those affected by this change will not be changed in payroll until the appeal has been reviewed and a decision has been made.

Lastly, she addressed questions written on cards: She shared that they read all job descriptions that were submitted by employees and reduced the number of job titles overall at the University.

Altamese Stroud-Hill from Education asked what the Job Family represents since not all jobs fall into Job Families. Ms. Hammond stressed that they looked at the market for jobs and how many levels should exist for competencies. For example, engineering ranges from entry level to well-seasoned professionals so that Family has six levels. Some only have three levels. Ms. Hammond addressed the question about growth potential for a person not in a Job Family by sharing that they must evaluate goals for their own career path and potentially look at other jobs if pursuing advancement.

Marylyn Johnson, College of Engineering, asked how it works that you can appeal without supervisor’s approval yet it has to go through that supervisor in the process. Ms. Hammond said that they do get to comment on the appeal form, but it still continues on even if they do not agree.

Mike Freeman, Environmental Programs, said there was a problem getting packets out and how do you use a process that isn’t working? Mr. Gerards said that you should go ask for your packet if you haven’t received it or go to Human Resources to get someone to intervene on your behalf.

Kurt Kreamer, Environmental Programs, How do you get it around supervisor? Ms. Hammond said to come to us or get it to them without the signature.

April Staton, Pharmacy, asked when they expected the process to be completed. Ms. Hammond said they do not have a fixed date because they are unsure of the number of appeals they will receive…mid June being the goal. Mr. Gerards shared that they will send out notification of receipt of appeals with that suggestion given.

Linda Freeman asked if the appeals committee would make the final decision, and Ms. Hammond said the committee will make the final recommendation with senior administrators having the final decision. There is a list of committee members available in the HR office. There is one committee to evaluate administrative support jobs and another for all other positions.

Julie Nolen, Development, asked if those individuals will be denied merit raises if they are near the cap of their Job Family. She was reassured that senior administrators do not wish to go that way and will not be denied merit raises.

Leslie ??????? asked if any new positions will be created with new titles. Ms. Hammond told her that yes, if they find that a person is truly not a fit to any of the created titles, they will do that. She said that this is a dynamic process. Mr. Gerards shared that often people are not as “unique” as they assume they are in their position and they actually do indeed fall into a Family.

Mary Lou Smith, Agriculture Fisheries, asked what they meant by “volume” and how that effected decisions. It was explained that it didn’t matter how much volume you dealt with (employees) in your position but the complexity of the tasks you completed.

Billy Earle, College of Agriculture asked a series of questions, one of which addressed how many individuals were actually interviewed because he doesn’t feel that details have been considered. Ms. Hammond shared that they did not do focus groups and went to “subject experts”

Maria wrapped things up letting the Assembly know that members have been busy this month planning the orientation for new representatives. She asked everyone to introduce themselves, and everyone did, sharing their name, place of employment and place that they represent. She noted that meetings will change to Wednesdays at 1 p.m. and reminded everyone that dates are listed on the website through March 2008.

Reports

Drew Burgering reminded everyone that changes to the constitution were approved in January and that we are still waiting for Dr. Richardson’s stamp of approval. Beth Weed, Dr. Richardson’s assistant, says that the consulting policy is still on his desk. The consulting policy is still with Lynn Hammond, it still needs to go through Don Large and to the president. Drew assumes it will also be viewed by University legal counsel. Ms. Hammond said the cover letter was vague and Mr. Burgering will meet with her next week to clarify how many days are being requested by the consulting policy.

New Business

Resolution of thanks for Dr. Richardson : April Staton supported that we should do something and it was discussed whether a resolution or letter should be presented. Kirsten Perkins made a motion that we write a thank you letter. April Staton seconded the motion, and it was passed unanimously. Maria Folmar will write a letter and send a draft to the executive committee for review.

Letter of welcome to Dr. Gogue : Maria Folmar led the discussion of what we should do, and if we should invite him to a specific A&P meeting or not. Greg Ruff motioned that we write a letter. Seth Humphrey seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously.

Proposed Retreat for Assembly Representatives : Maria Folmar shared that the retreat would be an opportunity for members to get to know each other and for us to set priorities for the upcoming year. It would be a half day with a catered lunch and an afternoon session. April Staton motioned that we have a retreat. Jane Hoehaver seconded the motion, and it passed unanimously. The planning committee will be led by April Staton, and Chris O’Gwynn, Teresa Logiotatos, and Todd Storey will serve on the committee. They will look at June dates.

Membership Directory : Todd Storey shared that we will create a membership directory with pictures to include name, place, where you work, and it will be placed on the A&P website. Either provide an electronic picture to Katie Mantooth or ask David Hennessey to come take a picture. Please get this to Katie within two weeks. It will be put together before the June retreat.

is to be a brief five minute presentation. We will do two places at a time, and she will provide a list of questions to cover. She will model this for us at the next meeting.

A&P Survey of Member Priorities : Maria Folmar mentioned that she would like to discuss creating a survey to provide our needs to the new president. This discussion will carry over to the June meeting.

Open Forum

Altamese Stroud-Hill volunteered to make table toppers to help people recognize each other by name.

Teresa Logiotatos asked about A&P members who have been moved to staff and how it will affect committees. She requested that those members be able to complete their terms through September. This will be discussed further in the executive committee.

Reminder that next meeting will be June 20, 2007 at 1 p.m. in the Broun Hall Auditorium, #238. Dr. Richardson has been invited, and it is requested that all A&P Assembly members sit on the first two rows.

Adjourn
Meeting was adjourned at 4:04 p.m.

Katie Mantooth, Secretary