A faculty member who wishes to file a salary equity grievance shall notify the supervisor (Department Chair or Program Director) in writing of his or her grievance and the basis for a claim of inequity. A valid grievance must satisfy the following criteria:
Grievances must be based on total salary, not annual raises.
The grievance must be based on a comparison between the salary of the grievant and the salaries of all other faculty members of comparable career merit and experience level in the same unit whose salaries are determined within the unit.
A grievant should compare his or her salary to the unit as a whole. A higher salary paid to one faculty member may not form the basis of a grievance, if the grievant is equitably paid in comparison to most other faculty members in the unit with comparable career merit and experience level. Nothing in this paragraph, however, should be interpreted as barring a grievance based on evidence of racial or gender bias within the unit.
A difference in salaries between two faculty members in the same unit may not, in and of itself, form the basis for a grievance, even if the two faculty members have been working in the unit for the same number of years.
The grievance may not be based on a comparison with faculty members in other units, unless other units are needed to provide a sufficient pool for comparison purposes and these other units are in fields similar to that of the faculty member as approved by the Dean.
The Department Chair (or Program Director) will develop a response to the grievance. The response must be in writing and include an explanation of the decision on whether or not the grievance is justified and a recommendation to the Dean on a salary adjustment, if any.
Should the faculty member not be satisfied with the response of the Department, a memo summarizing the prior steps and the rationale for continued disagreement should be submitted to the Dean. The Dean and the Associate Dean for Faculty Advancement will work together to develop a response. The response must be in writing and include an explanation of the decision on whether or not the grievance is justified and a recommendation for resolution.
The Salary Equity Evaluation System process is applicable only to career-merit salary grievances, and grievances may not be made solely on an annual raise or merit evaluation (see the following section for appeals of annual evaluations).
The College shall maintain a salary equity electronic file that includes a copy of the campus policy, a copy of the College’s procedures for determining salaries, a copy of the College’s salary grievance procedure, the most recent college regression analysis of career merit and experience level, and career merit information (average of five most recent annual merit ratings, and years since PhD degree) for each faculty member. Data in the file pertaining to 5 faculty in the same department or primary unit are to be made available for inspection to any faculty member in the College upon request.
