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Did we goof?
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Did we goof?
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We are HR for a 10,000+ employee reserach university in the South (no union aspects). I think our university may have goofed in a big way. Last year, due to publicized state budget cuts of more than 2
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Forums » Topic Forums » Legal Forum » Did we goof?
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Did we goof?
posted at 2/8/2010 4:06 AM EST
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Posts: 1
First: 2/8/2010 Last: 2/8/2010 |
We are HR for a 10,000+ employee reserach university in the South (no union aspects). I think our university may have goofed in a big way. Last year, due to publicized state budget cuts of more than 27%, we told all faculty and staff that NO RAISES would be given to anyone, no matter what. Many faculty substantially exceeded expectations on performance reviews and this has always been tied to large raises. Due to cuts, these were not honored. Also, we furloughed many people who frankly could not afford it for 4 months, skipping over furloughing those who made almost 500K annually. This put a major dent in morale as a few people lost their homes due to this. It is all bad...what can I say? It was not our decision, but we fielded the queries and prsented a unified front to the faculty/staff.
Now, in our intranet rumor mill, someone in finance posted that WE DID give raises in the last fiscal year to many faculty and staff and that these raises would not be repeated this year due to additional 10% cuts. This is a direct contradiction from what we were told and what were told to tell faculty and staff. Finance is standing by their posting. So, I have had 20 calls in the last hour asking me how this was possible, if this was a lie, etc. In short, we have no direction on how to handle this and I am not sure what to tell our employees. I wanted an outside opinion. I am afraid that the info I get on this end is flat wrong. It won't change what I do or say (which will as always be what I am told to do and say, necessarily, but it will help me process what is happening and decide if I want to particpate in what I am beginning to feel is fraud of some sort, or at best, lying to many, many people. |
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Did we goof?
posted at 2/8/2010 6:15 AM EST
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Posts: 464
First: 6/30/2004 Last: 11/22/2010 |
These questions should be forwarded to the Agency senior management team to handle. None of us can know enough detail about all of this to give you much in the way of meaningful advice.
Budget cuts, furloughs and other deep cuts are impacting most of our educational systems across the counrty. There will be lots of fall-out, misinformation and the like along the way as higher education deals with the harsh reality of major change in the their respective business models. |
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Did we goof?
posted at 2/8/2010 6:18 AM EST
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Posts: 1771
First: 10/24/2002 Last: 9/14/2011 |
It is not illegal to say you won't give anyone raises, and then give raises to some people, as long as the decision about to whom raises will/will not be given isn't based on things like race, gender, religion or disability, etc.
That said, I have a few concerns with what's happened here: 1. How can people's pay be increased without HR knowing about it? 2. Why does Finance think it can get away with "ratting out" the company like this? If it was up to me, I'd fire the person who posted that information, whether the information is true or not true. |
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Did we goof?
posted at 2/8/2010 6:23 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
I would first try to figure out which statement is the real truth. And then the highest person in HR should be having a meeting with the highest person in Finance to see how this should be solved.
Being from a company whose fiscal year is different from a calendar year and also our performance review calendar, is it possible that the both positions are correct? That in the prior fiscal yr increases were given, but that is not the same time period you referenced to employees? Also wouldn't HR have to know if increases were given (for benefits purposes alone)? That said, I can see where you have a major morale and communication issue. It should not be solved by the person fielding the calls....If you were my employee, I would give you a canned response at this point such as " We understand that there have been contradictory statements issued. We are looking into both statements and will communicate more information once our findings are complete." Just how I would attack the issue at hand. |
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Did we goof?
posted at 2/8/2010 6:25 AM EST
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Posts: 2146
First: 2/15/2006 Last: 9/14/2011 |
(that's what happens when I take too long to submit my response! Hadn't read the others when I did! *Ã*)
If you didn't want to promise to communicate the findings, you could just say the matter is being looked at carefully and no other information is available at this time. |
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