University of California, Merced
PA-9: Employee Compensation

The University of California System is subject to the State of California Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) that regulates labor relations between the University of California, its employees, and the labor organizations that represent those employees. The complete text of the law is available on the web at http://www.perb.ca.gov/laws/HEERA.aspx. The Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) is a quasi-judicial administrative agency that is charged with administering the eight collective bargaining statues covering California public employees and conducts representation elections and investigates and makes decisions regarding unfair labor practice charges filed by employees, labor organizations and the university. Please visit http://www.perb.ca.gov/FAQ.aspx#PerbsJuristiction1 for more details on the Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) and http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/labor/faq.html#2_1 on the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act (HEERA) Additionally, HERRA law protects employees from reprisals, discrimination, coercion or interference with their exercise of HEERA rights, including the right to form, join and participate in the activities of employee organizations of their own choosing for the purpose of representation on all matters of employer-employee relations and for the purpose of meeting and conferring over those matters. Employees also have the right to refuse to join employee organizations or to participate in the activities of these organizations. Employees cannot, however, refuse to pay an agency fee (fair share) in lieu of paying membership dues. Employees who are managerial or confidential within the meaning of HEERA, and some student employees, are excluded from the law's coverage. Supervisory employees have some rights to union representation under HEERA; however, the law prohibits collective bargaining of supervisors' terms and conditions of employment. About Collective Bargaining in the University of California System HEERA gives employees the right to form, join and participate in the activities of employee organizations for the purpose of union representation on matters governing the employer-employee relationship. Employees have the right to refuse to join a union or engage in union activities. However, employees in a recognized bargaining unit who do not want to join the union are still required to pay the “agency fees,” which are discussed in the FAQ’s “Agency Fee” section. There are fourteen collective bargaining units (CBU) on the UC Merced campus. The current contract for each bargaining unit is available on UCnet http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/labor/bargaining-units/index.html. HEERA prohibits the University from negotiating directly with represented employees ("direct dealing") or consulting with any academic, professional or staff advisory group on any matter within the scope of representation. The Negotiation Process HEERA requires that in negotiating contracts the parties engage in good faith negotiations to try to resolve their differences and to attempt to achieve a signed contract. In the event the parties cannot reach agreement, HEERA provides intervention through an impasse procedure. This procedure includes mediation and fact-finding. If mediation fails, the mediator can elevate the issues to fact-finding. In the fact-finding process, the parties present their respective positions on the unresolved issues that are designated by law as mandatory subjects of bargaining to a three-member fact-finding panel. The panel issues recommendations for resolving the differences between the parties. At the conclusion of fact-finding, if the parties cannot reach agreement using the fact-finder's recommendations the recommendations become available to the public.

MIT’s Living Wage Calculator was used to identify the City of Merced living wage, which is $9.99. The minimum wage standard for the state of California increased to $10.00/hour in 2016. All faculty, staff, and graduate students earn above MIT living wage of $9.99. MIT Living Wage Calculator http://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/32900

October 1, 2015 the UC system implemented the new Fair Wage/Fair Work plan which will increase the minimum wage to $15 per hour over the course of the three years for UC employees hired to work at least 20 hours a week. The plan affects any UC employee currently hired to work at least 20 hours a week and earning less than the newly created UC minimum wage. It also affects anyone working for a third-party with whom UC contracts for services, for any new contract or contract renewal beginning October 1, 2015. The Fair Wage/Fair Work plan will take effect beginning this October 2015, and minimum hourly pay will increase in phases as follows: • At least $13/hour beginning October 1, 2015 • At least $14/hour beginning October 1, 2016 • At least $15/hour beginning October 1, 2017 Please refer to the UCnet page. http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/fairwage/faq.html#what Additionally, UC Merced Chancellor Leland approved the adoption of a three-year strategy for implementing a new compensation policy for UC Merced. It is designed to: 1. Attract and retain talent by increasing the average range of market percentile for UC non-represented staff from the current 31% to at least 45%; 2. Achieve greater fairness at UC Merced by addressing salary inequities across the campus within similar job functions and between recent and early hires; and 3. Invest in job functions most critical for achieving campus priorities for Project 2020. Specifically, the Chancellor has approved an $800,000 down payment for FY 2014-15, which will serve to address the grossest inequities in a range of job functions that senior leadership has determined most critical to achieving UC Merced’s goals by 2020 In addition, full--time employees also receive: Medical Insurance Dental Insurance Vision A full list of benefits can be found here: http://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/compensation-and-benefits/index.html

For part-time employees that meet the criteria of working at least 20 hours per week, the Fair Wage/Fair Work plan will take effect beginning this October 2015, and minimum hourly pay will be as follows: • At least $13/hour beginning October 1, 2015 • At least $14/hour beginning October 1, 2016 • At least $15/hour beginning October 1, 2017 Otherwise, part-time employees who average less than 20 hours per week, CA Minimum Wage rates apply as follows. Current California State Minimum Wage January 1, 2016 = $10.00/hour

For part-time employees that meet the criteria of working at least 20 hours per week, the Fair Wage/Fair Work plan will take effect beginning this October 2015, and minimum hourly pay will be as follows: • At least $13/hour beginning October 1, 2015 • At least $14/hour beginning October 1, 2016 • At least $15/hour beginning October 1, 2017 Otherwise, part-time employees who average less than 20 hours per week, CA Minimum Wage rates apply as follows. Current California State Minimum Wage January 1, 2016 = $10.00/hour

The lowest paid faculty at UC Merced are the non-senate lectures. Lectures and graduate students are each represented by a union, therefore the compensation and benefits are governed by the union contract. At UC Merced these two appointee groups are paid based on academic-year (nine-month) salary scales/ranges. The salary scales/ranges are used for all ten campuses and issued by Academic Personnel and Program, Office of the President, at the direction of the President. General range adjustments to all of the scales are determined through collective bargaining negotiations. The referenced scales are published online at http://www.ucop.edu/academic-personnel-programs/compensation/2015-16-academic-salary-scales.html. The majority of Lecturers are hired at the minimum rate on the scale, with incremental increases in accordance with the collective bargaining agreement. While specifics of the benefit packages for these two groups is also negotiated, basically the academic appointee benefits package depends on the length of the individual’s appointment, the appointment type, and the appointment percentage (number of hours to be worked).

California minimum wage rates apply to undergraduate student assistant employees. Current California State Minimum Wage January 1, 2016 = $10.00/hour