The Office of Human Resources permanently closed the reception desk as of Monday, April 1, 2024. After reviewing the volume of in-person visitors seeking help from those working in the reception area, it was clear that OHR has very few job seekers or employees who drop into the office for services. Due to this reason, we believe our administration can continue to serve our OHR and campus community well without a dedicated staff person in the reception area. 

What this means for employees and visitors: 

• Employees with scheduled appointments with a benefits counselor must ring the doorbell and someone will let them in. As a reminder, in-person appointments are available on select Thursdays.
• Employees with paperwork to drop off can ring the doorbell to hand the material to a person. If it is after hours, or on a Friday, there will be a basket on the wall (by the doorbell) with envelopes so they can place the form/document into an envelope and slide it under the door.
• Anyone with human resources questions can call or email the OHR Contact Center (612-624-8647 or 800-756-2363 or ohr@umn.edu).
• Anyone needing OHR administrative support must email ohradmin@umn.edu, which is checked regularly throughout the day.

There have been several questions asked about the implications of the Notice of Maintenance of Status Quo order as it pertains to new grad assistant appointments, reappointments, and fellowships. In all cases, the order to not change wages, hours, and all existing conditions of employment IS NOT implicated so long as appointments, reappointments, and fellowships were previously planned and are being established and communicated as part of normal unit practices.

For example, a unit who normally reappoints TA's during the summer can proceed with these reappointments. Where the order WILL BE implicated will be in situations where a unit wants to change, for example, wages due to equity or retention concern. For now, these types of wage changes will not be permissible pursuant to the order. The rule of thumb should be -- proceed with changes to wages, hours, and conditions of employment if there is standard practice to do so and where it's supported by existing University/College practice. If there isn't a standard practice, you'll likely be unable to make changes until the order is lifted. Please work directly with your ELR Consultant if you have any questions. 

AFSCME, Civil Service, and Teamsters seniority rosters have been updated and can be found by following this path on the OHR website: Employees> Current Employees > Employee Relations > Seniority Rosters.

The University of Minnesota invites you to voluntarily update your race, ethnicity, disability, and protected veteran status at any time. 

As a federal contractor, the University is required to take affirmative action to ensure that all individuals have an equal opportunity for employment regardless of race, ethnicity, disability, or protected veteran status.  Collecting this information will allow the University to assess and improve affirmative action efforts and comply with government reporting requirements.

To make updates, click on the “My Info” tab in MyU.  To update race or ethnicity, then click on “Ethnicity.”  To update disability or protected veteran status, click on the “More Personal Information” link.

The University is committed to providing reasonable workplace accommodations to employees with disabilities.  To learn about requesting a workplace accommodation at the University, please contact the Disability Resource Center at drc@umn.edu or your local campus disability resources office.

The Graduate Labor Union-United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (GLU-UE) ratified their first collective bargaining agreement (CBA) with the University on December 6, 2024. 

The CBA provides graduate assistants a new $27 per hour minimum wage, guaranteed annual wage increases, student fee support, paid personal days, expanded medical and dental coverage for dependents, and other workplace protections.

The three-year CBA is the result of more than a year of negotiations. GLU-UE represents 4,500 graduate assistants on the Twin Cities and Duluth campuses. 

Read more about the next steps on the OHR website.