At the request of the Graduate School, we are sharing a new and free resource available to recruit exceptional candidates for your open postdoc positions. The University of Minnesota has joined a coalition of postdoc offices from 17 institutions to create the Postdoc Opportunities Board to promote postdoc recruitment. This email will be sent out to faculty who supervise postdocs, and research associate deans. Please direct your questions to the Graduate School. 

Thursday, February 22, 2024, 10:00–11:00

If an employee is interested in attending U of M Day at the Capitol, the supervisor would need to support it, and the employee will need to take vacation time to attend (whether exempt or non-exempt). Additionally, employees are encouraged to sign up to be a U of M advocate.

As a reminder, the new Minn. Stat. Sec. 179A.07, Subd. 9 law allows unions to have in-person access to new employees in the bargaining unit for 30 minutes of paid time within 30 days of starting employment. If new employee orientations are being held, the applicable union(s) must be notified by local HR at least 10 days in advance. Please work with the unions to ensure compliance with this new requirement which apply to all unions at the University, including LELS, 1-M, 1-B, IBEW, Trades Council(s), Teamsters, AFSCME, UEA-D, UEA-C, and GLU-UE. 

The following resources are available to the HR community to help ensure compliance with the new law:   

• Link to List of Union Representatives  (Note: there is a new email address for GLU-UE outreach.)  
• Reporting Tools and New Employee Orientation Meetings
• Guide to New Employee Orientation
• Minn. Stat. Sec. 179A.07, Subd. 9

We recently presented to the Graduate Program Coordinators regarding appointment letters. Please see below for the points covered. You may copy the reminder below and disseminate it to applicable staff who are involved in GA appointment letters. 

As a reminder, campus, college, or units should not engage in the following:
 

• Unilaterally change GA terms and conditions of employment, including compensation because that is a subject of bargaining. 

• Engage in discussion with GAs regarding subjects of bargaining.

The following is language to incorporate into your appointment letters:
 

• The University is currently in collective bargaining with the graduate assistant union (GLU-UE) and compensation amounts are subject to change pending the outcomes of bargaining.

Relocation or lump sum payments need to involve unit human resources who will then email the request to pay GA relocation or lump sum payments to elr@umn.edu (as communicated in the November 10, 2023, ELR Connection). 

Additionally, as part of the maintenance of status quo, departments should not unilaterally change the substance of their appointment letters.  Appointment letters are a subject of bargaining.  

Once we have reached a tentative agreement with GLU-UE, Employee and Labor Relations will offer training on various contract provisions, including appointment letters.  For any questions, please contact Coy Hillstead, Sr. Labor Relations Consultant, OHR Employee and Labor Relations (chillste@umn.edu).  

Effective today, ELR Liaison Staci Darling will be the UReport Coordinator. In this role, she will review, assign and ensure UReports are completed in a timely manner. We will be rolling out a standard UReport process and timeline in the near future to all HR Leads. In the meantime, please make sure your HR staff who are involved in investigations complete ELR’s Investigation at the U training.

ELR Contact

We currently have a search underway to fill consultant positions. Until these vacancies are filled, HR Leads should use this chart to guide you in who to contact at ELR. Please keep in mind that ELR is not a call center. HR Business Partners, HR Specialists, and HR Consultants should always consult with their HR Leads. If needed, the HR Lead will reach out to the appropriate ELR team members for guidance. Thank you for your cooperation during this staffing transition. 

This is a reminder that employees whose positions are designated as “Essential” (pertaining to a University state of emergency) need to be informed of such status in writing. Below is an excerpt from the University policy that defines this requirement in greater detail.

Departments/units are responsible for identifying Essential positions and individuals who may be in back-up positions to those designated as Essential, and notifying these individuals of their role. Central administration, through the senior administrator, may also designate certain positions as Essential. The senior administrator for a campus, college, or administrative unit has the authority and responsibility to determine which employees are designated as Essential for particular types of emergency, and will inform such employees in writing. Any position may be designated as Essential at any point during a University State of Emergency, even if not designated Essential or alternate for an Essential position prior to the University State of Emergency, depending on the type of emergency. Employees may be designated as Essential on a situational basis, (e.g., in the event of an emergency) or for a defined period of time.

For questions or clarification, please contact ELR@umn.edu.

The University and the University Education Association (UEA) remain actively engaged in negotiations working towards a new collective bargaining agreement covering the represented faculty at Crookston and Duluth. The most recent round of negotiations happened last week with the next mediation session scheduled for March 18, 2024. 

A new Checklist for GA and Non-Service Fellowship Codes is now available to assist campuses, colleges, and units to use when distinguishing between GA and non-service fellowships, or similar non-service positions such as the 9584 Intern classification.

As of January 1, 2024, Minnesota employers, including the University of Minnesota, cannot ask about a job candidate's current salary or salary history per a law that passed during the 2023 legislative session. This applies to internal and external candidates, which means that it is also illegal to look up a candidate's salary in PeopleSoft. You may still ask a candidate's salary expectations. 

Learn more about this change, and view the full statute (see the pay history addition under Subd. 8).

Exceptions
For union position hires, the law will not be applicable to employees covered by a contract effective January 1, 2024, until a subsequent agreement is negotiated. The University also has rules on promotional increases for both union and non-union employees that reference an employee's current salary. We are working with the Minnesota Department of Human Rights on updating these, and we will let you know how to proceed with increases once we have more information.