Twenty-two NMU faculty members will have some extra money this holiday season thanks to work done by members of the NMU-AAUP Executive Committee. According to NMU-AAUP Data Analyst Brandon Canfield, the total amount of salary corrections to date, is $215,360.
The compensation errors were discovered when the NMU-AAUP began investigating salaries in response to a gender discrimination lawsuit in early 2019. While the analysis did not show any clear evidence of across-the-board gender discrimination, it did reveal improper application of the four specific requirements for determining salary compensation in Section 9.1.1.2 of the Master Agreement. “It occurred to me to look into whether the 9.1.1.2 formula was being applied uniformly. It quickly became clear that it was not, and I regret not discovering these errors sooner,” said Canfield. He went on to say that provisions are now in place to prevent such oversights from occurring in the future.
According to Canfield, two of the faculty members affected were hired in the middle of the contract period, and the salary errors were recognized by the administration without objection in mid-June of 2019.
Twelve of the affected faculty members accepted positions in 2015 prior to the signing of the current contract. As a result, they were provided employment agreements with salaries not in compliance with the Master Agreement that was in effect when their employment officially began for the F15 semester. The administration objected to correcting these salaries, maintaining that salaries were offered and accepted by the faculty, superseding the updated Master Agreement provisions. Counsel for NMU-AAUP provided overwhelming precedence that this argument had no standing and a violation of the MA existed. The administration conceded and signed an MOU to correct these salaries at the end of June 2019.
Once acknowledgement was made that the twelve salaries mentioned above were in error, it also meant that eight other faculty members in the same departments with identical CIP codes had incorrect starting salaries. The administration eventually signed a modified MOU to include correction of these faculty salaries midway into the F19 semester, six months after NMU-AAUP Contract Officer Lesley Putman had presented the issue to the administration.
Dr. Sarah Mittlefehldt, an associate professor in Earth Environmental and Geogrpahical Sciences, was one of the faculty members to receive a salary adjustment. “Before I came to NMU, I was teaching at a small liberal arts college that did not have a union. The AAUP was a major factor in my family’s decision to move to Marquette. We became direct beneficiaries of the union’s hard work last year when union members discovered salary discrepancies for faculty hired in 2015. Before I was even aware that there was a problem, my union colleagues had not only identified the problem, but they had already worked to solve it. My family and I are exceedingly grateful to the AAUP and the culture of solidarity that the union helps to facilitate,” said Mittlefehldt.
All retroactive corrections included salary and fringe (i.e. retirement contributions), and the numbers above only reflect salary corrections. The initial salary violations ranged from approximately $700 to $6500 below the respective correct salaries according to 9.1.1.2.
Canfield says he is happy to be a part of correcting these errors and recovering the funds due to these faculty members. “We should all be proud of the strength of our union, and that we are able to support a suite of Executive Officers who are able to perform their various duties in the service of all of us,” said Canfield.
Contract Officer Gabe Logan echoed Canfield’s sentiments. “It was a good catch on Brandon’s part. Brandon, Lesley and Brent put a lot of hours in on that, and it shows the power of the union. The union has duties beyond academic freedom and job security, we are also looking out for people’s financial well being and workplace environment issues,” said Logan.