Dear Colleagues,
As you may be aware, the university has now distributed 2021 discretionary salary increases and salary compression adjustments to all eligible UUP – represented employees. The roster outlining who received these payments and the amount that each employee received can be found at:
The roster includes separate columns reflecting the amount each individual received for DSI and/or salary compression adjustments.
The column titled “DSI Amount” reflects the amount of DSI received.
The column titled “Compression Amount” reflects the amount which eligible individuals received to continue remediating salary compression identified in the 2020 salary compression analysis.
Please note the following:
- The university was not able to fully remediate the amount of identified compression.
- Who received compression adjustments and/or the amounts of the adjustment each eligible employee received for 2021 may well be different than for 2020. This can be due to a number of factors including such things as:
- certain negotiated changes in how the 2021 compression analyses were conducted,
- the composition of the campus workforce may have changed due to retirements, resignations, promotions, new hires, etc. impacting how individual employee’ salaries compare to the salaries of other current co-workers, and
- the market salary rates used in the analysis have changed since last year.
- While there are other types of salary “equity”, the adjustments reflected here address salary compression and/or inversion identified by the university’s compression analysis. Salary compression exists when there is little or no difference in pay between that received by senior employees and less senior co-workers with similar job functions. Salary inversion exists when less senior employees receive salaries that are greater than more senior co-workers. Salary compression/inversion is caused by a combination of factors including market forces which disproportionately impact starting salaries and insufficient pay increases tied to promotion and years of service.
If you have a question regarding either the Compression or Discretionary award, you are first asked to contact the university Human Resources Department at: Ub-discretionary@buffalo.edu
Once again, as we did in 2019 and 2020, an electronic Salary Compression Intake Form to gather information from members who have questions or concerns related to the 2021 salary compression adjustments has been developed. As was the case in 2019 and 2020, this intake form should not be used in lieu of directing questions to the university’s Human Resources Department with questions about your specific situation and the data points that were used for them in the campus analysis. Information received from this intake form will be used to assist UUP in identifying issues that may require review and discussion with SUNY at both the campus and state levels.
2021 UUP Salary Compression Intake Form: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/UUPSalaryCompression
I encourage you to communicate with UUP Central through this intake form as soon as possible. They will begin analyzing all information as it comes in.
Information collected through this process will be viewed at the chapter and state levels of UUP. UUP Central will use it to address concerns that need immediate attention. They also will use this information to inform the next round of discussions with the State over possible refinements or adjustments to the 2022 salary compression analysis. Modifications to the process and methodology adopted in the third round were a direct result of the information members provided after the first and second round of salary compression adjustments.
In Solidarity,
Ken Kern
Chapter President
UUP Buffalo Center