Return to Table of ContentsOne of several checkpoints built into the process of restructuring the Indiana University job classification and compensation system was an appeals procedure.
After the Classification Evaluation Committee reviewed the Position Analysis Questionnaires (PAQs) completed by employees, individual positions were slotted into jobs. Staff members were then notified of the committee's decisions.
Anyone who disagreed with the results was invited to file an appeal.
Approximately 27 percent, or 450 employees, requested that their positions be reexamined.
Currently, the Appeals Committee is in the process of doing so. By the first week of November, those who made an appeal will receive a letter informing them of a final decision.
Many of the appeals to date have been the result of getting used to new terminology which, admittedly, is difficult to explain, says Andy Heck, assistant vice president for human resources at IU.
"Some of the appeals have been based upon changing a position title," he says. "Someone may have been called a 'senior secretary' before and now we're calling them an 'administrative secretary.'"
Here's another example of terminology confusion.
Along with information regarding new classifications, each employee received a "job specification." According to this system, a job specification is a written document which defines the primary purpose and key duties and responsibilities of similar positions. It provides very basic information and is not a detailed inventory of every task an individual performs.
Because the job specification is limited to key duties, many employees felt that much of what they did was left out and requested that their position classification be reconsidered.
The deadline for all appeals was Friday, July 12, 1996, and no further appeals can be requested.
Employees should keep in mind that in the past it was common practice for reclassifications to be requested in order for employees to receive a pay increase. In fact, Human Resources received over 500 requests for reclassification in the year before this restructuring project began.
The new pay delivery system, however, is more flexible and will allow employees to move within their established ranges.
There will still be a position reevaluation process to handle situations in which a position is significantly revised, as it might be in a departmental reorganization.