U. freezes employees' pay scales

The University's Human Resources Division announced it will not increase the salary ranges for weekly and monthly paid staff members this year. Effective February 1, A-1 and A-3 salary scales for the 1994 calendar year were frozen at 1993 levels. Compensation Manager Bradley Williams said even though the pay ranges have not changed this year, certain employees might see pay increases. University staff members earning a salary below the minimum cut-off for their pay grade will be bumped up to the minimum salary, Williams said. Williams said the ranges did not increase this year because they are competitive enough at last year's levels. The Division of Human Resources makes changes in the salary scales based on surveys of local employment markets, Williams said. "The pay ranges are not budget-driven," he said. "We felt our pay structure remained competitive with are markets where it was." The lack of scale increases is somewhat unprecedented, however. "This is the first time in the five years I've been here that there has been no increase in the ranges," Williams said. Salary scales for A-1 staffers, which largely consist of junior administrators, are divided into 12 pay grades. Currently, A-1 staffers can earn between $19,700 and $77,700. The A-3 scales, which apply to weekly paid support staff, are divided into 13 grades whose minimum annual salary is $11,400. This corresponds to $6.26 per hour. Under the current salary ranges, the most an A-3 staff member can earn is $22.09 an hour, or $40,200 a year. In 1993, the ranges for both A-1's and A-3's were increased by 3.75 percent over the 1992 levels. The staff scales do not apply to faculty members, Williams said. Faculty pay scales are determined separately by the Office of the Provost. Williams said pay increases are slowing down nationally, blaming the stall on a sluggish economy. "Everything just seems slower and flatter everywhere," he said. Betsy Warner, compensation manager for Brown University, said it is not unusual for the salary ranges to remain unchanged from year to year. Last year Brown raised its scales 1.5 percent, Warner said. "But two years before that, we didn't change them at all," she added. Except for those staff members whose salaries fall below range minimums, Williams said it is important to note that even when salary scales increase, employees' salaries remain the same. Merit-based pay raises occur at the end of each fiscal year. But, the new salary must remain within the job's pay range. Williams said he does not expect there to be any adverse effects from the failure to increase the pay ranges. "We felt we could live with no increases," Williams said. "And we still seem to have no trouble recruiting the best employees."