For Immediate Release
Press Contact:
Michael Bailey l michaelbailey@uconnaaup.org l 860-487-0450
UConn Administration Diverted $1.15M from
Faculty Salary Equity Fund to Pay Cost of Fringe Benefits
UConn-AAUP Executive Committee calls for immediate action on salary equity fund
Storrs – Between 2020-2024, UConn administrators diverted $1.15 million from a fund that was designed for adjusting faculty base salaries and instead used that money to pay the cost of fringe benefits. UConn-AAUP – the union for UConn faculty, researchers, and athletics personnel – is calling for the UConn administration to take several immediate steps to rectify the situation, including restoration of $1.15 million to the fund.
Since at least 1981 the fund, which is administered according to the terms of the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) between the UConn Board of Trustees and UConn-AAUP, has existed in different forms in order to redress systemic salary inequities and to make competitive salary adjustments.
However, beginning in 2020, the UConn administration changed its long-standing practice and began to charge “fringe rates” on faculty base salary raises over multiple budget cycles. The cost of fringe benefits is calculated using rates that the University bases on the actual charges from the benefit programs administered by the State of Connecticut. The administration did not communicate this change to the union or to faculty who applied for salary adjustments.
Indeed, between 2020-2024, the administration charged fringe rates of between 34–51% on salary increases and paid those fringe benefit costs out of the $2.85 million that was set aside for equity adjustments, special achievement, and retention offers. The upshot is that $1.15 million (or just over 40%) of the pool that was intended to be applied to base faculty salary raises was instead used to pay for the cost of the fringe benefits. When questioned about this change in practice by UConn-AAUP leaders (who finally learned of it in May 2023 – long after the changes had been instituted), the administration insisted that nothing prohibited it from diverting the funds.
UConn-AAUP considers this unilateral, non-consensual change in the implementation of a contractually guaranteed fund that is intended in large part to redress systemic inequities a significant breach of trust and good faith on the part of the UConn administration. In addition to calling for meaningful protections for how the fund is administered moving forward, protections that would be expressly contained in the new CBA, UConn-AAUP is calling for the following actions:
- Full and public disclosure of all financial records related to the fund
- Immediate restoration of the $1.15 million to the fund
- Independent audit of all salary adjustments paid for by this fund in the past five years
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UConn-AAUP/AFT Local 6746 represents more than 2,500 teaching, research and coaching professionals at the University of Connecticut (UConn). UConn-AAUP has a strong tradition of safeguarding the principles of shared governance within the University and promoting UConn’s unique role as the flagship research University at the State Capitol. Learn more at the union’s website: uconnaaup.org