Other Increases. Salary increases for other reasons may be granted at any time, subject to policy and approval requirements established by local units and the University. At a minimum, proposed increases must be discussed with and approved by the local personnel office responsible for the area. Job Classification Each clerical and technical position has been assigned a job title and classified to one of the ten salary grades in the job classification system (see grid in the Appendix). These assignments reflect judgments about the degree of skills, abilities and special training required to perform the job's duties and responsibilities, and the complexity and value of the job relative to others performed at the University. Effort required to perform the job and conditions under which an employee would regularly work are also considered. In addition, classification decisions need to consider and react to local market factors in order for Harvard to attract and retain qualified staff. Maintaining fair and equitable classifications of all jobs at Harvard is the objective of this process. Job Reclassification People and jobs are not static. They change constantly; sometimes gradually and sometimes rapidly. In order to keep up with these changes, job descriptions should be reviewed periodically and revised to reflect current responsibilities. Local managers are primarily responsible for ensuring that job classifications of individuals in their area remain fair and equitable and properly reflect the duties and responsibilities assigned to them as well as the skills and effort required to do their jobs. Whenever there have been substantive, measurable changes in a job's content and responsibilities, which cause the job to appear inappropriately classified, a reclassification review should be initiated. These reviews may be requested by a supervisor, a personnel officer or an employee. Regardless of who makes the request, it is important that the request be dealt with promptly and thoroughly. Ordinarily, the reclassification decision should take no longer than four weeks from the time it is submitted to a local personnel office. In cases where an employee has made the request, the personnel officer or supervisor should keep her or him informed of the review's status, including a general sense of when a decision can be expected. The University Joint Reclassification Committee, composed of equal representation from the Union and the University, will review and assist in the resolution of cases not settled at the local level. The joint team shall be the final arbiter of reclassification disputes not settled at the local level. No such disputes shall be settled except by consensus of the joint team and such decisions achieved by consensus shall be binding on all parties. The joint team may at its discretion alone utilize technical studies or mediation in reaching its consensus. The specialized joint team will also review and study the current reclassification application form, and the job titles, generic job descriptions, and assignments of job titles to salary grades in the job classification system, and suggest changes. Normally, a salary increase should be granted when a person is promoted or reclassified to a higher grade. The amount of the increase should reflect the employee's skills and experience in relation to those required for the position, and in relation to those of others who work in the unit. It should also reflect the difference in salary level of the old and new job. An increase or advancement to a higher grade will not affect the employee's eligibility for structure or progression increases. An individual employee may be required in the performance of a job to utilize significant, specialized skills, or a distinct body of knowledge wholly separate from and clearly exceeding the skills and knowledge required by the basic job classification and salary grade to which the staff member is assigned. For such an individual, a Specialist suffix may be attached to the assigned job classification. Examples of skills and responsibilities which would make a Specialist suffix appropriate are: • Technical skills, such as fluency in a foreign language, facility with a highly specialized computer program, or other areas requiring extensive technical training; • Application of group leader skills (overseeing work flow, scheduling and distributing workload; training less experienced staff, etc.), or otherwise playing a central role in group work processes. The Specialist suffix will be attached in the following circumstances and with the following understandings: A specialist classification will be one salary grade higher than that for the assigned basic classification. Documentation of requests for assignment of a Specialist suffix to a job shall be rigorous. All such cases must include completion of a Position Description Questionnaire (PDQ). Requests for Specialist classification must be approved by a senior officer of the staff member's school or department after which they will be forwarded to the University Joint Reclassification Committee (UJRC) for agreement of the UJRC. It is further agreed that any such reclassification of an employee will not serve as a basis for a claim on the part of any other individual for reclassification, and such reclassification determinations are not subject to the problem-solving process outlined in Article I.
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