Dear colleague,
Our raise for this year showed up in our paychecks this week—but the Rutgers administration made an absolute mess of it, shortchanging some of our colleagues. The problems are especially bad for adjunct lecturers.
We’ve spent the last two days demanding answers from University Human Resources and trying to figure out what’s going on. The head of UHR has acknowledged the problems and promised a message would be sent out, but so far, nothing has. We will continue pressing UHR to fix problems with retro pay and communicating with you about their progress and any information you should know.
You should check this week’s pay in your my.rutgers.edu portal. We’ll explain what to look for, but first, some background: Thanks to our contract campaign and strike, we won a 5 percent across-the-board salary increase for postdocs in this first year of the new contract, and an increase in the minimum postdoc salary to $52,500. Because that raise is retroactive to July 1 of last year, we’re getting retro pay this week.
To check that you got the right amount, multiply your annual salary in previous paychecks (before taxes and deductions) by 1.05—that’s your increased base salary for 2022–23 (if the amount is less than $52,500, you’ll be raised to the new minimum). Divide your increased salary by 261 (the number of working days in a calendar year). Multiply that amount by 236 (the number of working days that elapsed before our raises were paid). You should see that amount included in your check (or paid in a separate check) as your retroactive raise back to July 1.
In this and every remaining paycheck through June 30, your gross pay will be higher than it was throughout this year, reflecting this year’s raise. And on July 1, your base salary (including the 5 percent raise) will increase by 8.5 percent across the board, with the minimum postdoc salary increasing to $56,963.
Note: If you had an academic year appointment, your salary increase and retro pay will be correspondingly less. If you weren’t on the payroll as a postdoc as of June 30 of last year, you won’t receive the 5 percent salary increase for this year—unless your annual salary is less than the $52,500 minimum, in which case you’ll be raised to the minimum and receive retroactive pay back to July 1. All postdocs will get the 8.5 percent raise for next year starting on July 1.
Please check your paycheck and make sure you see the additional pay for the retroactive raise. If you don’t see it or have any questions, email us at aaup@rutgersaaup.org.
We’re proud of the gains we made in this new contract, especially the significant pay increases and additional job security for our most vulnerable and lowest-paid colleagues. Thank you for everything you did during our strike and contract campaign to win a better Rutgers.
But with their retro pay mess, the administration is showing once again why we will have to stay mobilized and ready to fight to defend our contract victories.
In solidarity,
Andrés and Becky
Andrés Morera, Vice President for Postdoctoral Associates, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
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