Dear colleague,
Our raise for this year is showing up in our paychecks this week—but the Rutgers administration made an absolute mess of it. The problems are especially outrageous for our adjunct colleagues.
We spent yesterday demanding answers from University Human Resources and trying to figure out what’s going on. Late in the day, the head of UHR acknowledged the problems and promised a message would be sent out this morning; so far, it has not been sent. We will continue pressing UHR to fix these problems and communicating with you about their progress and any information you should know.
Background: Thanks to our contract campaign and strike, we won significant salary increases for TAs and GAs. Because the raise is retroactive to September 1 of last year for academic-year (AY) appointments (and July 1 for calendar-year (CY) appointments), you should have received a second paycheck this week for the retro pay (or a single check combining the two amounts below). And don’t forget: you’ll also get an additional lump sum of $1,500 paid after July 1.
The calculation for most TAs and GAs should be simple, because almost everyone makes the same minimum salary for either an AY or CY appointment (if you were making more than the minimum, your retro pay will be different than the amounts shown below).
If you’re a TA or GA with an AY appointment, your minimum salary increased to $33,178 for this current year. You should have gotten an additional $2,668.53 (before taxes and deductions) in one of the two checks; that’s your retroactive raise back to September 1. You also should have gotten a regular biweekly paycheck that reflects the increased annual salary; your gross pay in this check should be $1,528.94.
You will get two more checks to take you to the end of the fiscal year—one for a full 10-day biweekly pay period and another half as large for the remaining five days in the academic year to June 30. That should bring you up to the full new minimum of $33,178 for the academic year. And you’ll also receive the one-time lump sum of $1,500 after July 1.
If you’re a TA or GA with a CY appointment, your minimum salary increased to $38,155 for this current year. You should have gotten an additional $3,757.92 (before taxes and deductions) in one of the two checks; that’s your retroactive raise back to July 1. You also should have gotten a regular biweekly paycheck that reflects the increased annual salary; your gross pay in this check should be for $1,461.88.
You’ll also get two more checks to take you to the end of the fiscal year—one for a full 10-day biweekly pay period and another half as large for the remaining five days in the calendar year to June 30 (if you have another calendar-year appointment for 2023–24, this amount will be combined with the first five workdays of that next appointment). That should bring you up to the full new minimum of $38,155 for your CY appointment. And you’ll also receive the one-time lump sum of $1,500 after July 1.
For some unexplained reason, management seems to be off by a small amount, one way or the other, for at least some of you. We will insist that UHR get the numbers right for everyone. But we want to concentrate on anyone whose checks are off by more than that. If your check is off by more than a couple of dollars from the amounts shown above, please fill out this form.
You may have other appointments and payments listed on your check. In particular, those of you who taught Winter Session may have gotten retro pay to bring you up to the per-credit minimum established in the Winter-Summer Instructors’ contract. Since that minimum is based on the per-credit rate for adjunct lecturers, and retro pay for adjuncts was messed up very badly, you may still be owed more. Deductions from our retro pay were also incorrect for many of us; this will also need to be corrected by UHR. Please fill out the form and give us any other information you think will help us figure out what’s going on—so we can insist that UHR fix this mess.
Next year, the minimum salary for academic year TA/GAs will increase to $35,335, and the minimum for calendar year TA/GAs will increase to $40,635. So if you have a TA/GA appointment for next year, your pay will increase again when your appointment begins on either July 1 or September 1.
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 again showing why we will have to stay mobilized and ready to fight to defend our contract victories.
In solidarity,
Becky and Todd
Rebecca Givan, President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
Todd Wolfson, General Vice President, Rutgers AAUP-AFT
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