The Higher Ed Workplace Blog

On June 20, the House Science Committee passed Chairwoman Eddie Bernice Johnson’s (D-TX) bill, H.R. 36, the Combating Sexual Harassment in Science Act of 2019, out of committee. This comes after a June 12 hearing which evaluated higher ed’s response to sexual harassment in STEM jobs on and off campuses, offered feedback on the bill, and gave an early look at an upcoming Government Accountability Office study commissioned by the committee on this topic.

University of Pennsylvania is urging an appeals court to review the case, which alleges breaches of fiduciary duties in connection with the structure and administration of institutionally-sponsored faculty and staff retirement plans.

Each month, CUPA-HR General Counsel Ira Shepard provides an overview of some labor and employment law cases and regulatory actions with implications for the higher ed workplace. Here’s the latest from Ira.

Fifteen states and the District of Columbia have passed legislation raising the minimum wage to a specific amount over the next several years, and many workers at the staff level in higher education institutions in those states will be impacted. According to just-released findings from CUPA-HR’s Staff in Higher Education Survey, around one in four higher ed staff employees currently earn less than $15 per hour — a key threshold since at least six states and D.C. have targeted a $15 minimum wage.

CUPA-HR has long been supportive of a full repeal of the tax and has joined efforts over the years to repeal and delay the provision from taking effect. In the latest effort, CUPA-HR joined a June 4 letter signed by 665 organizations including businesses, nonprofits, chambers of commerce, insurers, brokers, unions and patient advocacy groups urging the Senate to repeal the Cadillac tax and to co-sponsor S. 684, the Middle Class Health Benefits Tax Repeal Act of 2019.

Telework is growing increasingly popular in the United States. In fact, for more than 4 million American workers, “the office” can be anywhere they want it to be. If the trends over the past decade are any indication, telework will continue to grow as a viable working arrangement for many employees and employers. Here are four reasons to consider telework for your employees.

When it comes to organizational change, managing the change process itself oftentimes is the hardest part. When the University of California, Irvine’s HR team implemented a new HR model, they made sure to have a process in place to help usher in the change. Here are the steps they followed.

The NLRB indicated in the federal government’s May 22 spring regulatory agenda that it plans to issue a proposed rule by September addressing the extent to which students who perform services for private higher ed institutions are considered employees under the National Labor Relations Act.

On May 17, the House passed the Equality Act, which would make employment discrimination and other forms of discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity unlawful. While the House vote is largely symbolic (as the bill is not expected to come up for a vote in the Senate), the bill’s approval in the House comes at a time when the Supreme Court is considering three cases that look at whether the Civil Rights Act’s Title VII prohibition against sex-based employment discrimination extends to sexual orientation and gender identity.

Each year, CUPA-HR’s Higher Education Human Resource Awards honor individuals, teams and institutions that are doing outstanding and innovative work around advancing diversity and inclusion in higher ed, elevating the HR role on campus, furthering the higher ed HR profession, and giving selflessly of their time and talents to CUPA-HR and their higher ed HR peers. Here, we celebrate this year’s recipients.