Posted on March 22, 2006
The Virginia General Assembly recently approved several salary increases for employee and faculty members of various Virginia universities, including JMU.
The General Assembly agreed on Feb. 23 that all classified employees who receive a rating of contributor or higher on their 2007 performance evaluation are eligible to receive a 4 percent merit increase.
A “classified employee” is a full-time and fully benefited employee, said Cathy Thomas, a Human Resources Representative at JMU. The evaluations happen on an annual basis.
Thomas said there were 1,124 classified staff members at JMU as of 2005.
First-year employees at JMU are classified as probationary and do not qualify for a merit increase unless they receive a rating from their supervisor, Thomas said. After a year, they become non-probationary and can qualify for a merit increase simply by receiving a rating of contributor of higher on their performance evaluation.
The Assembly also confirmed that the administrative, professional and instructional faculty will receive on average a 4 percent salary increase also based on merit.
In addition, the JMU nursing faculty will receive a 10 percent salary increase to address recruitment and retention issues. Directed by the assembly, the additional state funding support is in response to the increased state demand for nurses.
About $19 million will be spent on the increases for the nursing faculty alone, not including the additional money for classified employees.
JMU spokesperson Don Egle said the decision is good news for faculty and staff and a good thing for JMU overall.
Del. Matthew Lohr, R-26th district, said that the raise percentage varies, and 4 percent is only the increase. The increase may also be based on how long they have been a faculty member, or other factors that would cause variations.
While JMU’s faculty requests salary increases every year, the assembly’s budget does not always allow it. But this year, the assembly said the increase was a “top priority.”
Although the increases are a confirmed part of 2007-08 budget, they won’t go into effect until the performance evaluations for 2007 are completed on Nov. 25 this year.
