The Senate Assembly has approved a resolution requesting retroactive pay for all University of Michigan faculty members whose salaries it contends were affected by the way raises have been scheduled.
The 77-member legislative arm of U-M’s central faculty governance system passed the measure April 15. That system’s executive arm, the Senate Advisory Committee on University Affairs, approved the resolution April 8.
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The resolution is a non-binding expression of the Senate Assembly’s position on this matter. Senate Assembly Chair Tom Braun said he would share it with the university administration.
Aubree Gordon, professor of epidemiology and of global public health at the School of Public Health and a member of the Academic Affairs Advisory Committee, presented the resolution and the reasoning behind it at the Senate Assembly meeting.
Tenured and tenure-track faculty have nine-month appointments based on the academic year, but are paid over 12 months, with yearly raises taking effect and appearing in paychecks starting Sept. 1 of each year.
Gordon said raises should be applied in July and claimed that by not doing so, U-M is underpaying faculty for the first two months of their fiscal year pay cycle. Gordon and other Faculty Senate Office representatives have met with administrators in the Provost’s Office to discuss the timing of pay increases.
The university has agreed to change the payment schedule for affected faculty members. Increases will be reflected in faculty members’ July and August pay starting July 1, 2025, on the Ann Arbor and Dearborn campuses. A revised schedule for faculty at UM-Flint will take effect this year. Raises will appear in paychecks starting Sept. 1, with a lump-sum payment in the fall to cover July and August.
There is no provision by the university for retroactive pay for previous years.
The resolution calls on U-M to “apply retroactive pay for all University of Michigan Faculty on University Year appointments for all affected years in accordance with applicable federal and state laws.”
