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Q.
From my understanding, when Human Resources conducts
market analyses to gauge market value in regards to compensation, UTMB employees
are compared to markets in the Rio Grande Valley/ El Paso. According to
this article in FORBES Magazine, the Houston/Sugar Land/Baytown region is
ranked #5 on the list of BEST paying cities. Inversely, El Paso is ranked #4 on
the list of WORST paying cities, and the Rio Grande Valley is ranked #2 on the
list of WORST paying cities. Who decides that this is a fair and appropriate
comparison and what criteria is used to justify this decision? If any of my
information is inaccurate, please provide the correct information.
A.
When UTMB conducts market review of jobs, published, independent
third-party surveys are used. Currently, UTMB has over 20 survey houses
that are used to conduct market review of jobs. In order to appropriately review
jobs, national, regional, and local data is used as appropriate. Rio
Grande Valley/El Paso is not used. The article appears valid and at UTMB,
the market data that yields the most accurate results for many searches is local
(Houston metropolitan) data, even when the job is a national search. Once the
market review is completed, the jobs are given their own imputed salary range
which allows pay within the range given the employee’s knowledge, skills, and
performance. An individual’s salary depends both on these factors and on available funding
in the person’s department.
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Q.
Market adjustments have increased the midpoint of my
salary range, and after my current raise, I make a smaller percentage of the
midpoint range than when I was hired. Can I expect a market adjustment to my
salary in the future?
A.
Market adjustments are
based on several factors, including market analysis and the organization’s need
to compete for certain skills. There are no automatic market adjustments
based on the midpoint increasing. Should a person’s salary fall below the minimum
in the new range, that situation would be examined. That salary
could be moved at least to the minimum, as long as the person is meeting
expectations.
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Q.
I am a Correctional Care Employee and, speaking for
most of my co-workers, we are going on five years without raises in CMC while
the cost of living is rising. Non-CMC UTMB nurses have been discussing their
Merit raises and Market Adjustments, and we are all eager to find out if there
is more money in sight for CMC employees?
A.
One of our top priorities in the next state legislative session is to
obtain appropriate compensation for our CMC staff. Unfortunately, it’s not a
decision we can make on our own. In our Legislative Appropriations Request for
FY14, we have requested a 5.5% increase, and we have requested another 2%
increase on top of that for FY15. The Texas Department of Criminal Justice
supports our position. We hope to be able to go back to CMC employees after the
Legislative Session with positive news about employee compensation.
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Q.
I am a
nurse with UTMB-CMC, and would like to know why we do not get compensated for
weekend holidays worked, and when we do get holiday pay, it’s for eight hours
when we actually work 12-hour shifts? I chose to work this schedule, true, but
when Christmas and other holidays fall on the weekend (as Christmas did last
year), I should be compensated for it as well as the other nurses and faculty
that work weekend schedules.
A.
UTMB follows state guidelines, which
are the same for every state agency and allow for reimbursement of a maximum of
eight hours pay for holidays. If a holiday falls on a Saturday or Sunday, state
law prohibits us from compensating it as a holiday.
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Q.
Should employees be paid according to the work they actually perform? I work in CMC on
a large unit with exceptional LVNs and CMAs; their pay range is the same as
other LVNs and CMAs that work at much smaller units. Those of us that work
at larger units have a greater patient load and patient population number and
should be compensated accordingly and appropriately.
A.
We provide health care in prison
facilities ranging from 4,200 offenders to less than 500. We staff the
facilities based on the number of offenders to number of health care staff. The
question of whether we should pay more to people who work in maximum security
facilities has been discussed. However, we have decided the fairest way is to
staff based on the number of offenders at a facility and the volume of work they
create.
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Q.
Are some CMC Administrators receiving a $10,000 bonus this year?
A.
No.
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Q.
How can CMC employees obtain a UTMB employee ID badge to be able to receive employee
discounts particularly at Campus bookstore? Some CMC employees have received
badges in the past but many have never received one. One employee was told that
they must go down to Campus to receive a badge. Another employee was told during
orientation that we no longer give out the badges.
A.
The UTMB Police Department does not issue university ID badges to CMC employees at
off-site locations at this time. Although the UTMB Bookstore on the Galveston
campus does not currently offer employee discounts, CMC employees who wish to
take part in the university’s Discount with ID
program can present their existing work ID at any participating business. If you
have trouble receiving the employee discount from a participating business,
contact Organizational and Workforce
Development for assistance.
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Q.
It is extremely difficult to perform your job duties without the necessary equipment
and supplies. An example is dental equipment.
A.
The legislative request for CMC includes funding to cover capital
improvements, such as updating medical and dental equipment in the clinics. It
is the No. 2 priority in our funding request, behind funding for salary
increases. We won’t know the outcome of our requests until after the legislative
session, but we sincerely hope to be able to invest in this area to provide CMC
employees the tools they need to continue providing outstanding care to their patients.