The Higher Ed Workplace Blog

New research from CUPA-HR on the state of the faculty workforce in higher education shows that despite some growth in representation among tenure-track women and faculty of color in new hires, advancement to higher faculty ranks remains a barrier. What’s more, these promotion gaps are found in every faculty discipline. CUPA-HR’s research team analyzed data from the Faculty in Higher Education Survey, a comprehensive data source that collects salary and demographic data by tenure status, rank, and faculty discipline, to evaluate representation and pay equity for women and faculty of color from 2016-17 to 2022-23.

On April 23, the Department of Labor (DOL) issued the highly anticipated final rule to alter the overtime pay regulations under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). The rule increases the minimum salary threshold to $43,888 on July 1, 2024, and then to $58,656 on January 1, 2025. The rule also implements automatic updates to the threshold that will occur every three years. Institutions will need to make all necessary adjustments by July 1, 2024, in order to be in compliance with the final rule.

On April 19, the Department of Education (ED) released the text of the highly anticipated Title IX final rule. The final rule expands protections against sex-based discrimination to cover sexual orientation, gender identity, and pregnancy or related conditions. The rule also revokes both the Trump administration’s ban on campuses using a single person to investigate and adjudicate Title IX complaints and the Trump mandate regarding cross-examination of complainants. Institutions will need to be in compliance with the final rule by August 1, 2024.

On April 15, 2024, the EEOC issued its long-awaited final regulations and interpretative guidance on the implementation of the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, which requires most employers with 15 or more employees to provide reasonable accommodations for a pregnant worker, or for conditions related to pregnancy, such as lactation or morning sickness. The final rule is intended to offer “important clarity that will allow pregnant workers the ability to work and maintain a healthy pregnancy and help employers understand their duties under the law.” The regulations will be published in the Federal Register on April 19 and go into effect 60 days later.

In his recent webinar for CUPA-HR, Rahul Thadani, senior executive director of HR information systems at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, answered some of the most frequently raised questions about AI in HR. He also spoke to the most prevalent worries, including concerns about data privacy and whether AI will compete with humans for jobs. In addition to covering the basics on AI and how it works, Thadani addressed questions about the risks and rewards of using AI in HR, including: How can AI speed up productivity now? What AI tools should HR be using? How well is AI integrated into enterprise software? What are the risks and downsides of using AI? What role will AI play in the future of HR? Thadani also put to rest a common fear about AI: that it will replace human jobs. He believes that HR is too complex, too fundamentally human a role to be automated.

On April 10, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced it had concluded review of the Department of Education’s (ED) final rule to amend Title IX. OIRA review is the final step in the regulatory process, and we expect the ED will issue the final rule any day now. The ED released the text of the proposed rule on June 23, 2022, though the Federal Register did not officially publish the proposal until several weeks later on July 12, 2022. The agency received over 240,000 comments in response, including CUPA-HR comments seeking clarification on the overlaps between the ED’s proposal with institutions’ existing obligations to address employment discrimination. CUPA-HR also joined comments led by the American Council on Education.

On April 11, 2024, the White House Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) announced it had concluded review of the U.S. Department of Labor’s (DOL) final overtime pay rule. The rule is expected to increase the minimum salary threshold for the executive, administrative and professional (EAP or white collar) employee exemptions to overtime pay requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations. OIRA review is the final step in the regulatory process, and we expect DOL will release the final rule any day now. We will send another alert as soon as the final rule is released.

CUPA-HR General Counsel Ira Shepard’s overview this month includes Dartmouth College’s refusal to bargain with the recently unionized men’s basketball team. Dartmouth contends the student-athletes do not meet the NLRA definition of employees, which may result in the NLRB filing unfair labor practice charges. Professors at Tufts University school of medicine argue that having to raise funds for their salaries violates their contractual rights to academic freedom and to economic security. A university baseball coach’s claim of reverse discrimination is dismissed, but he is allowed to proceed with a retaliation claim against St. Edward’s University. In Anne Arundel, Maryland, the school board prevailed over a former track coach who claimed discrimination, having been fired for a verbal and physical altercation with a student. Across the country, five states have passed bans on anti-union captive-audience meetings, which will likely be challenged by litigation in some states, while bans on DEI training that have gone into effect in other states have been met with legal challenges.

On April 4, CUPA-HR’s government relations team, President and CEO Andy Brantley, and four national board members met with officials at the Department of Labor (DOL) and the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to discuss the upcoming overtime regulations to increase the minimum salary threshold. During the call, the group expressed broad concerns with the rule, as well as the specific challenges implementation of the new rule could create for different types of institutions in various areas of the country. The OIRA review marks one of the last steps required before DOL can publish the final rule for public viewing.

On April 1, OSHA issued a final rule on the Worker Walkaround Representative Designation Process. The rule allows third-party representatives to accompany OSHA inspectors during physical workplace inspections. The new rule broadens the category of who may serve as an authorized representative of the employee by explicitly including third parties as potential authorized representatives, making it easier for non-employees, such as union officials, to potentially be involved in the inspection process.