University increases minimum wage

By Dan Heuchert

The wage that U.Va’s lowest-paid employees earn will go up in January.

In a memo to University managers, Chief Human Resource Officer Thomas E. Gausvik announced that the minimum hiring rate for classified salaried and wage employees will rise 18 cents to $8.37 per hour ($17,410 per year).

The change — the first in three years — will become effective in the Academic Division beginning Jan. 7. The Medical Center will match the increase as well, effective Jan. 18, Gausvik said. Between 100 and 200 employees will be affected.

“The change in our minimum hiring rate will keep our starting salaries and wages competitive with the local labor market,” Gausvik said. Human Resources monitors salaries in the Charlottesville Metropolitan Service Area, as well as those paid by the Charlottesville and Albemarle County governments.

The increase in the University’s minimum wage will come just over a month after most employees receive a state-mandated 2.25 percent pay increase. The performance-based increase — for all non-probationary full-time and part-time classified salaried employees rated “contributor” or “extraordinary contributor” in their October performance evaluations — takes effect Nov. 25.

The 2.25 percent increases are not automatic for classified wage employees, but may be partially or fully implemented at the discretion of each department or school, Gausvik said. The salary ranges of each pay band in the classified system also will be adjusted by 2.25 percent.