2021-2023 IFO/MinnState Contract Settlement
The information and highlights of the tentative agreement are linked below. The contract settlement has tentatively gone into effect. Contracts await full ratification by the Legislature.
Contract Settlement Highlights
Salary Increases
FY22 (Academic Year 2021-2022)
0% across-the-board.
Tenure, promotion, and career steps continue.
FY23 (Academic Year 2022-2023)
4.1% total increase in base salary for faculty in tenured, probationary, and fixed-term appointments:
1 step increase for faculty in tenured, probationary, and fixed-term appointments in FY 2022 who return in FY 2023.
1.7 % Salary Schedule Enhancement.
Two additional steps added to the top of the salary schedule.
5% increase per credit for adjunct and community faculty
Minimum per credit increase from $1567 to $1,645 per credit.
Instructors maximum step increased from step 18 to step 20.
Management Offers Defeated by IFO
Admin ability to terminate first-year probationary faculty with no cause and no departmental input.
Admin ability to terminate coaches on multiyear appointments before the end of their appointment.
Admin requires Metro faculty to teach 24 credits with no additional compensation.
Admin eliminating the maximum early separation benefit for 20+ year faculty who are not reassigned and are terminated three years after notice of position elimination.
Admin to select faculty reps to committees.
Equity & Inclusion Language
Professional Development and Evaluation (Article 22, Section A)
New language states that a faculty member’s continuous improvement toward equity and inclusion and the elimination of education equity gaps is highly valued within the five criteria.
Criteria for Professional Development and Evaluation (Article 22, Section B)
New language states that evidence of achievement in the five criteria may include activities intended to help close educational equity gaps, and provides that beginning in the 2022-2023 academic year, faculty should normally propose to engage in such activities (intended to help close educational equity gaps) with respect to at least one of the criteria.
Plan Content (Article 22, Section D, Subd. 1)
New language states that faculty may place emphasis on equity and inclusion work in any of the five criteria, including the equity and inclusion work of mentoring, advising, and supporting equitable outcomes for students, staff, and faculty; and provides that after July 1, 2022, normally PDPs should include at least one activity under any one of the five criteria that is intended to help close the education equity gaps.
Report Content (Article 22, Section E, Subd. 1)
Provides that PDRs submitted after January 1, 2023, normally should include a report on at least one activity under any one of the five criteria where the activity is intended to help close the education equity gaps.
Professional Development Increases
Professional Improvement Funds for faculty in tenured, probationary, and fixed-term appointments increases from $600,000 to $680,000 (Article 19, Section A, Subd. 3).
Professional Improvement Funds for community faculty increase from $57,800 to $68,000 (Article 10, Section J, Subd. 4b).
Professional Improvement Funds for adjunct faculty increase from $70,000 to $80,000 (Article 19, Section A, Subd. 4).
Article 19, Section B, Professional Study and Travel Funds increases from $1,450 to $1,500 per full-time equivalent faculty member.
Adjunct & Community Faculty Benefits
Stipends for adjunct and community faculty for orientation, training, and professional development opportunities.
Adjunct and community faculty eligible for orientation and a $100 stipend for attending new faculty orientation.
Adjunct and community faculty receive $100 stipend per day for attending required training and/or for professional development opportunities offered by the university.
Professional Improvement Funds for Metro State community faculty increases from $57,800 to $68,000 (Article 10, Section J, Subd. 4b).
Professional Improvement Funds for adjunct faculty increases from $70,000 to $80,000 (Article 19, Section A, Subd. 4).
Order of Layoff (Article 23, Section B, Subd. 3)
Requires administration to use a seniority roster that has been in existence for 12 months prior to issuing a layoff notice from the roster.
Position Elimination for 20+ Year Faculty (Article 23, Section B, Subd. 3.c.)
Clarifies that the administration’s options when eliminating a position held by faculty with 20 or more years of service begin with a permanent reassignment to another position in the university without retraining, and further clarifies that if the 20+ year faculty member is not permanently reassigned to another position, and is not successful in developing a mutually agreeable retraining program with the President, they will be laid off at the conclusion of the third academic year from the date of notice, and will receive severance, insurance, and tuition waiver benefits provided to faculty on layoff (in addition to receiving the maximum early separation incentive benefit provided in Article 16, Section D, Subd. 3, i.e., payment equal to base salary).
Recall (Article 23, Section E)
Clarifies that when a university intends to fill a vacancy, tenured faculty who were laid off from the same /substantially equivalent position from that university are reemployed in inverse order of layoff from the university.
Seniority Application; Bumping Rights for Faculty Who Are Cross Rostered (Article 29, Section B)
New language articulates the bumping rights for faculty who receive a notice of layoff and who are cross rostered in more than one department or program. More info is available here.
Tenured & Probationary Faculty Protections and Enhancements
Compensation of Coaches – Division I Head Coach Bonus Pay (Article 10, Section G, Subd. 4.f)
Universities may establish bonus pay for Division I Head Coaches for winning a championship, qualifying for the final four or a national championship final game, or winning a national championship, as long as the same bonus amounts for the same accomplishments are offered to head coaches of Men’s and Women’s teams.
Compensation of Coaches – Supplement Pay (Article 10, Section G, Subd. 4.g)
Coach’s salary supplement pay will be increased by the same percentage of across-the-board schedule enhancements and step increases in the corresponding fiscal year in which the salary increases are negotiated.
Annual Appointments for Coaches (Article 10, Section G, NEW Subd. 12)
A new annual appointment is created that allows a coach to be placed on a 12-month appointment with the coach’s agreement, with total pay equivalent to a step on the salary schedule (except Division I coaches may exceed the salary schedule), with the possible addition of supplement pay for summer camps. More info is available here.
Termination of Intercollegiate Sports
(Article 10, Section G, NEW Subd. 13)
Provides that if a sports program is terminated, coaches may be laid off with 9 months’ notice following the termination of the sport; laid off coaches will be eligible for severance if they have 6 years of service and for health insurance continuation and tuition waiver extension the same as faculty on layoff.
Coaches Protections and Improvements
COVID and Parental Leave Expansion
Sick Leave for Supervision of Quarantining Children Due to COVID Exposure (Article 17 Section A)
IFO executed a Letter of Understanding to expand Article 17, Section A sick leave benefit effective July 1, 2021, to allow the use of accrued and available sick leave when faculty are required to be at home to provide parental supervision for minor children under age 16 who are required to quarantine at the direction of the child’s/children’s school or child care provider due to COVID-19 exposure where the child/children are not themselves ill. More info is available here.
Parental Leave Expanded to Family Leave (Article 18, Section B)
Unpaid parental leave is expanded to allow a faculty member to take up to two years of leave to care for a faculty member’s spouse/domestic partner, parents, and/or children, without loss of seniority.
Health, Dental & Life Insurance
Changes to health plans are effective January 1, 2022 unless otherwise noted.
MN Advantage Health Insurance Plan premium increase 3%.
Premium increases $1.10 per month (from $36.64) to $37.74 per month for Single coverage.
Premium increases $7.50 per month (from $250.00) to $257.50 per month for Family/Dependent coverage.
Health Insurance Plan Improvements
The effective date for insurance coverage for new hires will change from 35 to 30 days after hire.
3-D mammograms will be included as preventative care.
Employees will no longer need a referral to an eye doctor for an eye injury or illness.
Changes in Health Insurance Benefits Plan for Emergency Room Visits:
Co-pay for emergency room visits will no longer be subject to the deductible.
Cost Level 1 co-pay remains at $100. Cost Level 2 co-pay increases from $100 to $125, and cost level 3 co-pay increases from $100 to $150. Cost level 4 changes from 25% co-insurance to $350 co-pay.
All other health insurance co-pays, coinsurance, deductibles for services, and maximum out-of-pocket medical and prescription drug limits remain the same as 2021.
Dental and other Optional Insurance Premiums for 2022
Dental and optional vision insurance premiums remain the same.
Premium for Single coverage remains at $13.50 per month.
Premium for Family coverage remains at $53.40 per month.
Short Term Disability premiums will decrease 5% for 2022.
Open Enrollment Changes
Open Enrollment for Short Term Disability in 2022, and then every 5 years.
Open Enrollment for Dental Insurance for the next three plan years. (‘22,’23, ‘24) Normally, dental is only open every other year.
