Kentucky’s flagship university raises minimum wage
(The Center Square) – The University of Kentucky plans to invest in its workforce over the next year. That’s according to a letter President Eli Capilouto sent Thursday to faculty and staff members of the state’s flagship higher education institution.
Capilouto shared with those individuals highlights of the 2021-22 capital budget, which the UK Board of Trustees will consider at its June 17 meeting.
That budget will take effect July 1.
If the Board approves, UK will raise its minimum wage from $12.50 an hour to $13.75 on July 1. That hourly rate would then go to $15 on Jan. 1, 2022.
The move means next year all regular employees at the university will earn more than double the state’s minimum wage of $7.25.
In addition to the minimum wage hike, the school will give one-time payments of $1,000, prorated by full-time equivalent status, for faculty and staff that were working at the Lexington-based university as of Dec. 30, 2020.
“These payments recognize the outstanding efforts and sacrifices our people have made over the past year,” Capilouto wrote.
A 2% merit pay increase will also take effect on Jan. 1, marking the eighth time over the last decade that UK has been able to give pay raises.
Neither the pay raise nor the one-time payment will apply to workers in the UK HealthCare system, Capilouto noted. Those employees operate on a different review cycle.
Other initiatives Capilouto has proposed in the budget include the resumption of the 10% contribution to retirement plans.
Staffers would also be given a new paid-leave program. Staff members who work the equivalent of half a full-time equivalent would be eligible for two weeks of paid leave for the birth or adoption of a child and one week to care for an ill parent. Non-healthcare staff will also get nine more months to use accrued vacation time that was set to lapse June 30.
Leave and vacation time are handled differently for faculty members.
The final budget total has not yet been confirmed, Sarah Geegan, UK’s director of executive communication told The Center Square. The current fiscal year budget is $4.4 billion, up from $4.2 billion for the 2019-20 year.
While the budget includes good news for UK faculty and staff members, Capilouto said more work on the budget continues and the university still faces some challenges thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.
More information on the budget will come out over the next few weeks.
“Together, we have positioned ourselves not only to survive the challenges imposed by this pandemic,” Capilouto told UK employees, “but to thrive.”
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