Colleagues,
As we continue to manage our response to COVID-19 pandemic, we wanted to provide further guidance regarding employee measures with respect to hiring for specific employee groups. This incorporates additional guidance from the Commonwealth on hiring and compensation freezes that we received from the Secretary of Education on April 20. We will continue to make adjustments along the way and communicate them as quickly as possible to our community.
An Employee Hiring Guide has been developed, which describes the specific process for each employee category. A summary is provided below, but please refer to the guide for additional details. For positions requiring submission of a newly created Critical Vacancy Request Form, the workflow has been updated to include the requirement for Dean/VP approval.
- Instructional Faculty positions are not subject to the Commonwealth’s hiring freeze and are not subject to review by the Critical Vacancy Review Committee (CRVC) yet will be reviewed by the Office of the Provost. Decisions about hiring must be made by determining if a position is essential for instructional and/or research continuity, with a consideration of delaying hiring for all other positions. As part of our efforts to better understand and track additions to our workforce, hiring units must submit a Critical Vacancy Request Form for each position to be filled for tracking purposes only.
- Research Faculty and Staff, Postdoctoral Fellows and Wage Employee positions supported by sponsored projects or from other non E&G sources (such as GMUF linked funds, Indirect orgs, Pool orgs and funds that are continuously available) are not subject to the Commonwealth’s hiring freeze and are not subject to review by the CRVC. Hiring units must submit a Critical Vacancy Request Form for each position to be filled for tracking purposes only.
- Administrative/Professional Faculty positions are not subject to the Commonwealth’s hiring freeze but are subject to review by the CRVC. Hiring units must submit a Critical Vacancy Request Form for each position to be filled for review by the CRVC as an internal control measure, in light of the additional financial pressures on the university.
- Student Wage, Non-Student Wage, and Classified Staff positions supported from E&G sources are subject to the Commonwealth’s hiring freeze and review by the CVRC. Hiring units must submit a Critical Vacancy Request Form to the CRVC, and approved requests will also be sent to the Commonwealth’s Secretary of Education for exception approval.
- Adjunct Faculty, Summer Faculty, Work Study Wage, Graduate Teaching Assistants, Graduate Professional Assistants and Graduate Research Assistants positions are not subject to the Commonwealth’s hiring freeze and are not subject to review by the CRVC. Hiring units should follow normal HR hiring procedures, and should not submit Critical Vacancy Request Forms to fill these positions.
A similar review process is being developed for any actions that would result in increased personnel cost including in-band or stipend adjustments, voluntary transfers, and all other adjustments in compensation. We will provide more information about this process shortly. Instructional and Research Faculty will still automatically receive pay increases commensurate with promotion and tenure.
We are always looking at how we can better support you, the Mason community. We appreciate your patience and your feedback as we work to address the issues you have identified. Please continue to check Coronavirus FAQs for Employees for the latest updates and information.
Carol Dillon Kissal
Senior Vice President, Administration and Finance
George Mason University