A Message from GEO's Grievance Committee
Table of Contents:
Announcements:
Hello GEO Member!
This is a message from your Grievance Committee about several important matters that we want to draw attention: 1) upcoming deadline to submit back pay complaints, 2) late appointment letters, and 3) health care and dental.
GEO Grievance Committee: Who Are We?
Grievance Committee is the GEO committee that facilitates the grievance process that is outlined in Article XXI of the contract for represented GAs and TAs at UIUC. The grievance process is one of the ways that you can defend the rights, wages, and benefits won in our contract negotiations if you are a GA or TA. If you or one of your colleagues is being denied any rights or obligations detailed in the contract, you can use the grievance process to hold your department, your supervisor, or any other agent of the University, or the University itself, accountable.
In efforts to encourage more people to take advantage of this process and to help streamline the workflow of the Grievance Committee, we developed an online grievance form. This form is designed to help members interface with the Grievance Committee and their department stewards about potential grievance issues in an efficient and informed manner.
If you have any questions about the form, issues with your working conditions, or need assistance with issues regarding your contractual rights, please email grievance@uigeo.org. Also reach out if you are interested in joining the committee!
Late Notice of Appointment
Article IV: D of the contract specifies that the employer needs to give you any Fall or Spring semester Notice of Appointment (or “offer letter”) at least 30 days before the start of the appointment. If they do not do this for you, you are likely entitled to $100 in compensation. Every year the grievance committee compiles a list of BU members and grieves this matter with the University.
If you or a colleague receives a late appointment letter, fill out this form.
Complaints Concerning Back Pay (Upcoming Deadline)
Over the past couple months, the Grievance Committee has been working through an informal process with the University to try to resolve issues with back pay underpayments. So far, this process has had mixed success; some graduate workers have found resolution and others have not. As we plan for the next step in seeking remedy for graduate workers who are owed back pay, we want to put out a final call for people to submit any complaints they might have with regards to back pay underpayment.
You can determine your back pay amount by checking your May pay statement. To be contractually entitled for back pay, you must have either a represented GA or a TA appointment in Fall 2022 or Spring 2023 and fall into one of the following categories:
Raise to the minimum: If you were receiving under a monthly rate of $2358.88 per month for a 50% appointment, you would be entitled to retroactive raise to that monthly amount. Raises to the minimum are configured proportionally (e.g. $3160.91 for 67% and $1179.44 for 25%)
Reappointment Raise: If you worked as a TA or GA in the same employing unit (usually your department) in the three academic years preceding Fall 2022 and were reappointed into a TA or GA position respectively in either Fall 2022 or Spring 2023, you would be entitled to a 6% retroactive raise. If you were employed in the same unit in both Fall 2022 and Spring 2023 as a TA or a GA, you would be entitled to a reappointment raise for Spring 2023. *Note: You can not get both a reappointment raise and raise to the minimum—it is whichever is greater.*
If you believe that you were not paid wages that you were contractually entitled to, please fill out this form. RAs and PGAs can also get back pay, but Grievance Committee cannot pursue the matter beyond the informal process. If you are having trouble figuring out if your back pay is correct, try this estimator but be mindful it is not perfectly accurate. The Grievance Committee will be closing this form July 21st.
Health Insurance & Dental
Article XVII of the contract secures TA and GAs the right to health insurance, dental insurance, vision insurance, and dependent coverage. Unfortunately, the employer gets to choose what coverage we get. However, the health insurance fee we pay each semester and over the summer represents our payment towards these ends. Thus, if the employer fails to enroll us in the health insurance program specified when we pay that fee or fails to provide us with healthcare, we are entitled to grieve the matter. This summer, the Grievance Committee has been dealing with issues pertaining to both Dental and Health insurance.
Dental
Many of you likely received emails from student insurance on 6/28, 6/30, and 7/13 with the subject lines "UHC Dental Issue—Update #1, 2, and 3." Those emails contained some important new info on the dental issue whereby graduate students with waiver-generating appointments were enrolled in a different plan with different reimbursement rates than the one intended, resulting in many cases in higher costs. On July 3rd , we spoke to the Associate Director for Program Support Services and Student Insurance (SI) to clarify some things in the second "Update" email. The major points:
All graduate students with waiver-generating appointments were enrolled in the incorrect plan. (The correct plan is custom plan 40P12; the incorrect plan is standard plan P6047.) SI and United eventually realized that this problem had originated back at the beginning of the last academic year during the signing of the contract between the University and United. SI outlined two fixes that it would implement in future dealings with United to prevent the issue from recurring.
United expressed that it will work to get all those currently enrolled in the incorrect plan enrolled in the correct one Once this is done, graduate students with waiver-generating appointments should (1) be able to check their dental insurance on the myUHC dental portal and see themselves as listed under the correct plan and (2) all new dental care should be processed under the correct plan.
United also expressed that, after it fixes the enrollment issue, it will reprocess all dental claims made under the incorrect plan. It will work to get all of these reprocessed by August 18th. This will include all claims, including those that have already been billed and paid since the beginning of enrollment in the dental plan this past academic year.
Once these claims have been reprocessed, graduate workers should be able to contact their provider about any potential reimbursement they might be due from the reprocessed claims, if these are not automatically delivered. (This does not mean that all reprocessed claims will result in reimbursement being due. It will depend on the claims.) SI has expressed that graduate workers should not begin to do so until, at the earliest, after August 1st, since any claims due for reprocessing are unlikely to be reprocessed till then at the soonest. SI also expressed that graduate workers might opt to wait till August 18th to be more certain their claims ought to be reprocessed.
SI told us that they want to stress that, even though claims made under the incorrect plan are due for eventual reprocessing, this does not mean that graduate workers can ignore dental bills from providers. Graduate workers can inform providers of the ongoing issue and attempt to work out potentially lenient payment plans prior to the claims' reprocessing, but that will have to be worked out on a case-by-case basis.
The major differences between the plans are the deductible, maximum allowed amount, and out of network benefits. SI expressed that it had agreed with United that, if for any reason, reprocessed claims were to result in higher costs for graduate workers, these costs would not be assessed. no one should have to pay more after the reprocessing of claims.
Originally, United expressed that it planned to have all graduate students enrolled in the incorrect plan moved to the correct plan by July 7th. In SI's latest "Update" email, however, we learned that United had missed this deadline and that it would issue an updated timeline to SI on or around July 21st.
All of the dates outlined above are goals set by United. They may change, and United will alert the University if they do. SI also committed to informing GEO of any updates to the timeline or process.
Over the past month, many GEO members have helped by communicating their deep concern about this issue to SI and the University. Please send SI any questions, comments, and concerns. The GEO and the Grievance Committee will continue to update members about the issue, the progress of the resolution process, and any additional responses we might make as a union.
Health Insurance
Several members have reported not having health insurance coverage despite paying the health insurance fee and it being well past the auto enrollment date. To check if you currently have health insurance through the University, login to your account. If for some reason you are not enrolled in health insurance despite having paid the health insurance fee, email Student Insurance and cc the Grievance Committee. In the email, we recommend attaching a screenshot of your health insurance fee payment. If the matter is not resolved expediently, please fill out the grievance form.
Vigilance in The Workplace
Coming out of a year of bargaining which climaxed in successfully renegotiating a progressive contract, we have a lot of work ahead as a union if we want to maintain those rights, benefits, and wages that we won. The grievance committee is encouraging everyone to be vigilant; track your hours, file grievances, send lots of assertive emails, and communicate with your colleagues about the issues of your working conditions.
When we work together to defend ourselves as workers, we all benefit.
In Solidarity,
The GEO Grievance Committee (grievance@uigeo.org)
Graduate Employees’ Organization
809 S. 5th St., Geneva Room
Champaign, IL 61820
Email: geo@uigeo.org
Forms Linked Above:
Grievance Form | Back Pay Form | Late Notice of Appointment Form