University Times

According to Pitt's salary policy, faculty and staff judged by their supervisors to have done satisfactory work should receive cost-of-living raises equal to the previous year's inflation rate.

But, contrary to a story in the May 3 University Times, the policy does not specify that cost-of-living raises may be less than the full rate of inflation only "in years when salary increase funds are severely constrained."

That language actually appeared in a 1999 statement approved by the University Planning and Budgeting Committee. UPBC, chaired by the provost, is a group of faculty, staff and administrators that advises the senior administration on annual salary raises, among other issues.

At its May 18, 1999, meeting, UPBC unanimously approved a statement detailing its understanding of how Pitt's salary policy is supposed to work. Among other things, the statement noted that "the policy is flexible; in years when salary increase funds are severely constrained, the cost-of-living adjustment can be less than the full rate of inflation, so that merit, market and equity needs can also be addressed."

Committee members adopted the statement following a nearly year-long UPBC review of the salary policy.

–Bruce Steele