University President Jehuda Reinharz intends to propose to the Board of Trustees the creation of a "raise pool" for faculty and staff making under $150,000 in base compensation, he announced at Thursday's special faculty-only meeting, according to a University press release. He will also be proposing a wage freeze for any Brandeis employee earning more than $150,000 in base compensation and the reinstitution of University retirement contributions on July 1. According to Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jeff Apfel, the size of the raise pool still needs to be determined.

"If approved as part of the budget, the salary increase pool would be distributed only to faculty earning less than $150,000 in base compensation over the nine-month academic period and to employees earning less than $150,000 in base compensation over the 12-month calendar year," the press release states.

"We had a very difficult two years," Reinharz said in an interview with the Justice. "We are now well on our way to recovering from them, . and I felt that it was very important to recognize the hard work and hardship that everybody has gone through these past two years and to show the appreciation of the University for everything that they have done."

Apfel wrote in an e-mail to the Justice that he expected the wage freeze will apply to about 36 of 51 faculty and staff who earn $150,000 or more.

Those faculty who reach the $150,000 plateau through summer stipends are not included in the freeze.

Vice President for Human Resources Scott Bemis said that Brandeis has 1,650 faculty and staff employees overall but noted that employees of Aramark and mail room staff are not Brandeis employees. Bemis also said he did not know any details about Reinharz's plan.

In previous raise pools, Bemis said, managers in various University departments, including academics and services, would be able to decide the size of an employee's raise based on performance reviews, using money from a set percentage of the unit's overall salary budget reserved for raises.

Last year there was no wage increase at all due to the economic constraints faced by the University, Bemis said. Prior to that the average wage increase was about 2 to 4 percent per year.

"I think it's extremely important to do whatever we can to fund a salary increase for those who would need it most," he said.

The Board of Trustees approved a plan last May to suspend University contributions to the retirement fund for faculty and staff for one year to save $7.4 million.

Reinharz emphasized "that we made a statement last year that it was a one-year discontinuation, and I made clear a number of times to the faculty that when we said one year . we meant one year."

Reinharz said the raise and the wage freeze is "an attempt to reward those who make less."

Noting how faculty, staff and students had been working together to address the financial crisis as a unit, "it was important to make sure that we do whatever we can to bolster the morale of the University," Reinharz said.

He added that the University was also offering nonmonetary benefits, pointing out that the University has reinstated the "flex time" policy from last summer, whereby employees can choose to take a Monday or a Friday off.

"That's in order to give people the ability to really use the time with their family," Reinharz said.

"I am certainly delighted that the president sees the possibility that there is room for faculty and staff salary increase even if it is a modest one," Faculty Senate Chair Sabine von Mering (GRALL) said.

"I do believe that the reinstitution of the retirement plan is absolutely crucial, especially in light of the fact that we are building our projections for the five coming years on retirements but we cannot expect anyone to choose retirement if the funds have been so dramatically depleted [by the economic crisis or the retirement contribution suspension]," said von Mering.

She called the freeze "definitely a step in the right direction. I am a little disappointed that it's only coming now and that it is not more dramatic because I really firmly believe that every university devoted to social justice has an obligation ... in this moment in time to really be the first to tackle this issue.