University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee

Granting and contracting agencies almost always require that employment using grant/contract funds follow the rules of the sponsoring organization. If there are exceptions, those are spelled out in the award and should be cited in employment documents.¹

There are numerous ways to staff grant/contract projects and not all of them involve a complicated and protracted search and screen process. What follows is a quick-reference guide to employment that provides options, guidelines, references, and resource staff. You are also encouraged to “escalate” an issue to the next level when time or impasse creates a problem.

Incumbents gain employment rights beyond the limitations of grant funding or grant position provisions. OFCCP requires an open, competitive search that is well documented. Procedures are available:

• For Classified staff: http://www4.uwm.edu/hr/toolkits/classified_recruitment/
• For Academic staff: http://www4.uwm.edu/hr/aims/

No search process is required for Graduate Teaching Assistants (TAs), Research Assistants (RAs), or Program/Project Assistants (PAs) because they are students and employment is secondary to their primary purpose at UWM. The same is true for Post Doctoral Fellows (Post Docs) since they are employees in training and not eligible for WRS (Wisconsin State retirement). They can be hired if grant funds are available for a two or three year period. Salaries for such hires must be in line with the granting agencies requirements and consistent with internal equity/union contracts. No leave or retirement is available, and health insurance is available only if the position meets a threshold percent, duration and salary amount. (See http://www.uwsa.edu/hr/benefits/gradben.pdf) Initial point of contact: College/Division Personnel Representative.

Scientists are Academic Staff positions and may be hired under “fixed-term” provisions without a formal search. “Fixed-term” means an ending date for the position has been established in one of three ways:

• A specific date has been established for the end of the assignment within the academic or fiscal year.
• A specific date has been established that covers multiple academic or fiscal years.
• A rolling horizon has been established where employment is extended automatically for a specified period.

A Scientist assignment that ends earlier than the specified length of hire may result in continuing employment rights for the individual. Otherwise, notice periods do not apply except in the case of a rolling horizon. Initial point of contact: College/Division Personnel Representative

Limited Term Employment (LTE) and Project appointments do not necessarily require open recruitments. LTEs are limited to 1,040 hours per year, but also, should not be brought back year after year. Continuation after 1,040 hours would result in automatic placement under the Wisconsin Retirement System plan and thus result in more cost for the hiring department. Classified Project appointments may extend for up to four (4) years, although the longer the appointment the more advisable it is to do a recruitment. Initial point of contact: College/Division Personnel Representative

The State of Wisconsin contracts with temporary agencies for certain kinds of short-term clerical and technical skill sets. PIs can take advantage of such contracts and “purchase” temporary help within the contract guidelines. This is not a hiring action, but a purchasing action. Initial point of contact: University Business Representative/Purchasing Department

• UBR/Personnel Representatives (see list at http://www4.uwm.edu/hr/prep_ubr/prep_ubr.cfm)
• HR Department Specialists (see lists at http://www4.uwm.edu/hr/staff_and_services/ )
• HR Unit Managers
  • Karen Massetti-Moran for academic personnel matters, kmoran@uwm.edu
  • Shannon Bradbury for classified/union personnel matters, sb8@uwm.edu
• Director of Human Resources, Karl Sparks, ksparks@uwm.edu
• Associate Vice Chancellor, Dev Venugopalan, dv@uwm.edu
• Online toolkits (HR website tab at http://www4.uwm.edu/hr/toolkits/ )
• College/division colleagues

• Campus Administrative Institutes (Build your own conference program. Offerings cover a variety of grant administration issues, e.g., purchasing, travel, legal, etc. Look for future offerings as they are announced by HR.)
• PI brown bag series with campus support services professionals (This series is in development and will cover a variety of grant administration issues. Look for future announcements.)

¹Employment procedures are enforced by the Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) using audits and conciliation agreements. The Office of Legal Affairs and the Department of Human Resources are the UWM offices most familiar with OFCCP requirements and are available for advice and consultation.