Titles and Compensation

The Office of State Employment Relations (OSER) is charged with administering job classifications in classified employment for the State of Wisconsin and the UW System. Descriptions and specifications for job titles used can be found in the classification specifications on the OSER website.

Classified Employee Compensation – The Office of State Employment Relations (OSER) is charged with developing all compensation provisions for State of Wisconsin and UW System classified employees. The compensation plan for classified employees can be found on the OSER website.

Discretionary Compensation for Classified Employees - The Office of State Employment Relations (OSER) is charged with developing all compensation provisions for State of Wisconsin and UW System classified employees. The compensation plan for classified employees can be found on the OSER website and includes the discretionary merit compensation (DMC) and discretionary equity and retention award (DERA) programs. The UW System DMC/DERA policy can be found here.

Classified LTE and Project Appointments - The Office of State Employment Relations (OSER) is charged with administering classified employment for the State of Wisconsin and the UW System. This includes permanent positions, but also temporary appointments and OSER provides guidance on its website for limited term (LTE) and project appointments.

Chapter 36 of the Wisconsin Statutes identifies four categories of unclassified appointments in the University of Wisconsin System:

• Faculty Appointments  (s. 36.13 Wis. Stats.)
• Academic Staff Appointments  (s. 36.15 Wis. Stats.)
• Limited Appointments  (s. 36.17 Wis. Stats.)
• Other Appointments  (s. 36.19 Wis. Stats.)

Pursuant to s. 36.09(1)(e) Wis. Stats., the Board of Regents has the responsibility to appoint the requisite number of limited, faculty, academic staff and other employees and fix their duties and the term of office for each.  Unclassified Personnel Guidelines #2 describes how the four categories of employment are intended to be used throughout the UW System.

Board of Regents responsibility to fix the duties of administrators, officers, faculty, academic staff and other unclassified employees of the UW System and each chancellor's delegated authority for the administration and operation of the institution within the policies and guidelines established by the Board are set forth in Chapter 36, Wisconsin Statutes. [See Wis. Stats. 36.09(1) (e) and (f)]. The purpose of Unclassified Personnel Guideline #1 is to: provide a systemwide framework for title usage; describe System and institution authority for assignment of unclassified titles; offer general descriptions of unclassified titles (see UPG #1, Attachment 1); and, furnish each institution with the official list of title codes for budget and payroll purposes (see UPG #1, Attachment 2).

Unclassified Personnel Guidelines #4 presents the laws, rules, policies and practices pertaining to salary setting and salary adjustments for limited appointees, faculty and academic staff members in the UW System, regardless of the source of funds supporting their salaries. Various statutory provisions and Board of Regents policies that govern annual and mid-year salary adjustments for unclassified staff are explained.

UPG 4 attachment 1 lists all the unclassified staff titles and current associated salary ranges; UPG 4 attachment 2 lists the current Category A salary ranges; UPG 4 attachment 3 lists the current Category B minimum salaries. UPG 4 attachments 4, 5 and 6 detail the same information for the prior year.