CHAPTER 3: RECRUITMENT, APPOINTMENT, REASSIGNMENT, and RESIGNATION
SECTION 6 - REASSIGNMENT AND REHOMING POLICY
(To see who has authority to approve changes to this section, please see the Approval of Changes page).
1. Policy Purpose
This policy provides guidance on both campus reassignment and rehoming of employees from one UWSP campus to another UWSP campus. The intent of this policy is to stipulate that any changes to an employee’s work location should only occur with careful consideration and communication among all parties involved. To employees, workplace location often matters in relation to their personal lives, and changes in workplace location can affect employees’ work projects and work relationships. Travel between workplace locations and multi-campus commitments can also impact time employees have for different work tasks. This policy applies to Faculty and instructional academic staff. Employees’ home campus designations also matter to campuses, including the branch campuses, which have interest in maintaining sustainable and stable contingents of employees who share long-term visions of success. Further, the designation of home campus matters for travel reimbursement from one location to another (as guided by UW System Administrative Policy 405: Travel Expense - General Travel & Expense Policy and UW System Administrative Policy 425: Use of Personal Vehicles, Rental Cars and Fleet of Business Transportation, as well as other travel policies which may apply and are listed under Related Documents within this policy), and in some cases for eligibility for UWSP shared governance service or constituency.
2. Background
All employees are assigned a home campus upon hire. UW System Administrative Policies and Procedures: 400 Series: Travel provides rules governing reimbursement for travel between work locations. UWSP became a multi-campus institution in 2018, prompting the need for a campus reassignment and rehoming policy to guide employees and supervisors regarding any such changes.
3. Policy Definitions
Home campus: Upon hire, one home campus is designated for each employee.
Campus Reassignment: This refers to a temporary change in the campus where the employee works part or full time and does not change the employee’s home campus designation. Campus reassignments are usually for a relatively short and specific length of time (i.e., a semester, academic year, or possibly longer). Travel is reimbursed in accordance with UW System Administrative Policies and Procedures: 400 Series: Travel.
Emergency Campus Reassignment: A workplace location reassignment which happens more quickly, with less advance notice. Travel is reimbursed in accordance with UW System Administrative Policies and Procedures: 400 Series: Travel.
Rehoming: A permanent change in an employee’s home campus designation.
4. Policy
A. Department Policies
I. Departments should develop and maintain policies for decision making about campus reassignment and rehoming. Current decision-making policies may simply be updated to include the addition of campus reassignment and rehoming.
II. Time spent traveling to or between campuses may affect an employee’s productivity. For example, a faculty member traveling regularly and for multiple semesters between campuses may have less time to dedicate to service or research and/or may be less available for in-person office hours. Employees may also be contributing service, but on different campuses, and perhaps less visibly to their supervisors or other department members. Departments should develop and maintain policies for the consideration of such assigned travel time and multi-campus commitment when considering performance evaluations, including promotion, tenure, review, and merit.
B. Campus Reassignment
I. Employees assigned to work part or full time on a different campus retain their current home campus designation for travel policy or shared governance purposes.
II. Conversations about employee part or full-time campus reassignment to another work location may be initiated by an employee, department chair, director, dean, branch campus AAS degree coordinator, or campus executive officer.
III. When need for campus reassignment arises, the department chair or unit director should first call for volunteers of qualified employees for the equivalent position, with a stated deadline for reply.
IV. With interested applicant(s) identified, department chairs or directors should consult with any involved branch campus(s) executive officers to consider background and skills (for example, experience teaching a particular course or working with a specific population) and effects on the campus or programs as a whole (including campuses or programs vacated by the reassignment). After that, in the case of multiple applicants, with all considerations equal, departments should use their established policies for campus reassignment decision making.
V. If there are no interested applicants, department chairs or unit directors, in consultation with branch campus executive officers about effects on the campuses or programs as a whole, will identify a qualified employee with appropriate background and skills in an equivalent position. With considerations equal, departments should use their established policies for campus reassignment decision making.
VI. In most cases, the reassigned employee shall be given written notice of campus reassignment no later than 30 days before the first date of workplace location change, with the end date of the reassignment stated. The written notice should include reference to UW System Administrative Policies and Procedures: 400 Series: Travel. When 30 days-notice is not feasible-for example, if a teaching need arises less than 30 days before the start of a new term/course start date (Emergency Campus Reassignment)-the written notice should be issued as soon as possible.
VII. Campus reassignments should be reevaluated, with all original parties reconsulted, before being renewed or extended.
A. If the employee does not wish to continue the campus reassignment, other qualified employees in equivalent positions should be reconsidered
C. Rehoming
Rehoming may have different impact on an individual in comparison to a short-term campus reassignment and should be considered carefully. Employees make career and personal decisions with consideration to where they work. Rehoming will likely bring other changes for the employee and the involved campuses, this type of change (particularly if involuntary) should be rare in the life of an employee. Employees should consult UW System Administrative Policies and Procedures: 400 Series: Travel for information about how travel would or would not be reimbursed with a home campus change.
The following case illustrates one possible example: an employee who lives in Marshfield with a home campus of Marshfield may be eligible for travel reimbursement while assigned to teach on the Wausau campus, but may no longer be eligible for travel to Wausau if “rehomed” to the Wausau campus.
I. A change in home campus requires the issuance by the Chancellor or designee of a new letter of appointment. The employee must receive the change of appointment letter, issued after consultations as described below, no less than one year prior to the beginning of the rehoming change.
II. Rehoming happens within the same department. It is a change of campus location, but usually not department or unit.
III. Rehoming may be initiated by either the employee, or by a department, branch campus, or college dean. Regardless of how the rehoming is initiated, communication among the following parties is necessary: employee affected, employee’s department or unit chair/director, appropriate dean(s), branch campus executive officer(s). Consensus among all parties is the goal, though in the absence of consensus the Associate Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs/Provost will be consulted and shall make the final decision.
a. Voluntary Rehoming
When an equivalent position at another work location (campus) becomes available, or in anticipation of one becoming available, an interested employee in an equivalent position may initiate conversation about rehoming with their department chair, director, or dean. If the chair, director, or dean agrees the positions are equivalent and the employee is qualified for the equivalent work on the other campus, the chair/director, appropriate dean, and any involved branch campus executive officer(s) will meet to evaluate overall effects on programs and campus(s), including the vacated campus assignment. If all parties agree to the rehoming, the department chair or director, prior to rehoming, must put out a call in writing to all other employees in equivalent positions (if any), to share the opportunity to relocate, with a deadline for response. In the case of more than one employee wishing to be rehomed, the department shall make the decision of who to rehome in accordance with department policy. Additionally, the voluntary process may also be initiated by a request for volunteers by the chair/director, appropriate dean, or a branch campus executive officer.
b. Involuntary Rehoming
A department chair, dean, or campus executive officer may initiate conversation about the need for rehoming. Conversations should be built around written and cited data, shared with all parties, showing the need is foreseeable for the long term.
When the rehoming need is based on academic/enrollment need, consultations should weigh effects on both the potentially receiving and potentially vacated campus. Alternatives should be identified and documented. In identifying the employee to be rehomed, skills, fit, and background should be considered as well as another other factors established within the department policy.
Rehoming should occur only after consultation by all parties involved, including an employee’s department chair/director, dean, any involved branch campus executive officer(s), and a meeting with the affected employee. The affected employee has the right to bring a representative to the meeting if desired. Such consultation must be confirmed in writing within thirty (30) days after the initiation of the consultation process.
D. Appeals
If individuals feel that the process outlined in this policy has not taken place, they may appeal UWS Chapters 4, 6, 7, 11, 13 (see Chapter 4A.1), and the UW-Stevens Point University Handbook, Chapter 4A Personnel Rules: UWSP 4A.2) Chapters 4, 6, 7, and 11.
5. Related Documents
UW System Administrative Policy 405: Travel Expense - General Travel & Expense Policy
UW System Administrative Policies and Procedures: 400 Series: Travel