Minimum Wage Increase Q&A

Prepare for a minimum wage increase from $10.10 to $10.33 with Associate Vice President of Human Resources Fredericka Hayes.

What’s Ferris going to look like this coming year with the new changes to minimum wage? 

Minimum wage changes every January 1 currently under Michigan law. So when that comes into place, we look and review which employee groups because it’s not necessarily always students are below that minimum wage, and what we do on our site, because that’s an automatic change by law, we put together lists and make those changes automatic automatically to the system of effective the minimum wage implementation date, so it’s the January one. So, there it’s just a process for us, to be honest, because it’s one required by law, and we look to see who’s below and just make that move. So, no department has to individually do anything. It’s just a process change, and we want to make sure that it occurs to everyone that is affected.

Do you do anything with people who are making above minimum wage? 

 We don’t do anything. So, in terms of student employment, if you look on the student employment website, there’s pay bands, those determinations of where positions sit. HR is involved with in that conversation with groups based on a position, not necessarily individuals. So, positions have pay bans. So if someone is in a pay band and a supervisor may want a position change or individual change, there’s a process that they go through for submitting that change and when reviewing do they have budget because those have to be paid for and then if I pay band changes, if they want a difference between pay bands, what is the justification for that, making sure that everyone in a similar type position in a department is moved not just the individual so there’s processes that we do for pay reviews that are outside what occurs in terms of a state law.

Is there anything specific that you feel like students should know about this just as they’re going into the new year and might see these changes?

I always encourage anybody that when there’s a change, look at your pay stub, and does it make sense to you about what’s on that pay stub? You know, based on the number of hours you make etcetera, are based on number of hours you work? Does it match what you what your expectation is of what that change is? So, it’s not just a minimum wage, I would say you know, sometimes it’s position change. It’s the start of the year. I always encourage everyone to look at your price up. Make sure that it has on it what you’re expecting, and obviously if it doesn’t, then you would contact HR we’d investigate.