SUNY University-Wide Human Resources Manual
Promotion

last update: Thursday, July 8, 2004

The State University of New York seeks to recruit and retain highly qualified individuals for all categories of employment and to provide opportunities for their achievements to be recognized. Promotion is perhaps the best way to recognize superior contributions by entrusting employees with more significant duties and responsibilities and is certainly high on any list of motivators. New York State, the State University of New York, its campuses, and the collective negotiating agents that represent their employees are committed to providing promotional opportunities as evidenced through state laws, rules, and regulations, SUNY policies and procedures, and collective negotiating agreements. However, in order to both preserve New York State's "Merit System" --- designed to ensure that personnel decisions are based on merit and fitness --- and yet to provide the flexibility of allowing peers to judge the merit and fitness of the faculty and professional staff required for the highly specialized disciplines represented in higher education, there are different sets of rules and procedures governing promotions that have been authorized for the different categories of SUNY employment. For classified service employees they are spelled out in the NYS Civil Service Law and the appropriate collective negotiating agreement. For SUNY professional staff (Academic Employees, Professional Employees, and Management-Confidential employees), the authorities are the SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees, the agreement between the State and the SUNY Professional Services Negotiating Unit, and, for Management/Confidential employees, the M/C Handbook. Links to these resources are included in the references at the end of this section. The purpose of this section is to provide a general overview of how promotions are administered for the different categories of SUNY employees. First though, it is important to define "promotion" for the purposes of this section:

Promotion means an increase in an employee's basic annual salary accompanied by movement to a higher salary grade/level with a change in title. Two distinct routes exist for such promotions. They are:

• Vacancy Promotion.
  Movement to another position of greater scope and complexity resulting in a permanent and significant increase or change in the employee's duties and responsibilities; or
  
  
• Reclassification Promotion.
  Reclassification of the employee's current position to a higher grade/level as a result of a permanent increase in the scope and complexity of function of the employee's position. [This is generally the preferred way in which academic promotions are effected. It avoids the need to appoint/move the academic employee to a different line item.]

In addition to the general promotional guidelines provided by the Civil Service Law and Rules, SUNY Policies, and the varous collective negotiating agreements, it is also necessary to review reemployment rights of employees who have been subject to layoff or retrenchmenet before considering the promotion of employees to vacant positions, or the reclassification of employees' current positions. In some cases, employees who have been subject to layoff or retrenchmenet may have first claim to these titles/positions.

Also, as a general rule, the minimum salary following promotion is the minimum of the new salary grade/level. Dependent upon the the category of employmenet, it could be this minimum or a percentage increase in basic annual salary determined by the number of salary grades the employee has been increased as a result of the promotion, whichever is higher. For details consult with the appropriate collective negotiating agreement or manual for the category or employment.

Although it is felt that a complete reading of this section will be most informative, it is recognized that some visitors may want to quickly review the information for a specific category of employment so this table of links is provided.

Academic Employees
Within the guidance provided by the SUNY Policies of theBoard of Trustees and the SUNY professional services collective negotating agreement, the academic leadership and academic employees on a campus are generally involved in the establishment and implementation of policies and procedures for the promotion of academic employees. Because of differences among the various academic disciplines autonomy may exist even down to the departmental appointment, promotion and tenure(APT) committee level in regards to the interpretation and application of promotional standards used in determing whom to recommend for promotion. Except for promtion to "distinguished" rank, the authority for academic promotions is the campus chief administrative officer, usually a president. Recommendations for promotion generally follow the review by a departmental APT committee of a promotion file prepared by an academic employee that addresses her/his mastery of subject matter, effectiveness in teaching, scholarly ability, effectiveness in University service and continuing growth among other considerations. Length of service may be a consideration but may not be used as a qualifier.

Campuses develop their own forms and timetables for academic employees to use and follow for the submission of promotion applications as long as they are consistent with the SUNY Polcies of the Board of Trustees and the SUNY Professional Services Negotiating Unit Agreement.

[Note: Sometimes candidates for academic appointment do not yet possess the minimum qualifications for the rank that was advertised but the announcement still permits them to be considered for appointment. Typically the shorfall is that the candidate is in ABD status -- having completed all but their discertation for the Ph.D. In such circumstances appointees who might otherwise be appointed to the tenure track rank of Assistant Professor might be appointed in qualified academic rank as Lecturer or Visiting Assistant Professor. Campuses should have a clear and consistent policy in place regarding whether the subsequent attainment of the minimum qualifications and movement to academic rank is to be considered a promotion or simply a movement to tenure track. Generally, such movement is not considered a promotion and such appointees to academic rank from qualified academic rank are not listed as having been promoted or eligible for a promotional salary increase.]

Distinguished Academic Rank
Academic employees cannot apply for promotion to distinguished ranks. "Promotion to distinguished rank is based upon a nomination from the campus community. For examples, nominations for the Distinguished Service Professorship should arise from the entire faculty, student body, and administration based on continuing and recognized service. Nominations for the Distinguished Teaching Professorship should arise from the entire faculty and student body based on continuing and recognized teaching quality. The local selection committee is responsible for soliciting suggestions and selecting potential candidates for appointment to the rank" [SUNY Provost's Office].

Distinguished rank promotions are available only to academic rank employees who have attained the rank of Professor, or for Distinguished Librarian rank, the rank of Librarian. Such promotions carry tenure in rank if not already attained and up to a $2,500 salary increase.

The authority for promotion to the coveted ranks of Distinguished Teaching Professor or Distringuished Service Professor is the SUNY Board of Trustees upon the recommendation of the Chancellor. Campuses may annually submit candidates for promotion to these distinguished ranks based upon an allocation that depends upon the number for full-time full professors at the campus the previous fall semester. Campuses with 125 or more full professors receive two allocations for each rank while campuses with 124 or fewer full professors receive one allocation for each rank. The criteria and guidelines for these promotions may be found by following the "Distinguished Professor Rank Guidelines" link in the references at the end of this section. There are no specific annual allocations for other distinguished ranks because the standards for having a national or even international reputation in one's field are so high that a campus may only periodically have candidates worthy of nomination.

"The distinguished ranks are ranks above that of full professor or librarian. It is expected that individuals so appointed will be accorded such support as is appropriate to their endeavors consistent with the resources of the campus. The campus catalogue will list Distinguished Librarians, Distinguished Professors, Distinguished Service Professors, and Distinguished Teaching Professors separately at the head of the faculty list. Such persons will be placed again in the faculty list, and their specific rank will be indicated." [Guidelines from SUNY Provost Office.]

Professional Employees
Campuses may develop their own promotional policies and procedures including application procedures and forms, as long as they are in accordance with the SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees, SUNY Professional Services Negotiating Unit Agreement, the Memoranda of Understanding Between State University of New York and United University Professions Relating to Systems of Evaluation and Promotion for Professional Employees as revised in 1989, and the Management Advisory Committee on Classification and Compensation's Professional Employee Salary Guidelines. Links to these documents are provided in the references at the end of this section.

Some, but not all, campuses have established local guidelines for professional employee promotions that give current employees first consideration. Additionally, the SUNY-Wide vacancy posting requirements outlined in the Memorandum of Understanding referenced above provide opportunities for employees of all SUNY campuses to be aware of and apply for professional staff vacancies on the different campuses, albeit without the guarantee of preferential treatment.

Although the SUNY-Wide posting of vacancies was initially required only for positions in the SUNY Professional Services Negotiating Unit, by past practice SUNY has included Management/Confidential positions in its University-Wide postings. As a result, an arbitrator has ruled that Managerial/Confidential positions must be included in the notice of vacany requirements contained in the Retrenchment Article of the SUNY Professional Services Unit Agreement.

Under certain circumstances a professional employee may appeal for a promotion or a salary increase to peer committees if s/he can demonstrate that there has been a permanent and significant increase in her/his duties and responsibilities as a consequence of a permanent increase in the scope and complexity of function of the position, and the when such employee has requested such promotion or salary increase recommendation from his/her supervisor and the request has been denied. The procedures and requirements for such appeals are spelled out in the Memorana of Understanding referenced above.

Professional Employees promoted to a professional title in which permanent appointment may be granted or to Appendix A titles (SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees) must be appointed to a one-year probationary appointment. During this period their former position must be held for them (only can be filled on a temporary basis). Although a probationary appointment may be terminated at any time by management, approval of requests from probationary promotees to return to their former positions is at the discretion of the appointing authority. Once a probationary appointee has successfully completed the probationary year, they no longer have any claim to their former title, except possibly as a result of retrenchment, and they are appointed to an appropriate term, five-year term, or permanent appointment in accordance with provisions of the SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees depending upon the title of the position to which they are appointed and the the type of appointment held prior to the promotion, notwithstanding that professsional employees may be given temporary promotions subject only to the provisions for such temporary appointments - e.g. to provide time for a recruitment search or to fill in for someone on leave.

Management/Confidential Employees
By past practice, SUNY Management/Confidential vacancies are distributed or posted across the university using the same procedures as for other professional staff vacancies. Although there have been no direct career ladder promotional opportunities defined for SUNY Professional Service Managerial/Confidential positions, all employees who deem themselves qualified who meet the posting requirements may apply for consideration.

Classified Service Staff

Competitive
Similar to the open-competitive examination requirements for initial appointment to the competitive class, promotions within the competitive class are dependent first upon a candidate's obtaining a passing score on a promotional examinination that is high enough to make him/her reachable (in the top three) on a promotional list of eligibles certified by the NYS Department of Civil Service. The following quote from the NYS Civil Service Law describes the application of the "rule of three" in the selection of candidates for appointment or promotion from a competitive list:

Appointment or promotion from an eligible list to a position in the competitive class shall be made by the selection of one of the three persons certified by the appropriate civil service commission as standing highest on such eligible list who are willing to accept such appointment or promotion; provided, however, that the state or a municipal commission may provide, by rule, that where it is necessary to break ties among eligibles having the same final examination ratings in order to determine their respective standings on the eligible list, appointment or promotion may be made by the selection of any eligible whose final examination rating is equal to or higher than the final examination rating of the third highest standing eligible willing to accept such appointment or promotion. Appointments and promotions shall be made from the eligible list most nearly appropriate for the position to be filled.

Under the civil service rules for implementing the civil service law there may be three different lists established as a result of a promotional examination. One will be an agency specific list (for SUNY, a campus), a geographic regional list, and a state-wide list. In canvassing for above entry-level titles (promotional opportunities), campuses must first exhaust their campus-specific promotional list, before they can canvass the reginonal list which likewise must be exhausted before they can canvass the state-wide list of eligibles. A list is exhausted when there are no longer at least 3 eligibles willing and able to accept appointment.

There are several ways for individuals passing a promotional examination who become reachable to be promoted. They include being canvassed for vacancies in titles covered by the examination at their own campus or at other regional or state-wide agencies as their own agency specific promotional lists are exhausted. Another more limited way is the reclassification of the eligible and reachable employee's current position at their current campus. However, reclassification promotions are dependent upon whether or not the duties and responsibilities to be assigned to the reclassified position are sufficient enough to justify the higher grade and salary, and, the placement of the position and similar positions within the organization. The fact that an employee passes an examination and is reachable for promotion is not sufficient enough justification to reclassify the individual's current position unless the duties and responsibilities support it. See Classification - Positions/Job in the Table of Contents of this manual for more information about classification/reclassification.

There is one other "exceptional" way that competitive class employees may be appointed to titles similar to their current title but up to two grades higher without being on a list of eligibles. This is when such a vacancy exists or is being created and there are no eligible candidates on preferred lists, reemployment rosters, or three candidates remaining on departmental or interdepartmental promotion lists for the title. Under such circumstances, it may be possible, under certain circumstances, to transfer an employee already holding permanent appointment to this title without examination. There is a checklist to assist in determining when such transfers are acceptable that is available in Section 1800(D) of the State Personnel Manual (See Competive Service Transfer in the references at the end of this section.)

Collective negotiating agreements require campuses to develop procedures for notifying employees when competitive examinations are announced by the Department of Civil Service and to distribute or post announcements of competitive vacancies on the campus.

Non-Competitive
Most if not all of the non-competitive titles classified at SUNY campuses are in the Operational Services Negotiating Unit. For such represented employees the procedures for promotion are provided in Articel 45 of the Operational Services Agreement and you can find a link to this article at the end of this section. In accordance with this agreement, campuses must establish procedures for distributing or posting vacancy announcements for at least 15 days prior to filling them. Within those 15 days, current employees who wish to be considered must file appropriate notice to their campus in accordance with campus procedures. Article 45 states, in part:

"Appointment to higher salaried [emphasis supplied] vacant positions in the non-competitive class shall be made on the basis of seniority from among the employees bidding pursuant to Section 45.1(b), provided the candidate meets the posting qualifications required, meets the legitimate operating needs of the department or agency, and has the ability to perform duties and responsibilities satisfactorily. The requirement to prove qualification shall rest with the employee."

For these purposes, seniority is defined as the employee's length of service in the Operational Services Negotiating Unit. This service need not be on the basis of permanent appointment but may include temporary appointments as well. It is important to note that these provisons, including the use of seniority, only apply to "higer salaried" positions and not to bidding on lateral transfers.

Article 45 of the Operational Services Agreement is exceptional in its support of the State's concepts of career service and career ladders. While managers might determine that one candidate is "best qualified" among bidders for a particular [higher salaried] job they generally are unable to appoint such "best qualified" candidate if it is determined that other bidders with more seniority could do the job satisfactorily. Many labor-mangement disagreements have occurred over the methods for determining whether or not senior candidates might be able to do the job satisfactory, but, because appointees must serve a probationary period, collective negotiating agents have successfully argued that campuses should give the senior candidate the promotional opportunity unless it is clear, form past performance, credentials, and performance evaluations that the employee would be unable to preform the duties and responsibilities satisfactorily.

Similar to the competitive class, except that no examinations and eligible lists are involved, non-competitive class employees may be promoted through the reclassification of their current positions in exceptional circumstances.

Labor Class
Only a few labor class titles are used at SUNY campuses. They include Building Service Aide, Cleaner, Farmhand, Laboratory Helper, Laborer, Library Aide, Maintenance Helper, Messman, Parking Services Attendant, Plant Utilities Helper, Seaman, Security Servcies Aide, Senior Parking Services Attendant, and Supply Assistant. Because these titles are generally considered unskilled and entry level, there are not many promotional opportunities within them. There are a few exceptions and they often create some confusion for campuses. The most commonly appearing promtional biddings within the labor class itself are when Cleaners (SG5) bid for vacancies in the higher salaried titles of Laborer (SG6) and Maintenance Helper (SG6). Often they believe that they are entitled to the Article 45 seniority provisions -- but, they are not. A careful reading of Article 45 shows that the seniority provision makes no mention of Labor Class, it only affords this provision to those bidding on higher salaried non-competitive class vacancies. So, appointment and or promotion to Labor Class positions, even when they are "higer salaried" are not restricted by seniority provisions.

On the other hand, the seniority of Labor Class employees who bid on Non-Competitive vacancies must be considered and they can be appointed ahead of employees currently serving in Non-Competitive titles if they (Labor Class) employees have greater seniority.

Similar to the competitive class, except that no examinations and eligible lists are involved, non-competitive class employees may be promoted through the reclassification of their current positions in exceptional circumstances.

Exempt
Promotion to positions in the exempt class are effected through supervisory evaluations and selection. Currently there are no exempt classified service titles in use in SUNY. This section will be updated if and when a campus, or campuses, use such a title or titles again.

Graduate/Teaching Assistants
There are only two titles in this category of employment. They are Graduate Assistant and Teaching Assistant. The use of these titles is determined by the nature of the duties and responsilities to be assigned -- instructional duties for teaching assistants and non-instructional support duties for graduate assistants. Consequently, there are no promotional opportunities within this specific employment category. However, graduate assistants and teaching assistants are welcome and encouraged to apply for vacancies on their campuses, or within SUNY, for which they deem themselves qualified upon completion of their graduate studies.

Reference(s):

Article 45 (Posting and Job Vacancies) Operational Service Agreement
http://www.goer.state.ny.us/CNA/1999to2003/cseaosu/03art45.html

Competitive (Classified Service) Appointment and Promotion (Article 4, Title B, sections 60 & 61 NYS Civil Service Law)
http://assembly.state.ny.us/leg/?cl=18&a=11

Competitive Examination Announcements (Department of Civil Service)
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/announ/mainpages/misc.htm

Competitive Service Transfer (up to two grades) (See 1840 and 1840(D) of the State Personnel Management Manual)
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/SSD-online/Manuals/SPMM/SPMMTitlePage2.htm

Distinguished Professor Rank Guidelines (this link includes both Chancellor's Award and Distinguished Rank guidelines)

Memoranda of Understanding Between State University of New York and United University Professions Relating to Systems of Evaluation and Promotion for Professional Employees
http://www.goer.state.ny.us/cna/1999to2003/uuppsnu/08appa28.html

Management/Confidential Handbook (GOER) - (Not everything contained in this manual pertains to the SUNY Professiona Service M/C Employees)
http://www.goer.state.ny.us/mc/handbook/index.html

Probation (Classified Service) (See Section 2010 of the State Personnel Managemenet Manual)
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/SSD-online/Manuals/SPMM/SPMMTitlePage2.htm

Professional Employee Salary Guidelines (MACCC)

Retrenchment (SUNY Professional Service Negotiating Unit Agreement)
http://www.goer.state.ny.us/CNA/1999to2003/uuppsnu/08art35.html

SUNY Policies of the Board of Trustees (See Article XII)
http://www.suny.edu/Board_of_Trustees/PDF/Policies.pdf

Transfer Rights (Article 34, SUNY Professional Services Unit Agreement)
http://www.goer.state.ny.us/CNA/1999to2003/uuppsnu/08art34.html

Form(s):

Competitive (Classified Service) Promotional Examination Application Filing by Phone
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/announ/mainpages/ApplicationbyPhone.htm

Competitive (Classified Service) Promotional Examination Application Filing On-Line
http://www.cs.state.ny.us/announ/mainpages/ApplicationonLine.htm