Faculty and staff may see a reduction in their total compensation packages due to an increase in insurance premiums.
On Jan. 1, the increased premiums officially go into effect for insurance offered through the LSU System and the University’s Office of Benefits. A premium is the amount of money charged by an insurance company for coverage.
Because insurance plans differ depending on coverage, each faculty and staff member will be affected differently, but Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope estimated that most University personnel will see increases between nine and 11 percent. As an example, Cope said his premiums will increase $45.
The increase is the latest in a series of decisions affecting the faculty compensation, including changes in retirement plans and the failure to implement across-the-board raises for a fifth-straight year.
“What happens is that these little erosions chip away at how much of the employee’s salary actually gets back to faculty,” Cope said. “Over time, these little things add up and eventually lead to a decrease in the total compensation. The amount of money actually reaching the employee has gone down.”
As a result of these “little erosions,” LSU Libraries Instruction Coordinator Michael Russo introduced a resolution into the Faculty Senate demanding across-the-board pay raises before the 2013-2014 academic year. The resolution specifically addressed the overall compensation of faculty lagging behind peer institutions but also cites faculty salaries being frozen since the 2010 fiscal year.
Kenneth Mcmillin, Faculty Senate vice president and AgCenter professor, said he wasn’t satisfied with the time period. Instead, he proposed implementing a raise before the end of the current school year.
“I am tired of waiting another year for a raise,” Mcmillin said at the Faculty Senate’s October meeting. “We need to change the resolution to no later than another semester.”
The resolution also blames the decline in salary for the University’s demotion in the U.S. News and World Report’s college rankings.