United Academics Faculty Union Exclusion List Guidance for HR Business Partners 

• How To View Exclusions for Your Department
• Who Is Excluded?
• What To Do If You're Uncertain

Every faculty member at the University of Oregon is represented by the United Academics (UA) faculty union unless they have been determined to be excluded on one of the bases below. This is not a matter of faculty choice, voluntary membership in the Union, or personal preference but of legal recognition by the Oregon Employment Relations Board. All faculty, unless they have a legitimate basis to be excluded, are represented by UA. Thus, the fiduciary duty of units to appropriately determine bargaining unit exclusions is of great importance and may result in financial penalties for a unit where the 'bargaining unit description’ field is in error. Please reach out to uoelr@uoregon.edu with any questions. 

Determining Exclusions 

Make sure to check and/or update exclusions: 

1.  During hiring, rehiring, or reappointment processes. 
2.  When a faculty member's role or responsibilities change (e.g., if they're assigned as a supervisor). 
3.  At the end of a period or assignment when a faculty member was in an excluded role. 

How to View Exclusions for Your Unit 

Access the ‘Faculty United Academics Exclusion Report’ in the Human Resources report section of Cognos. 

Updating Faculty Union Representation Status 

Units are responsible for maintaining up-to-date bargaining unit representation status. Here’s how: 

1. For Current Employees/Reappointments: Email HROPS@uoregon.edu with:  
   1. Faculty name and 95#. 
   2. Effective date of the change. 
   3. Updated status (either "represented" or specify the reason for exclusion). 
   4. If a Career faculty member is no longer excluded, University HR Operations will instruct the department to submit an RTO revision.
      • In the RTO internal comments state, "faculty member no longer excluded from UA, remove end date and update membership status effective x/x/xxxx".

HR Operations will then update the record in Banner (PEABARG and NBAPOSN). No exclusion form needed. 

2. For New Hires/Rehires/New Appointments: Faculty exclusions will default as follows: 

• Law School Primary Position: Always excluded. 
• Law School Secondary Position: Primary position considered as a represented. 
• EC Cares: Excluded. 
• Confidential/OA Managerial: Excluded. 
• All Other Faculty: Represented. 

Representation and Exclusion Options Defined: Banner Options Guidance 

Unitd Acd,AAUP/AFT,AFT,AFL-CIO (AA)  

All faculty are represented unless they meet one of the specific exclusions listed below. 

Faculty-Unrepresented-Supervisory (FS): Faculty Supervisory Exclusions Guide 

Basic Principle: 

All faculty supervisors, primarily those in department leadership roles such as Department Heads or higher, are excluded from the bargaining unit. 

Criteria for Supervisory Exclusions: 

Supervisory Responsibilities: A faculty member is excluded if they: 

• Oversee two or more employees in the UA bargaining unit. 
• Possess the “authority in the interest of the employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively to recommend such action, if in connection therewith, the exercise of the authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment.”  
• Typically, if a faculty member is the official supervisor for several faculty members in Banner, they should be excluded due to supervisory responsibilities. 

Be cautious about making changes if a faculty member's exclusion is based on a supervisory role in a department other than their primary appointment. For instance, a faculty member may not have supervisory roles in their home department but might oversee another unit. Your diligence in verifying such scenarios across departments is crucial and appreciated. 

When determining if a faculty member supervises at least two other faculty members (and should therefore be excluded from the bargaining unit), consult the ERB standard below. If still uncertain, contact uoelr@uoregon.edu. 

Supervisory Titles: Faculty holding the following leadership titles are also excluded:  

• President, Provost, Vice Presidents, Vice Provosts, Associate Vice Provosts, Assistant Vice Provosts, Deans, Associate Deans, Assistant Deans, and Department Heads. 

This applies solely to faculty with these titles. OA positions with faculty leadership titles have separate criteria (see below). 

Faculty-Unrepresented (FA): Guidance on Designations Excluding Faculty from the Bargaining Unit (Article 1) 

Use these guidelines to designate Law School, EC Cares, Confidential Employees, and those on short-term appointments concerning their bargaining unit status.  

• Law School Faculty: 
  • Generally, all Law School faculty are excluded. 
  • Exceptions: Faculty with appointments in another unit having a higher FTE than their Law School appointment. 
• EC Cares Faculty: 
  • These faculty members are excluded. 
• Confidential Employees (Rare): 
  • Defined as those assisting and acting confidentially for individuals shaping management policies in collective bargaining. 
• Single Short-Term Appointment (Rare): 
  • Faculty with appointments lasting six weeks or less are typically excluded. 
  • Exceptions: 
    • Summer session appointments. 
    • Hires replacing striking graduate teaching fellows. 
    • Cumulative appointments exceeding six weeks in an academic year. 

OA Managerial-Unrepresented (FS): Clarification on Faculty Leadership Positions and OAs (Officer of Administration) 

• Faculty Leadership Positions as OAs: 
  • Roles like President, Provost, Vice Presidents, and certain levels of Vice Provosts and Deans are OAs are not included on the exclusion list, as they're not viewed as faculty for this purpose. 
• Dual OA / Faculty Positions: 
  • OAs holding both a faculty leadership role as an OA (as mentioned above) and a faculty position (typically "on leave") are included on the exclusion list. 

ERB Standard for Supervisory Status:  

The following is a direct quotation and should be referred to when uncertain about a supervisory exclusion. If still uncertain, contact uoelr@uoregon.edu. 

To determine supervisory status, the Board assesses whether an employee meets the specific criteria set out in ORS 243.650(23)(a), which defines a “supervisory employee” as: 

“any individual having authority in the interest of the employer to hire, transfer, suspend, lay off, recall, promote, discharge, assign, reward or discipline other employees, or responsibly to direct them, or to adjust their grievances, or effectively recommend such action, if in connection therewith, the exercise of the authority is not of a merely routine or clerical nature but requires the use of independent judgment.” 

The supervisory status issue therefore requires the resolution of three questions, each of which must be answered in the affirmative for an employee to be deemed a supervisory employee: (1) Does the employee have the authority to take action or to effectively recommend action be taken in any one of the 12 listed activities? (2) Does the exercise of that authority require the use of independent judgment? (3) Does the employee hold the authority in the interest of management? Significantly, the enumerated supervisory functions in ORS 243.650(23)(a) are read in the disjunctive, such that an employee is a “supervisory employee” if the employee under just one of the 12 statutory criteria.