New Caregiver Program & Survey Update

We want to follow-up on the survey we sent out to HUCTW parents and caregivers on August 19. Thank you to the 600+ members with dependents who took part! The data and stories you provided have been extremely helpful in our ongoing discussions with Harvard, helping to illustrate some of the many challenges facing HUCTW members during the COVID-19 pandemic for the University. To this end, we want to make sure that you saw the message sent out by Harvard Human Resources yesterday (9/21) announcing the creation of a new, temporary paid time off benefit for Harvard staff with dependents. We also wanted to provide you with a summary of the survey results.…

Salary Increase Calculator

The next pay raise for HUCTW members will be delivered on October 1, 2020. You need to have been on the payroll for one full year as of October 1, 2020 to be eligible for the full 2020 raise. The average member (which is someone who earns approximately $61,500 and has at least one year of service) will receive about a 3.5% salary increase to their base pay. You can use a downloadable (Excel) salary calculator below to determine your estimated salary increase for 2020. Members with less than one year of service will receive pro-rated increases of 1% or 2%, depending on their months of service.…

It’s Moving Season!

Are you renting or buying a new home this fall? HUCTW and Harvard University Employee Credit Union (HUECU) offer members three types of 0% interest loans to help members with costs of (1) first and last month's rent or moving into a new rental home, (2) moving into a new purchased home, or (3) home owner emergencies. Check out the HUCTW Home Loan Program application page to download the loan affidavits and guidelines for all three loan programs.…

Black Lives Matter: HUCTW Solidarity

We are outraged by the unjust killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, Tony McDade, and the countless black lives lost to racist violence, institutional discrimination, and police brutality, both recently and throughout our country’s history. As human beings, and particularly as advocates for economic and social justice, we must commit to the eradication of racism in our communities, our country, and the wider world. HUCTW stands in solidarity with protesters and with Black Lives Matter in the urgent fight for racial justice, equality, and human rights.…

Tax on TAP: What Is “Job-Related”?

As we mentioned our email message from July, in order to ensure compliance with IRS policy, Harvard will begin withholding tax from your paycheck for any graduate-level tuition benefits (TAP/TRP) you receive from Harvard over $5250 per year for NON job-related classes. You may be able to avoid owing tax on your class up front, if you use Harvard's Graduate Credit TAP Form to make an argument that your course is job-related in the "Job-Relatedness Attestation" section of the form. The following page gives some examples and further explanation of how to apply the "job-relatedness" standard.…

Peter Berry

We're sad to share the news that our HUCTW office colleague and friend, Peter Berry, passed away from an aggressive cancer on March 9, 2020. Peter worked at Harvard’s Fogg Art Museum for 16 years before joining the staff of HUCTW in 2010 as an Organizer, working with Union members and University leaders across the campus. He was a quiet leader who nurtured the self-advocacy of others and modeled a union organizer’s most important skill: listening. His wonderful wit, modesty, and attention to detail appeared in everything he did -- his union organizing, his ceramic artwork, and the house he built with the help of his loving parents and his life partner of 36 years, Andy.…

Tuition Assistance Deadline Extension: April 24

The deadline to apply for reimbursement of your TAP tax has been extended to Friday, April 24. If your course is not job-related or if you are not able to get your supervisor’s signature on your TAP form, you can apply for 80% reimbursement of any tax you owe on Harvard courses for this semester. As you may recall from an earlier email we sent, Harvard is now withholding tax for graduate-level tuition benefits that meet certain criteria. If you are taking a Harvard class during the spring semester, please read this entire message as it lists two different ways for you to avoid owing most or all tax on your TAP benefits this semester.…

HUCTW’s Top 10 Accomplishments of the Decade

We hope 2020 is off to a great start for you! As we enter a new decade, we thought it would be a good opportunity to look back at some of our Union’s achievements over the previous ten years, including gains in: our health insurance coverage, flexible schedules and working from home, pay raises, reducing the use of the unbenefited workers, funds to support members lives outside of work, protections for term positions, increasing the size of our union, enhancing our 0% interest loan programs, and helping members every day improve their working lives.…

Help for Staff with Immigration Concerns

The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program (HIRC) offers free legal representation and social service support to members of the Harvard community with immigration concerns. HIRC services are available to all the undocumented/DACAmented members of the community and those who are concerned about falling out of legal status. HIRC legal representation includes assistance with filing immigration applications, representing clients before USCIS in Immigration Court, and beyond.…

Working from Home When It Snows

Sometimes members will reach out to the HUCTW office because they’ve heard from a supervisor that HUCTW staff aren’t allowed to work from home when it snows, or as part of a flexible schedule. When a supervisor makes a statement like this, it is probably because they are unfamiliar with Harvard-HUCTW contract language on flexible schedules and inclement weather. This contract language makes it clear that flexible schedule requests from HUCTW members can’t be “unreasonably denied,” including requests to work from home on a one-off basis, or as part of an ongoing flexible schedule. …

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