2015 West Virginia Code
CHAPTER 18B. HIGHER EDUCATION
ARTICLE 7. PERSONNEL GENERALLY.
§18B-7-1. Legislative intent and purpose.

(a) The intent of the Legislature in enacting this article and articles eight, nine and nine-a of this chapter is to establish a statewide, integrated higher education human resources system capable of, but not limited to, meeting the following objectives:

(1) Providing benefits to the citizens of the State of West Virginia by supporting the public policy agenda as articulated by state policymakers;

(2) Assuring fiscal responsibility by making the best use of scarce resources;

(3) Promoting fairness, accountability, credibility, and transparency in personnel decisionmaking;

(4) Reducing or, wherever possible, eliminating arbitrary and capricious decisions affecting employees of higher education organizations as defined in section two, article nine-a of this chapter;

(5) Creating a stable, self-regulating human resources system capable of evolving to meet changing needs;

(6) Providing for institutional flexibility with meaningful accountability;

(7) Adhering to federal and state laws;

(8) Adhering to duly promulgated and adopted rules; and

(9) Implementing best practices throughout the state higher education system.

(10) Providing current, reliable data to governing boards, the commission, the council, the Governor and the Legislature to inform the decision-making process of these policymakers.

(b) To accomplish these goals, the Legislature encourages organizations to pursue a human resources strategy which provides monetary and nonmonetary returns to employees in exchange for their time, talents and efforts to meet articulated goals, objectives and priorities of the state, the commission and council, and the organization. The system should maximize the recruitment, motivation and retention of highly qualified employees, ensure satisfaction and engagement of employees with their jobs, ensure job performance and achieve desired results.

(c) It is the intent of the Legislature to establish a human resources strategy that is fair, accountable, credible, transparent and systematic. In recognition of the importance of these qualities, the human resources strategy outlined in this article, together with articles eight, nine and nine-a of this chapter, is designated and may be cited as "FACTS for Higher Education".

(d) It is the intent of the Legislature to require each higher education organization to achieve full funding of the salary schedule established in section three, article nine of this chapter. A higher education organization, as defined in section two, article nine-a of this chapter, is subject to the provisions of article nine of this chapter until full funding is reached.

(e) It is further the intent of the Legislature to encourage strongly that each organization dedicate a portion of future tuition increases to fund the classified salary schedule, and after full funding of the salary schedule is achieved, to move toward meeting salary goals for faculty, classified and nonclassified employees.