Jaeger said that he believed HUCTW membership would see a significant jump from the reclassification. He said that the union had previously informally expressed some concern to the University about the improper classification of employees. He said he was glad to see such a thorough effort to make sure employees were classified correctly.

Many of the jobs that were reclassified were in the information technology field.

Affected employees will not see changes in title or base salary. The University has also agreed to continue offering to the reclassified employees all benefits ordinarily given only to exempt employees. However, employees hired for these positions in future years will not be given such benefits.

The changes in classification are retroactive to July 1, 1999, so employees who are now subject to overtime payments will be able to request compensation for any documented overtime worked since that date.

Mary C. “Polly” Price, Harvard’s associate vice president for human resources, said that the University is uncertain of the added cost that reclassification will cause in future years. She noted that supervisors will be less likely to have these employees work overtime now that such work must be compensated.

While the changes will only increase employee compensation, some have expressed concerns about the potential effects of being reclassified into the non-exempt status.

“I think it was a broad concern,” said Christianna H. Morgan, administrator of the women’s studies program. “Because the process moved slowly, apprehension built over time.”