Development and Application of the Just Employment Policy Assessment in American Higher Education Institutions

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has heightened the visibility of economic inequality and the inadequacy of current minimum wage laws in the United States. Changes in the minimum wage, a living wage, or just employment practices may be compelled by law or voluntarily enacted by employers. A literature search failed to yield a concise and practical tool to comprehensively assess existing just employment policies or practices in higher education institutions. This article describes the development of a concise and practical assessment based on the Model Just Employment Policy from the Kalmanovitz Initiative for Labor and the Working Poor at Georgetown University. The resulting Just Employment Policy Assessment is used to evaluate the publicly available policies of four disparate higher education institutions in the United States. The article concludes with a discussion of implications for future research and administrative practice.