The University of Wisconsin is facing a petition to the state attorney general from a group of academic staff and faculty, which claims meetings to restructure the university’s human resources system have not been held in compliance with state law.

The Wisconsin University Union, a private, not-for-profit organization for UW faculty and academic staff, filed a petition to request Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen’s determination of whether closed meetings hosted to develop the new policies violate the state’s Open Meetings Law.

These meetings have been held as part of the Human Resources Design Project, a two-year initiative to redesign the entire personnel policy for all 16,000 employees on campus, that began after the state budget repair bill ended collective bargaining for unions. The new policies and procedures developed under the project will include policies for compensation, benefits, layoffs and other personnel-related issues.

WUU focused on Advisory Committee meetings in the petition, which coordinate projects completed by the various teams of the HR Design Project.

In a statement released Monday, organization leadership said they filed two requests to College of Letters and Science Dean Gary Sandefur to request the meetings be opened to the public. The first request was denied and the second ignored, according to the statement.

The statement also said members are prepared to use all available legal means to ensure UW officials comply with the law, adding they are prepared to file a formal complaint or lawsuit with the Dane County District Attorney.

“Open meetings are especially important when employees, managers and consultants are engaged in policy making that will govern every aspect of the employment relationship for 16,000 employees,” WUU member David Ahrens said in the statement.

Ahrens added the apparent violation of the law is in “sharp contrast” to the rhetoric used by the HR Design Project, which is said to value transparency.

Sandefur responded in a letter to the union group in February that the meetings did not constitute an open meetings violation because the Design Project’s Advisory Committee does not qualify as a governmental body that would be required to have meetings be open to the public.

He added the advisory committee functions as a measure aimed at administrative efficiency, rather than by constitution, statute, rule or order, meaning the state Open Meetings Law does not apply.

“That said, we do intend to operate the Advisory Committee with openness and transparency that is consistent with the efficient conduct of the committee’s business and free flow of ideas and deliberation,” Sandefur said in the letter.

Sandefur added the committee has allowed observers upon request at the discretion of the Design Project chair or co-chair.

WUU challenged Sandefur’s definition of the proceedings, responding in a letter that the meetings are regularly scheduled and staffed by members of the UW administration and are meetings in which significant governmental issues are deliberated.

“Wisconsin’s Open Meetings Law allows citizens to observe government officials as they create policies that affect citizens’ lives,” Ahrens said. “Employees appointed to a policy making or advisory body by senior government officials are as subject to the law as are elected officials.”