Attack of the HR red tape

So I'm sitting here at my computer, trying to read through a position description of a secretary who works in the liberal arts. She applied for a resclassification of her position to a state classification of Secretary III (which I am). Her application was denied and she has appealed the denial. In these cases, her original application and the appeal documentation must be reviewed by an independent Committee which is required to include a staff person at the Secretary III level (me). The Committee is formed by the State Board of Regents (you wanna talk about the BIG guys? here you go). This is the second time I've been asked to sit on the appeal committee for a reclassification. The first one was relatively easy. This one has SO MANY documents my eyes are going crossed trying to determine, "What did she mean by this? Is this truly a Sec. III job duty?" Of course, I have to read this tonight because the conference call to discuss it is tomorrow morning.

I always feel bad for these individuals. They, just like me, are overwhelmed with work in an institution where mention of budget cuts makes everyone cringe and pray their department or program is not about to get the axe. It's what life is like in Iowa right now. This is a woman just trying to do her job and get fair reimbursement for her work. Me, the person who believes that HR is "the evil one", has been roped into being an HR judge & jury to determine whether or not this person is going to get a bigger salary and a promotion in rank. Makes me feel like slime sometimes. Maybe it's a strategy to make me conform - turn me into "one of them". *twilight zone music* Oh well. Can't always be the buddy in these situations. Sometimes you gotta do what you just gotta do.