Furloughs?

[Biologist_]

We haven't heard anything yet, but I wouldn't be surprised if furloughs happen next year. It might be the best option to deal with severe budget constraints.

After the 2008 financial crisis, many state employees were subject to 10% furloughs, including faculty. We had the option to cancel classes with the guideline that we should not cut more than 10% of the instruction for any given class. Some faculty decided that it would be more of a hassle to figure out how to cut material out of an existing course than it would be to teach for 10% lower pay and take furlough on non-teaching days. Some took full advantage of the days off. Some decided to cut a few days out of course X but leave course Y intact. We were not supposed to be on campus on our selected furlough days, but no one really enforced that, so some folks came in to work on research or other work anyway.

[Hibush]

It looks as if the CARES act will allow us to partially furlough (eg move to half time) some employees who can't do much work from home. Between unemployment and CARES funding, they would have full-time or greater income for the next few months. That will preserve funds to pay more people in the fall when we start teaching again (in some fashion).

[spork]

Penn State furloughs 2,000 employees at half pay to the end of this fiscal year:

https://triblive.com/news/pennsylvania/penn-state-furloughing-staff-and-cutting-spending-after-100-million-in-losses/.

[polly_mer]

CHE is now tracking announced layoffs and furloughs with a table

[fast_and_bulbous]

UW-Madison has a progressive furlough policy starting tomorrow, where the more you make the more days you are cut. Most people are affected (grad students are not).

[AJ_Katz]

No furloughs here yet...  they want us to make permanent budget reductions instead.  We're projecting what to cut for 5, 7.5, and 10% permanent budget cuts to our department.

[Vkw10]

We're also doing permanent budget reductions, which will mean layoffs in some units. We have an early separation incentive, which may encourage a few who are retirement eligible. I hear the furlough option is being saved given likelihood of state funding cuts in 2021.

[AJ_Katz]

We're also doing permanent budget reductions, which will mean layoffs in some units. We have an early separation incentive, which may encourage a few who are retirement eligible. I hear the furlough option is being saved given likelihood of state funding cuts in 2021.

They had an early retirement package about a year ago, but I don't think they can afford one now because those usually "cost" them a year of salary as part of the incentive.  Fortunately, we were able to identify two upcoming staff retirements, but they aren't crediting our department for a faculty line loss last fall or the one last spring.  Very tough times and hopefully we can avoid layoffs.  The future is looking less and less bright though...

[mahagonny]

Being furloughed means you still have a job. While many Americans are losing employment, or facing that likelihood, academics here are looking at either furloughs, or the possibility of them. Except this one here:

Yep. Just heard that OnlyGameInTown Community College is beginning the process, though of course they're not using the word furlough. As an adjunct, I expect that means I'm toast. Once I hear it officially, this will mean I'm out of the profession - I call my CC OnlyGameInTown quite deliberately, and I am geographically immobile.

Looks like I need to practice saying "Do you want fries with that?"

:(

Larimar

Academic employment has a human shield.

[spork]

Some years ago at a different institution, there were faculty furloughs. The rule was that on furlough days, we could not use university resources. However, all classes had to be taught and basically we couldn't do anything that would impact students. What do other colleges do?

We took furlough days between terms when we were on contract, but not teaching.  I remember one term where we were told explicitly to get our grades in as quickly as possible and then take furlough days to finish out the month.

We now have a few staff on 12-month contracts doing voluntary furloughs over the summer.

Can someone explain to me how a furlough for faculty on 9-month contracts is supposed to work if the furlough occurs during those 9 months? At least in my case, I'm doing work all year long -- preparing courses, communicating with colleagues and students, doing research, and in some cases teaching on overload pay.

[polly_mer]

Furlough was explained to me as "don't do any work that day".  In practice, it meant being paid less for doing all the things I knew were necessary.

It was very clear how furlough worked when my primary duties were teaching and committee work.

It was very clear how a furlough day would work when I was an administrator.

However, as a professional with research tasks and service to the profession, it's unusual to have a full day with no work at all unless it's a special day like attending an all-day family event.  Even then, I usually wedge in a couple hours of something before the events begin.

[Ruralguy]

The problem starts when they declare July 5 a furlough day (or whatever weekday falls around then this year).
If you are on a 9 month, you can't be furloughed on a day you aren't contracted for. So, they really have to just be more honest, call it an annual salary cut of x%, and say that you aren't to show up on campus for anything. It's the same thing, but it's all in the wording.

[mahagonny]

Yes. So far it's been limited to food service, janitorial, etc. staff. I'd like to see some VPs, AVPs, etc. added to the list.

The savings from eliminating one high salary position that could be done without altogether could make a big positive difference. Of course this was always true.

[spork]

The problem starts when they declare July 5 a furlough day (or whatever weekday falls around then this year).
If you are on a 9 month, you can't be furloughed on a day you aren't contracted for. So, they really have to just be more honest, call it an annual salary cut of x%, and say that you aren't to show up on campus for anything. It's the same thing, but it's all in the wording.

I suspect in October there will be an announcement about faculty getting furloughed over winter break. Technically there is a month in which we aren't teaching, so it's possible to cut salaries this way by 1/9. This will happen after an early September announcement that the university will end its contributions to employee retirement accounts.

If the furlough happens, I'll be tempted not to open my university email for the duration. And no trips to campus or virtual meetings either.

[jerseyjay]

After the financial crash, we had to take a certain number of furlough days. In essence it is a just a way to say pay cut without saying so.

We were not allowed to take a furlough day on a day in which we taught or had departmental meetings. I don't think we were allowed to take a day on which we had a committee meeting. Most of us took them on Friday, in which we don't usually have any formal tasks.

I remember people getting up at meetings and asking administrators whether they should do research or prepare lectures or grade on furlough days. The official line was, do what you think is necessary so long as they don't fall on teaching days.

Of course, since the grading, prep and research needs to get done, if we didn't do it on Friday we would just have to do it on Saturday or Sunday. So it was, as I said, a pay cut with a different name.

If I know in advance there is going to be something similar this semester, I might cut down the number of assignments I give to better accommodate  having to take  furlough days. Of course, I might also do this to anticipate the larger class sizes due to possibly making all the adjuncts redundant.  But there is a limit to how much I could do this and still believe I am doing an effective job as a teacher.

So, again, the bottom line is that furlough days are really nothing more than a pay cut.