University of Colorado Boulder will institute pay cuts and furloughs for more than 3,000 employees as campus leaders wrestle with dire budget predictions tied to economic impact of coronavirus.
Approximately 3,240 employees who earn more than $60,000 a year or $28.85 per hour will have their pay reduced by 5% for the next year, Chancellor Phil DiStefano announced in a letter to faculty and staff today. That number represents nearly a third of campus employees, which numbered 9,961 as of the 2019 fall census.
Employees who are exempt from pay cuts and furloughs include those who are temporary, students, on certain work visas or classified, those who are already on a similar furlough through their department and employees whose positions are at least 50% funded by sponsorships or gifts.
The pay cuts take effect next month and will last from July 1 to June 30, 2021. Campus leaders in officer positions — the chancellor, provost, chief operations officer, vice chancellors, associate vice chancellors and deans — are taking furloughs that equal a 10% reduction in pay.
“We are facing one of the most challenging times in university history, and we do not take lightly the financial decisions we’ve made over the last few months,” DiStefano wrote to employees. “We know that livelihoods are in the balance and are trying to be as creative as possible to address financial shortfalls.”
For university staff and faculty who work year-round, like researchers and library faculty, the reduction in pay will happen through 12 furlough days that the employees can choose when to take throughout the year, said Chief Operations Officer Patrick O’Rourke.
“Rather than forcing folks to take those on a particular day or a particular rate, we are giving employees and departments flexibility to schedule those in a way that we can continue to meet the needs of students, faculty and staff,” O’Rourke said.
Faculty members who work nine months a year, such as tenured and tenure-track faculty, will have their pay reduced by 5% and will not have any furlough days.
CU Boulder is facing funding shortfalls that could range from $121 million to $651 million, and temporary pay cuts are meant to save jobs, said Provost Russell Moore. Reducing employee pay will save an estimated $15.1 million.
Starting pay cuts at the $60,000 salary level was a decision made in collaboration with the CU system and other campuses, O’Rourke said, and took into consideration how employees who make less money would be disproportionately affected by a pay cut or furlough.
“We recognize there’s no perfect place to establish that threshold,” he said.
If an employee earning more than $60,000 would make less than $60,000 after the 5% cut — for example, those earning $61,000 — their pay will instead be reduced to $60,000, according to the university.
Employees who make more than $60,000 but are on continuous furlough will also be subject to the pay cuts once they return to work. New employees who start work after June 9 will not be subject to the pay cuts or furloughs.
Faculty members were not directly involved in the decision to institute pay cuts or furloughs, said Boulder Faculty Assembly Chair Bob Ferry, but were informed of the decision on Wednesday.
“If 5% keeps everybody working and nobody has to be laid off, I think the majority of faculty would accept that salary cut, and I think that’s part of the calculation,” Ferry said. “It’s unfortunate, but it’s the right thing to do if it keeps everyone working.”
Law Professor Jennifer Hendricks said she was frustrated that the pay cuts were not progressive, which would mean higher earners had higher pay cuts.
“We have a progressive tax system for a reason, and the same kinds of reasons apply to this situation,” she said.
O’Rourke emphasized that campus officers are taking a 10% pay cut through furloughs, compared to the 5% reduction for other employees.
“What we don’t want to do, particularly on the faculty side, is to create disproportionate impact on people performing similar services,” O’Rourke said. “We didn’t want to have faculty in the College of Business taking a 10% pay cut and faculty in the College of Arts and Sciences take a 5% pay cut because they have similar duties and are performing similar work.”
O’Rourke acknowledged that while those two groups perform similar duties and similar work, they are paid differently.
CU Boulder’s Human Resources will begin notifying employees of pay cuts on Friday, and all notifications will be sent out by June 19.
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CU Boulder cuts pay for employees earning more than $60k - Longmont Times-Call
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