A furlough plan for state-funded employees of the University of Maryland, College Park was announced Tuesday. The plan applies to the university’s 2011 fiscal year that begins July 1st, the university website said.
The university community received an e-mail at 6 p.m. Tuesday from President C.D. Mote, Jr., detailing a plan that will help the school achieve a state-mandated $10.2 million cut in salaries.
“Alas, while we have succeeded in avoiding further layoffs and while many employees will experience some reduction in furlough days, furloughs remain with us for another year,” Mote said in his e-mail, referring to the slightly more severe 2010 furlough plan.
Under the new plan, the university will be closed on Thursday, Dec. 23, 2010 and Thursday, March 24, 2011, an official university document included with Mote’s e-mail said.
Faculty and staff members whose salaries are paid at least partially by state of Maryland funds are also required to take up to ten additional furlough days, the document said. Employees who are paid entirely with funds from outside grants are not affected by the plan, the document said.
The number of additional days employees are required to take depends on the amount of money an employee receives as salary from state funds, the document said.
A university employee who makes less than $35,000 that is paid from state funds will have to take one additional day. Employees who are paid $250,000 or more in state funds are required to take ten additional days.
The number of additional furlough days required for employees whose salaries fall between these extremes is determined on a sliding scale in half-day increments, the document said.
Faculty members must take their furlough days between Sept. 26, 2010 and June 4, 2011 and staff members must take their days between July 4, 2010 and June 4, 2011, the document said.
The plan was instituted in order to comply with the budget the state allocated to the university, Mote’s e-mail said.
The furlough plan may have a negative effect of the recruitment of new faculty and staff members, the document said.
The university employs approximately 9,000 faculty and staff members, according to university statistics from 2009 listed on the university’s website.
The following documents were included with Mote’s e-mail:
http://www.uhr.umd.edu/furlough_2011/FY2011_UMCP_Furlough_Plan.pdf
http://www.uhr.umd.edu/furlough_2011/Furlough_June_2011_FAQ.pdf
