Furloughs continue another year

By Darrell Bazzell,
Vice Chancellor for Administration

We have made it through a challenging first year of state-mandated employee furloughs, which were imposed as a way for the state of Wisconsin to save money in difficult budget times.

I want to thank the campus community for pulling together and helping to manage these furloughs and their impacts. We realize the extent of the personal and job-related challenges these unpaid days produced, and appreciate the professional way that employees handled this difficult situation.

It has not been easy for us to administer these furloughs or for you to manage their impacts on your jobs and families.

The second year of employee furloughs has begun. Because we intend to be fully compliant with this state mandate, we hope to again experience the same high levels of cooperation and teamwork that we saw during the past year.

As was the case in the last fiscal year, 12-month employees must take eight annual furlough days. Those on nine-month appointments have six furlough days. For most of our employees, four of those will result from designated campuswide furlough days with the remainder selected based on employee preference.

On designated furlough days, the campus will be closed for all but essential services. We have carefully scheduled these campus closings to avoid interfering with any classroom instruction.

For the 2010–11 academic year, the designated campuswide furlough days include:

• Friday, Nov. 26 (day after Thanksgiving)

• Thursday, Dec. 30 (the day before New Year’s Eve)
• Friday, March 18 (the last day of spring break)
• Monday, May 16 (the day after commencement weekend)

Please note that our final campuswide furlough day of the academic year has been changed to Monday, May 16, from Friday, May 20. The change was made to accommodate the 2010 National Science Olympiad Tournament, an event that will draw 5,000 students, parents, judges and others to campus from May 18–21.

As was the case last year, the current state budget protects employees’ full retirement contributions, despite the furloughs.

Our employees are the key to UW–Madison’s pre-eminence in teaching, research and outreach. We value everyone’s contributions in keeping this university strong and vibrant, especially during these tough economic times.

For questions, please contact your human resources representative or visit UW–Madison and the State Budget for FAQs and other information about the effects of the state budget on the university.