Home < Administrators < Employment < Furlough/Salary Reduction Plan Q&A for Administrators < Plan Participation Plan Participation
What employees are subject to the Plan?
The Plan covers the following types of employees:
- Faculty
- Academic Senate
- Non-Senate
- Non-Senate Academics
- Health Sciences Compensation Plan Faculty Members
- Policy-covered (non-represented) staff
- Career, limited, floater, per diem, and partial year career appointments
- Regular status (career employee who is not required to serve a probationary period or who has passed probation) and probationary employees
- Full-time and part-time
- Represented staff and academic employees (subject to obligations under the Higher Education Employer-Employee Relations Act)
- Senior Management Group Members
- Rehired retirees
- Recalled faculty
- New hires
The following types of employees will not be affected by the Plan:
- START participants if their voluntary reduction is already equal to or exceeds the percent reduction for their respective pay band
- Student employees, including work-study participants
- Medical residents
- H-1B, H-2, H-3 and E3 visa holders
- Without salary (WOS) appointments
- Employees whose participation is precluded by law. (Employees with employment contracts that cannot be changed unilaterally by the University will be asked for a voluntary salary reduction appropriate for their pay band.)
- LBNL employees
- Hastings employees
- Medical Center employees
All members of the Senior Management Group (SMG) will be subject to the plan regardless of the exclusions listed above, for example, senior managers at the Medical Centers. (Revised 9/3/2009)
Are employees who participate in a Voluntary Separation Program subject to the Plan?
Yes. Employees who separate from UC subsequent to the Plan's effective date are subject to the Plan. Severance pay under the VSP will be calculated based on the separating employee's pre-furlough (unreduced) monthly salary. (7/21/09)
Are new academic employees hired on an academic year basis, effective July 1, 2010, subject to the Furlough/Salary Reduction Plan?
New academic employees who are hired on an academic-year basis, effective July 1, 2010, are excluded from the Furlough/Salary Reduction Plan. Per APM-600.4(a), an academic year appointee is in service from the beginning of the fall term through the end of the spring term. The fall 2010 service period begins September 20, 2010. Faculty salaries are normally paid in twelve equal installments for nine months’ service. Based on the “9/12” pay schedule, an academic year appointee’s pay begins on July 1, 2010 for service commencing on September 20, 2010. If the Furlough/Salary Reduction Plan is applied to July 1 academic year appointees, furlough time for July and August will go unused, as the individual is not yet in service.
Fiscal year academic appointees hired effective July 1, 2010 are included in the Furlough/Salary Reduction Plan, as their pay and service periods match. They could use furlough time accrued in July and August. (April 9, 2010)
How will the Plan impact MSP Staff Physicians who have a base, non-base and incentive component to their pay?
The Plan will apply to Staff Physicians who are working in regular staff appointments. Their base pay will be subject to the reduction, and the non-base and incentive components of their pay will be excluded from the reduction. This is consistent with how the Plan will apply to Health Science Compensation Plan faculty. Application of the Plan to Staff Physicians who are contract employees will depend on the terms of the individual contracts. (7/21/09)
How will the Plan apply to employees on individual employment contracts?
This will depend on the terms of the contract. The Plan excludes employees whose participation is precluded by law. Employees with contracts that cannot be changed unilaterally by the University will be asked for a voluntary salary reduction appropriate for their pay band. Human Resources will work with the Office of General Counsel to develop guidelines for how to handle these situations. (7/21/09)
Will the furlough Plan apply to an employee on a leave with pay?
Yes. The employee will receive an accrual of furlough days and a corresponding reduction in pay will apply to the pay they receive while on leave. (7/21/09)
Are employees who are on leave without pay (such as disability, FMLA, personal, etc.) at the time the furlough Plan becomes effective subject to its requirements?
Employees who are on leave without pay at the time the furlough Plan becomes effective on September 1, 2009 will be subject to the furlough Plan beginning at the time they return to work until the end of the Plan on August 31, 2010. (8/5/09)
How will the exclusion for extramural funds be applied?
Compensation that is 100% funded from extramural funds is excluded from the Plan. For those with salaries that are partially funded from extramural funds, the exclusion will apply to that portion of their salary. To the extent an individual has a partial component of their salary reduced, they will also receive the corresponding proportional share of furlough days/hours.
For example, an employee with a $50,000 annual salary, 60 percent funded from General Funds and 40 percent from extramural funds, would be in Salary Band 3 based on his/her full-time salary rate. He/she would accrue 9.6 furlough days during the year (60 percent of 16 days), and his/her salary would be reduced by $1,800 (6 percent of $30,000). It is intended that this process will be incorporated into the initial payroll release and will be effective with September payroll. (8/5/09)
What is the definition of extramural funds?
Extramural funds include federal, state, other government or private contracts and grants (including AARA contracts and grants), cooperative agreements and campus awards of special State appropriations for AIDS, Tobacco, and Breast Cancer research programs. OP has been working with the campus payroll offices to confirm the payroll specifications used to identify extramural funds. (8/5/09)
Will exclusively represented employees whose unions have not agreed to the Furlough Plan be required to take vacation or leave without pay during campus closure days?
Exclusively represented employees whose unions have not agreed to the furlough plan should check the collective bargaining agreement for their unit. Where a contract is in place, employees will choose to use vacation, other accrued time, or leave without pay during campus closure days. For represented employees whose contract has expired, there may need to be collective bargaining on the Furlough Plan and on closure. For these employees, what occurs during closure will depend on the outcome of negotiations. (8/26/09)
Will employees with Partial-Year Career (PYC) appointments be subject to the Plan? Will PYC employees be able to use their regular furloughs to meet the Plan's furlough requirements or will they be required to take furlough days in addition to their regular PYC furlough periods?
A Partial-Year Career appointment, as defined in the staff personnel policies, is established to accommodate foreseeable seasonal fluctuations in staffing, budgetary, operational, or other needs. A PYC appointment contains regularly scheduled periods, not to exceed three months per calendar year, during which the individual remains an employee but is not at work. PYC appointees are subject to the Furlough Plan. PYC appointees will have their salary reduced and be required to use the furlough time allotted under the Furlough Plan during the period they are at work. That is, PYC employees will participate in the Furlough Plan during the time they are working and will not participate during the time they are on PYC furlough. Therefore, their regular PYC furlough cannot be used to meet the requirements of the Furlough Plan. A PYC employee whose pay is spread over 12 months will be subject to the percent pay reduction and should schedule the use of any flexible furlough time during the period he or she is working. (9/3/09)
How will employees be impacted by retroactive cost transfers involving extramural funds? Could an employee become subject to the Plan after-the-fact?
If a department makes a retroactive payroll adjustment, which results in the employee's salary expenses being transferred from an extramural fund to a non-extramural fund source, the employee would not become subject to the Plan with respect to any pay already received by the employee. Conversely, if an employee had been subject to the Plan and his or her salary expenses were subsequently transferred to an extramural fund source, pay already received by the employee would remain subject to the Plan. (9/15/09)
What happens when an employee changes campuses and their salary goes up to a higher tier under the program?
An employee's full-time salary rate, as of January 1, 2009 (or the hire date, if later), will be used to determine the salary band. Inter-campus transfers should have no change in their percent pay reduction due to promotion, merit pay or other increases in compensation. Local Payroll processers are familiar with the necessary forms to ensure continuity of information from one location to another. (9/15/09)
Are students who work in career positions affected by the furlough plan?
If a student is working in an appointment that is not reserved for students, that individual is treated as a regular employee, and the furlough/salary reduction plan would apply (assuming the individual isn't otherwise excluded). If a student is working in more than one appointment, including a "student-only" appointment, the student appointment will not be subject to the furlough/salary reduction plan, but the non-student appointment will be treated as a regular employee and will be subject to the plan.
This is consistent with how student employees are handled for other HR purposes, such as eligibility for health & welfare and retirement benefits. For example, student employees are not eligible to participate in the UC Retirement Plan or in UC's health & welfare benefits program for faculty/staff, but if a student is working in an appointment that is not reserved for students, that individual can be eligible for the Retirement Plan and health & welfare benefits. (10/9/09)
How does the furlough plan affect Senior Management Group (SMG) members?
- All SMG members will be provided only 10 furlough days regardless of their respective salary reduction level.
- The salary band level is determined for SMG members on the same basis as for other affected employees — by using the January 2009 salary. (For example, if an SMG member falls into Salary Band 5, the resulting salary reduction would be 8%, with 10 furlough days.)
- The salary reduction is applied to SMG members regardless of fund source or other furlough exemptions. For example, SMG members at Medical Centers are affected; SMG members with extramural funding are affected.
- SMG members at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory are NOT affected by the furlough/salary reduction plan due to DOE contract requirements.
- Individuals in Acting or Interim SMG appointments are not subject to the special provisions for SMG members. For example, an Acting SMG would not be limited to a maximum accrual of 10 furlough days. This is consistent with the way Acting and Interim SMG members are treated under other HR policies.
- Senior Management Supplemental Benefit Program contributions are determined as a percentage of pay received by the employee; they will be reduced as pay is reduced under the furlough plan.
Will senior leaders who took a 5 percent pay cut earlier this year face further reductions under the furlough/salary reduction plan?
Senior UC leaders, including the President, all Executive and Senior Vice Presidents, the General Counsel and Vice President-Legal Affairs, all Chancellors and Executive Vice Chancellors, volunteered to have their salaries reduced by 5 percent beginning July 1, 2009. With the Regents approval of the furlough/salary reduction plan, the voluntary 5 percent reduction for this group ended effective September 1, 2009, and the senior leaders converted to participating in the furlough/salary reduction plan (with 10 furlough days). (10/9/09)
How is staff in the medical centers impacted?
In an effort to protect patient safety, the UC medical centers were given the opportunity to develop an alternative plan, which would generate the same level of savings as the employee furlough plan. In lieu of employee furloughs, the medical centers have been allowed to meet the required savings, which is equivalent to the amount of savings the furloughs would have achieved, through the elimination of vacant positions, planned attrition, layoffs, management of overtime pay, program closures, voluntary separation program, reduction in the use of contract and temporary labor, elimination of pay increases – except those required by contract, and salary reductions for senior management.
The alternative plan is designed to meet the goals of the Regent's action, while allowing our medical centers to maintain the highest standard of patient care possible and continue the essential services upon which our communities rely.
Furlough Q&A
- Implementation
- Plan Participation
- Furlough Days
- Salary Reduction
- Impact on Benefits
- Part-time Employees
- Separation from the University
- End of Furlough Plan