The University of Connecticut will furlough nonunion managers, cutting pay by as much as 10%, and is canceling pay raises, as the school projects a $50 million budget shortfall largely due to a campus shutdown amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a letter to non-union managers, UConn President Thomas Katsouleas said beginning next month most managers not represented by a union will be furloughed for one day per month, resulting in a 5% cut to their annual pay. Non-union senior managers who have the highest salaries, Katsouleas said, will be furloughed for two days per month, which adds up to a 10% cut in annual pay.
Additionally, Katsouleas wrote, UConn will cancel planned pay raises for most non-union managers.
“The university faces its largest projected budget deficit in its history,” Katsouleas wrote. “If there is a light at the end of the tunnel, it is that once the virus passes and we can resume full inperson operation.”
In the letter, Katsouleas said despite UConn implementing hiring and spending restrictions, and receiving $21.5 million through the federal CARES Act, the university’s best case scenario projection is a $50 million budget shortfall for the coming year.
That dismal budget projection, however, looks better than a worst case scenario in which UConn couldn’t open its campus for the fall, 2020 semester. In a late-April Board of Trustees meeting Katsouleas said UConn could lose up to $121.6 million in housing, dining and other fees in that case.
But earlier this month, UConn released preliminary plans to reopen its campuses for the fall semester, including to residential students at its flagship Storrs campus, and its Stamford campus.
Under the draft plan, Katsouleas said, fall semester classes would begin Aug. 31, as a mix of in-person, online and hybrid formats. In-person classroom layouts will space students at least six feet from each other.Â
Like reopening plans at the University of Hartford and Connecticut State Colleges and Universities, UConn students won’t return to campus after the Thanksgiving break, and will complete the semester remotely.
Resident halls at UConn’s flagship Storrs and Stamford campuses will open, but housing will be assigned differently than before in order to ensure lower density, Katsouleas said. Residential students will be required to return to campus two weeks before classes begin, so that they can be tested for COVID-19, and possibly quarantine if positive.
In his letter to employees notifying them of non-union manager furloughs, Katsouleas referenced the planned reduction of density as a factor in the pay cuts.
“Financial losses of the university are compounded by our need to de-densify campuses and hence underfill residence halls and take on other expenses associated with keeping those on campus safe,” Katsouleas wrote.
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