Sunday, February 28, 2016

Taking a Closer Look at the Layoffs: An Estimate of Who Gets What

Apparently, those layoff notices that went out Friday had a number of effective dates. While I do not know the date of each individual notice, I can make some estimates based on the dates I do know about. Please remember that these figures are estimates.

I think staff and faculty layoff dates are probably all either April 30 or August 15. The dates for administrators, however, vary and some apparently extend until February 2017. The reason for this variance can be found in the Board of Trustees Regulations which provide notification for employees who “serve at the pleasure of the President,” and whose terminations are “without cause.” First, the notices received by those administrators should be notices of termination, not layoff, since the Board Regulations contain no language about administrative layoffs. Here are the Board Regulations:

The regulations specify that the University President is entitled to 6 months notification in her/his first and second years, a full year after that time.

For other “at-will” administrators, three months notification is required during the first year of employment, six months notification during years two through five, and one year notification for any administrator with more than five years.

Now what does this mean, exactly? The “notification” is a terminal period of employment, with full pay, based on years of employment. So, how much is it going to cost to pay the salaries of the various employee classifications from March 1 through their separation dates? Since I do not have specific dates for each employee, I am making my best guess for those persons in administrative categories. I am going to use May 1, 2016, as the date the university runs out of money. For the purposes of this analysis, I am going to place the Deans and Chairs into the same category as faculty, using a separation date of August 15, 2016. Here are the dates of the various employee categories:

For staff, I will use April 30, 2016 as the effective date.
For faculty and academic administrators, I will use August 15, 2016 as the effective date.
For all other administrators, I will use May 30, 2016, August 30, 2016, and February 28, 2017 as the effective dates.

Finally, I will break down the salaries into two categories: paid between March 1 and April 30, 2016, and paid after April 30, 2016. Here are the estimated totals:


I am not sure if the Board will treat every one of the scores of administrators blighting the place as "at will" employees subject to notification provisions, but it seems fair to say that at least the senior administrators are looking at a nice terminal employment package. While after April 30, all other university employees get either nothing (staff), or only payment for work already performed (faculty), our Board regulations take very good care of our administrative employees. I do not blame the administrators, but here are some of the lucky recipients of the university's generosity:

The Provost is apparently entitled to six months' notice. That comes to $75,000 after April 30.
The Vice President and General Counsel is apparently entitled to one year's notice. That comes to $129,170 after April 30.
The Vice President of Human Resources is apparently entitled to one year's notice. That comes to $120,830 after April 30.
The Associate Vice President of Enrollment Management is apparently entitled to one year's notice. That comes to $94,420 after April 30.
The Associate Vice President of Student Affairs is apparently entitled to six months' notice. That comes to $41,667 after April 30.
The Associate Vice President of Equal Opportunity is apparently entitled to one year's notice. That comes to $91,670 after April 30.
The Associate Vice President of Administration and Finance is apparently entitled to six months' notice. That comes to $39,480 after April 30.
The Associate Vice President of Athletics is apparently entitled to three months' notice. That comes to $10,417 after April 30.
The Vice President of Administration and Finance is apparently entitled to three months' notice. That comes to an estimated $13,333 after April 30.

I could go on, but you get the idea. After the first layoffs occur on April 30, and after the university ceases to be able to make payroll after that date, these 9 persons will be entitled to $615,987 in compensation. Of course, with the staff laid off after April 30 and faculty all laid off after August 15, it seems unclear what these administrators are going to administer. I guess that's OK in this state. In any event, these layoffs are going to be damned expensive for someone in Illinois.






7 comments:

  1. According to my chair the date for chairpersons is April 30.

    They have been feeding the chairs manure sandwiches for years. Why shouldn't they kick them to the curb?

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  2. The board regulations you mentioned...does every university draw up their own versions of regulations regarding layoff notifications (and the hierarchy of who gets more time than others) or is there any sort of legal standard that needs to be followed when forming these regulations (specifically also when it is in regards to financial exigency). Is there any outside party (AAUP? IBHE?, etc.) that oversees the protocols and procedures when a university declares financial exigency and sends out these notices to make sure they (the Board, President, & administrators) are not violating any rights/regulation or just generally doing things that would be deemed questionable/unethical.

    And President Calhoun is stating that the school is not going to close (at least not in the Fall 2016)...If it does, but at a reduced level, does this mean that since notices were sent to ALL faculty - those not recalled will have right to a hearing, as I was reading in AAUP's RIR? It's just worrisome with the way this board has operated in the past that it wouldn't be surprising to not be operating on the "up and up" now and it doesn't seem appropriate with the dire circumstances that oversight by an outside party/organization isn't required.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Robert, Bryan Alexander has been writing about CSU and Illinois higher education recently. You might want to go by and comment.

    http://bryanalexander.org/

    PS I syndicated Faculty Voice to Precarious Faculty on Facebook

    ReplyDelete
  4. We were told that HR will be watching for abuse of sick days.

    I see stress on the face of every employee here. That stress will lead to more problems controlling hypertension, diabetes, etc. There may even be some heart attacks and strokes.

    Back off HR!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Completely asinine! What are they going to about sick leave abuse, lay the employees off?

      Delete
  5. See what Watson's up to now.

    Retired HBCU Presidents Start Search Firm for Black-College Leaders - The Chronicle of Higher Education
    http://chronicle.com/article/Retired-HBCU-Presidents-Start/235539/

    ReplyDelete
  6. speaking of 'financial exigency', you would think they would like at salaries and how to reduce them. i.e. ITD. I heard that the one of the Directors was demoted, no longer over the network, pc, and telephones. He/she only does telephones. CSU never reduced their salary or title. This person is making 6 figures doing half the work. What about the person who took two six-week vacations in their first year of employment. They must be FOW.

    ReplyDelete