Home < Administrators < Employment < Furlough/Salary Reduction Plan Q&A for Administrators < Furlough Days Furlough Days
How will furlough days be scheduled?
Campuses will have the flexibility to establish local procedures. Some or all furlough days may be formally scheduled by a campus, division or department. Employees should be given advance notice of these closure days. Any leftover furlough days that have been allotted to the employee may be discretionary days off with agreement from the employee's supervisor. In practice, furlough days will be tracked in the payroll system. To the extent employees are given discretion to schedule some or all of their furlough days, the intent is for the days to be used each month as the days are accrued during the 12 months the Plan is in effect. (Revised 8/5/09)
How will the furlough days be kept track of?
At most locations, the payroll system will be used to track the accrual and use of furlough days. The appropriate number of furlough hours will be added into a furlough bank each month. For example, a full-time employee in Salary Band 4 will accrue approximately 12 hours of furlough time a month (1 1/2 days) for a total of 18 days during the 12-month term of the Plan. Furlough hours will be subtracted in the system when they are used. Campuses will also use local leave tracking systems to monitor the use of furlough days. (Revised 8/5/09)
What if an employee reaches his/her maximum vacation accrual?
Furlough days are not vacation days. They are days off of work that correspond to a reduction in pay. Therefore, there is no change to current policies and procedures regarding the accrual of vacation time. (Revised 8/5/09)
Can an employee make arrangements with his/her supervisor to accumulate furlough days to use all at once during or at the end of the furlough period?
Any furlough days that are in excess of those used for campus closures are intended to be used on a monthly basis spread over the course of the furlough period. However, accrued furlough days may be saved up and used in blocks prior to the end of the furlough period with the supervisor's agreement. (8/5/09)
Can employees use furlough days in advance during an extended campus closure period?
If an employee has not yet accrued sufficient furlough time to cover mandated closures, the employee may use furlough time before it has actually accrued with the supervisor's approval. There is no maximum amount of furlough time that may be advanced, except that it will be capped at the employee's allotted number of days per his/her salary band. If an employee will not accrue sufficient furlough time over the Furlough Plan term to cover the mandated closure days, the employee may use vacation leave in conjunction with furlough time for mandated closures. For example, if an employee will accrue a total of 5 furlough days over the Plan term, and the campus has 6 mandated closure days, the employee will use the 5 furlough days and can use vacation leave for the 6th closure day. (8/26/09)
Must furloughs be taken as full days off or can they be taken in hourly increments?
Generally, furlough time should be recorded the same as vacation - in one-day increments for exempt employees, ¼ hour increments for non-exempt employees. Campuses may establish local procedures for recording furlough time. (7/21/09)
During a campus closure, will Chancellors have the authority to exclude employees from the Plan to continue critical services on the campus, such as animal care workers, child care workers, research support staff tending 24/7 facilities, etc.?
The Plan approved by the Regents included as a stated principle that "Flexibility on the use of furloughs is incorporated into the Plan to minimize disruption of essential services and work on campuses, the medical centers, and the Office of the President." In keeping with that principle, campuses will have the latitude to manage the schedules of workers as necessary to support continuously operating facilities (e.g. to support animal care in continuously operating animal research facilities/operations). These employees will still accrue furlough days and experience a corresponding reduction in pay, and they will be expected to use the furlough time during the Plan term. (8/5/09)
What happens to unused furlough time at the end of the program?
Employees are expected to use all of their furlough days during the Plan term. Furlough time is not like vacation time or comp time that can be banked for later use. Furlough time that is not used as expected during the Plan term will expire at the end of the Plan term and is not carried forward. (8/5/09)
Can an employee be called in to work on a designated furlough day?
If the designated day is scheduled as a campus closure day, an employee cannot be called in to work unless required for critical business need.
If the designated day is scheduled by the employee as a floating furlough day, an employee cannot be called in to work unless there is a business necessity and the employee is given reasonable advance notice. However, every effort is to be made by the employee's supervisor to find an alternative solution to having the employee come in to work. If an employee is required to work on a floating furlough day, every effort is to be made to reschedule another furlough day as soon as possible at the convenience of the employee and with the supervisor's agreement. (8/5/09)
Can an employee voluntarily come to work on his/her floating furlough day to take advantage of training or educational opportunities?
If an employee comes in for work-related training or education, it is considered a work day and not a furlough day. An employee who wants to take advantage of a training or educational opportunity on a day that he/she scheduled as a furlough day must schedule an alternative furlough day. (8/5/09)
What happens if an employee plans to take a furlough day but is called into work on an emergency and actually has to work that day?
That day becomes a work day, and the employee should schedule another furlough day as soon as possible thereafter as a replacement. (8/26/09)
Can managers or supervisors ask employees to work additional hours to make up for time away from work on a furlough day?
Managers and supervisors should not require exempt or non-exempt employees to work extra time during the week a furlough day is scheduled. Requiring employees to work extra time to make up for time away from work is contrary to the Regents' intent and the spirit of the furlough/salary reduction plan. The plan provides employees with non-working furlough days and a corresponding reduction in salary. (9/3/09)
My supervisor says there is too much work in our department, and it may not be possible to schedule all my furlough days during the term of the furlough plan. What should I do?
Managers and supervisors must manage employees furlough time to ensure that it is all used by the end of the plan term. It is strongly recommended that supervisors work with their employees to develop individual furlough schedules at the outset of the plan term. Staff employees with concerns about the scheduling of furlough time should contact their local Human Resources office; academic employees should contact their local Academic Personnel office. (9/3/09)
On their furlough days, are staff employees permitted to do consulting work in an area that is similar to their work with the University? What about working with the same vendors/companies with which the University conducts business?
Employees are permitted to work for others. However, under state conflict-of interest law, employees are, under certain conditions, required to disqualify themselves from making, participating in, or influencing University decisions that will have a financial effect on the sources of their income. The employee might not be able to give advice, make recommendations or communicate with the University decision-maker about matters concerning the company for whom the employee works. This may affect an employee's ability to perform his or her job duties. An employee should consult with his or her supervisor if there are concerns about outside employment interfering with the employee's ability to perform his or her job duties. Also, employees must not provide services to a vendor if those services are related to a contract between the University and the vendor. (9/3/09)
Will an employee with an "H" visa be subject to the Plan requirements if he or she has applied for permanent residency status?
Foreign national employees working pursuant to H-1B, H-2, H-3 and E-3 visas are exempt from the requirements of the Plan because any change in the terms of and conditions of their employment requires additional submissions for federal agency approval. (Such restrictions do not apply to H-4 visa holders who are therefore subject to the Plan.) If an employee working under an H-1B, H-2, H-3 or E-3 visa has filed an application for permanent residence that is pending, the visa wage requirements would still apply and the employee would remain exempt from the Plan until the visa petition expires or is withdrawn by the University. (9/3/09)
Is it possible that some employees may receive a pay-cut but not any furlough days?
An employee paid with a stipend may not receive any automatically accrued furlough days if the rest of his/her pay is excluded from the Plan, e.g., because the employee is paid from extramural funds and receives a stipend for the amount of his/her pay over the NIH cap. In such cases, the percentage of the stipend amount to the employee's full-time rate of pay that would otherwise be subject to the Plan should be used to manually calculate the number of furlough days owed the employee. This percentage would be multiplied by the employee's total number of furlough days associated with his/her salary band. (9/15/09)
How do I manage furlough time for variable time or per diem employees since they work "as needed?"
Many variable time employees receive vacation time and arranging furlough time for variable time or per diem employees should work similarly. When an employee is provided with their schedule for the coming pay period such as the next Bi-Weekly, they will request furlough time in lieu of work for some of the offered hours. Managers and supervisors must manage employees' furlough time to ensure that it is all used by the end of the plan term. Once the furlough time has been taken it can be reported in the Payroll system and the employee will receive pay for the hours taken. (9/15/09)