Dear Members of the GUMC Community:
I am reaching out to follow up on President DeGioia’s message yesterday and share additional information, including details about webinars being offered to help answer questions about the university’s voluntary furlough and the voluntary salary reduction options.
As you know, the university is taking several actions to address the serious financial concerns related to the evolving challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic. These decisions were not taken lightly, nor have they been easy ones to make.
The steps announced yesterday are not the university’s first in response to our economic challenges. As Geoff Chatas, the university’s chief operating officer has shared previously, Georgetown has achieved more than $2 million dollars in salary reductions from more than 50 other senior leaders including President DeGioia, imposed a hiring and salary freeze for this year, and limited all non-essential spending.
As President DeGioia outlined yesterday, the university is now moving forward with additional actions:
- There will be no merit increase for the next fiscal year for all faculty, staff and AAPs.
- The university will temporarily halt contributions to the 403(b) accounts of faculty, staff, and AAPs for the next fiscal year – although this decision will be revisited during the course of the year in light of the university’s financial situation.
- The university has cancelled non-essential capital expenditures.
President DeGioia also outlined two voluntary initiatives that people can participate in that will help our community and the university financially at this difficult time: a voluntary furlough or a voluntary salary reduction.
Voluntary Furlough Program
Georgetown is implementing a voluntary furlough program based on ability to perform available work, as outlined in the Voluntary Furlough Guidelines. This includes both positions for which, due to our current mode of operation, there is an inability to work and positions for which there has been a reduction in the amount of available work. A furlough is a temporary unpaid leave, during which affected individuals remain Georgetown employees.
Staff and AAP employees, including both hourly and exempt employees, are eligible to apply to participate in the Voluntary Furlough Program. Upon approval of senior leadership, this program affords employees the opportunity to take an unpaid leave of absence while retaining benefits. Participation is completely voluntary. Details of the program are below:
- The furlough will go into effect Monday, May 25, 2020, and conclude on Sunday, July 26, 2020.
- Furloughed employees will return to work on Monday, July 27, 2020.
- All furloughed employees will retain their current medical, dental and vision insurance. Georgetown will pay both the employer and employee portions of these insurance premiums during the furlough period.
- Tuition Assistance Program benefits and paid leave accruals, if applicable, will continue while employees are temporarily furloughed.
- Affected employees may file for state unemployment compensation benefits and federal support immediately.
- Upon an employee’s return to work, the university will consider efforts to mitigate economic impacts this furlough may have caused.
- Additional resources, including FAQs, can be found on the Human Resources website.
Informational webinars will be hosted via Zoom on Thursday, May 14 and Friday, May 15, 2020 at 10 a.m and 2 p.m. Representatives from the Department of Human Resources and Office of Faculty and Staff Benefits will discuss the Voluntary Furlough Program and upcoming changes to the university contribution toward the 403(b) retirement plan, and participants will have opportunities to ask questions.
Interested staff and AAPs , as well as12-month faculty at the Medical Center, should apply using this form by 5 p.m., Monday, May 18. Applications will be reviewed by HR and managers, and applicants will be notified in writing as to whether their furlough application has been approved or denied by Friday, May 22.
Voluntary Salary Reduction
In addition to this furlough program, we will offer a voluntary temporary salary reduction program for all faculty, staff, and AAP who wish to participate.
A voluntary cut in salary will help put the institution in the strongest position to protect our academic and research mission. This program will:
- allow any employee to designate a reduction amount or percentage in their annual salary;
- maintain all benefits for participating employees;
- run through the date of the employee’s choosing, any time until June 30, 2021; and
- be done in a confidential manner so that managers, supervisors and academic deans are not aware of employees’ decisions to participate.
We hope that voluntary savings will allow the university to support and maintain funds to assist with:
- increased need for financial support for our community with important programs such as student financial aid, the COVID-19 Crisis Response Fund for Students and the GUCares Employee Emergency Fund.
- loss of revenue during the summer period
- maintain our workforce and direct wage support for our colleagues whose work may be affected by changes in operations
Interested faculty, staff and AAPs should apply using the appropriate form which is available on the HR website. Medical Center Faculty with questions can contact Elliott Crooke, Sr. Associate Dean, Faculty and Academic Affairs. General questions can also be directed to the HR, Benefits and Payroll help line at 202-687-2500.
We recognize that people have different work obligations and financial needs. Not everyone will be able to participate in these two programs. For more information about how you can help, please refer to the “How to Help” section of our COVID-19 website, which outlines ways the community can lend support.
We hope that significant savings through voluntary actions may help the university protect as many jobs as we can, for as long as we can and minimize or avoid future employment actions, such as mandatory furloughs, salary reductions, and/or layoffs.
We have experienced many changes in these last couple of months related to education, research continuity and the clinical experience, and more, we likely will have more changes to life as we know it as the pandemic continues to evolve. I am grateful to all of you for your support of your colleagues and our students on behalf of Georgetown. Thank you.
Sincerely,
Edward B. Healton, MD, MPH
Executive Vice President for Health Sciences
Executive Dean, Georgetown University School of Medicine