Up to 300 will be fired

Monday, March 2, 2009

New projections on staff attrition indicate that as many as 300 employees could be laid off as Yale copes with the economic downturn, though administrators said Friday that the University will double severance benefits for those who lose their jobs in the next six months.

The grim economic outlook has forced the University to cut deeper into staff salaries, slating the equivalent of 500 to 600 positions for elimination. But in a letter to Yale managers Friday, Vice President for Human Resources and Administration Michael Peel said the typical annual rate of attrition and turnover is only between 300 and 500. Since the gap cannot be closed simply by leaving open positions vacant, the difference will have to be made with some involuntary layoffs, administrators said.

“We’re using the budget reductions to re-look the way work is done,” Peel said in an interview Friday. “And as part of that, we are trying to better accommodate people’s needs in instances we can.”

University President Richard Levin said the layoffs will depend on the decisions of each individual department about how they want to come up with their 7.5 percent personnel cuts.

For those who are laid off, Peel said in the letter, the University will double severance benefits — from one week of pay per year of service to two. All of these employees will be guaranteed at least four weeks of pay, Peel said, and no one will get more than 52.

Administrators said they have not yet determined which departments will be affected by the cuts. Employees who are laid off, though, will have priority if there are job vacancies elsewhere in the University. A career center will be opened to help employees with job searches and training.

Yale’s unionized employees have built-in layoff security policies in their respective contracts — policies that Levin said act as an “unusually strong protective measure.”

Local 34 members, for example, receive up to 15 months of continued pay upon being terminated. Local 35 has in its contract a “no-layoff” clause. Levin explained that the University, not the department, would bear the cost of such protective clauses.

In response to Peel’s letter, a Local 35 executive board member, who refused to be named because the official fears retribution from within the union, said Sunday that Local 34, the union for Yale’s clerical and technical staff, will be targeted for layoffs.

Peel dismissed the claim, saying that it was unfounded speculation.

“Obviously, if there were layoffs, it would affect Local 34, but not disproportionately,” Peel said by phone Sunday night. “Certainly Local 34 won’t be singled out more than any employee group will be singled out.”

Local 34 President Laura Smith said Sunday she had not yet heard indications that Local 34 will be targeted. She added: “It’s not necessarily a big savings for Local 34 workers to be cut.”

Before eliminating regular staff, Peel recommended that managers first turn to eliminating overtime, temporary workers and contractors.

“Eliminating these ‘surge’ expenditures is essential to not only retaining as many staff members as possible as we weather this economic crisis, but also to demonstrate to our people that all alternatives to layoffs are being aggressively pursued,” Peel wrote in the letter.

Peel also recommended in the letter that managers work with employees to allow them to take unpaid leaves during this period of belt-tightening.

And, ultimately, Peel said in the letter, eliminating jobs means eliminating work.

“We are encouraging managers not to just scale back people, but also to look at work that could be eliminated,” Peel said. “Are there things that we can stop doing that is low-value work and that are work that just isn’t important?”

The boost to severance benefits means the University will not immediately see the savings from the layoffs, Provost Peter Salovey explained. But it still helps, he said, because the budget gap resulting from the endowment’s 25 percent plunge will widen over time.

As for fiscal year 2010, the University-ordered 7.5 percent cuts in staff and non-personnel costs will save an additional $37 million on top of the cost-cutting measures announced in December. Still, Yale still has not balanced the entirety of its $100 million budget deficit for fiscal year 2010.

The last large-scale layoff of Yale employees occurred in February 2004, when 76 people were cut, about 40 of whom were members of Local 34. About one-third of Yale’s 9,200 staff currently belong to Local 34.

Paul Needham contributed reporting.

None 2 years, 10 months ago

My lord...if it were not for the C&T Staff..who would then staff the multiple offices throughout Yale. Medical and Central...Come awwn... We all, (most) have positive work ethics,are dedicated and deserve all that we earn..(most of us) we multi task...and do all that is asked of us including all that we were hired for...so, paleeze give me break.... New HAVEN WOULD BE NOTHING W/O THE UNIVERSITY HOWEVER, THE uNIVERSITY WOULD EB NOTHING W/O IT'S DEDICATED UNION WORKERS...tHANKS..

Up to 300 will be fired

Up to 300 will be fired

Comments

9- your story about the promotion supports my point. Labor unions are a primary cause of these layoffs, and we should layoff exclusively unioned workers as a result. Though I realize their contracts are tight, we should do what we can.

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