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What’s a Day Worth?

UVA will not force mandatory furlough

How much does it cost to pay every University employee for one day of work? More than $2 million.

After several months of cost analysis, the University of Virginia recently decided not to make its employees take a mandatory statewide furlough. In September, then-Governor Tim Kaine announced that his plans to address the state’s growing budget shortfall would include a mandatory one-day furlough—or eight hours of unpaid leave—for all state employees.

The General Assembly is allowing institutions of higher education to forgo the furlough day as long as they pay the state back. The academic division of the University will need to pay the state $1.3 million, while the medical center will owe $950,000.

UVA Vice President and Chief Human Resources Officer Susan Carkeek says, “These have been difficult times I think for everybody and our employees have been struggling. We haven’t been able to do a salary increase for the past couple of years. And yet our employees have stuck with us.”

“The bottom line is that University of Virginia employees will not lose a day’s pay and there will be no change to the University’s schedule,” President John Casteen wrote in a letter to University staff. “We decided that while there were many ways to allocate these funds, there was no higher purpose than an investment in our people.”