Non-Aligned Personnel Cost Saving Update

Colleagues,

NJIT has engaged in a comprehensive effort to plan for the long-term financial health of the university while addressing the serious fiscal impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. We have made many prudent decisions to date, including a salary freeze, a hiring pause, a voluntary separation incentive program, a voluntary furlough program, a suspension of university funded contributions to the defined contribution retirement plan for salaries over $175,000, reduced discretionary spending by departments, and a delay on many new capital projects. In addition, the members of the senior leadership team have taken a reduction in compensation and have donated to the Highlander Student Emergency Fund. These actions have provided significant budget relief but are not sufficient to address our Fiscal Year 2021 budget deficit.

NJIT has been widely recognized for its remarkable achievements as a higher education institution because of you, members of the NJIT community. We deeply value each and every NJIT employee and want to mitigate layoffs during this difficult time. To do so, we plan a two-part personnel savings plan. All staff will be required to forfeit 9 vacation days from their vacation bank as of June 30, 2020, and take 2 furlough days between August 1 and December 31, 2020. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we believe that this will eliminate the need for any fiscal-based layoffs through our six-month budget planning period, which ends in December 2020. The terms of the furlough days and vacation give back are as follows:

1. Staff members will have their vacation leave banks as of 6/30/2020 reduced by nine (9) working days (63 hours) and will take two (2) unpaid leave days as furlough days between 8/1/2020 and 12/31/2020. Staff may alternately elect to have their vacation banks reduced by six (6) working days (42 hours) and take four (4) unpaid furlough days through this request form.
2. All furlough days shall be scheduled in consultation with and subject to supervisory approval in order to minimize operational or educational disruption. Furlough days will be applied the last week of December for any staff members who have not scheduled furlough days by the prior pay period.
3. In the event that a staff member has made vacation plans that were previously scheduled and approved prior to July 1 and has insufficient vacation days left in his/her bank as a result of the vacation leave bank adjustment, he/she will be able to apply available personal leave time to such planned vacation leave, and the remainder (if any) of the approved leave may be taken as unpaid leave.
4. During any period of an unpaid furlough leave, there will be no diminution of health benefits and staff will continue to accrue paid leave pursuant to the non-aligned vacation policy.

We are committed to responding to these budgetary challenges in a thoughtful and measured way that supports NJIT's staff and honors your contributions to our success. You have been instrumental in helping the university persevere during this pandemic, and we appreciate your continued efforts.

Please stay well, and thank you.

Sincerely,

President Joel S. Bloom