UW to start second round of furloughs, increase minimum wage in January

The University of Wisconsin-Madison will implement more furloughs for spring semester to help offset revenue losses from the COVID-19 pandemic. The first round of unpaid leave, announced in August, ends this month.

Furloughs will begin Jan. 1 and last through June 30 to allow time for employees’ pay to return to normal, Chancellor Rebecca Blank said in an email Monday. They will have the same graduated structure as the current furloughs, ranging from three monthly furlough days with a 2.5% pay reduction to six monthly furlough days with a 4.6% pay reduction.

The university estimates that revenue between March and the end of this fiscal year in June 2021 will be about $320 million less than anticipated, Blank said. Some of the shortfall was offset through cost savings efforts, such as $27 million in savings from furloughs and salary reductions.

“The remaining gap is still very large, however, larger than any that we’ve faced in any past year,” Blank said. “It will take careful stewardship to chart a path back to financial stability.”

Read more: https://madison.com/ct/news/local/education/uw-to-start-second-round-of-furloughs-increase-minimum-wage-in-january/article_f41681b4-86dc-5630-8270-ebfe43994567.html