Procedures and Criteria for Keeping Departments or Divisions Open on Designated Furlough Days

UW-Madison has identified eight mandatory dates that all divisions will need to furlough employees. The dates are as follows:

2009-10

November 27, 2009 (Friday)Day after Thanksgiving

December 30, 2009 (Wednesday)Day before New Year’s Eve

April 2, 2010 (Friday)Last day of Spring Break

May 21, 2010 (Friday)Last day of the Academic Year

2010-11

November 26, 2010 (Friday)Day after Thanksgiving

December 30, 2010 (Thursday)Day before New Year’s Eve

March 18, 2011 (Friday)Last day of Spring Break

May 20, 2011 (Friday)Last day of the Academic Year

Individual or Small Groups of Employees Required to Work on Designated Days, but Department is Closed

In some cases, individualor small groups of employees will need to work on these days to provide essential services or to fulfill obligations made prior to the announcement of the furlough days. Examples include: workers must tend to animals, experiments need to monitored, experimental plants wateredand employee must attend a conference or symposium, etc. The decision to require or allow employees to work on designated furlough days can be made by the department or division.

Departments or Divisions Remaining Open on Designated Days

Although it is in the interest of UW-Madison to have as few departments open as possible, there are circumstances that may require entire departments or divisions to remain open. The decision to allow entire departments or divisions to remain open must be made by the dean or director based on the criteria below. Deans/Directors must inform Lisa Walters at of all departments or divisions remaining open on any of the designated days.

Exemption Criteria for Designated Furlough Days

In order to allow departments or divisions to remain open on any of the designated furlough days, the dean’s/director’s office must determine that one of the following criteria has been met.

Critical Service – Services that cannot be interrupted. These services include, but are not limited to:

  • Police and Security
  • Patient Care
  • Resident Life
  • Campus Utilities
  • Animal Care

Campus Obligation/Opportunity – Activities where a commitment has been made or an important opportunity would be lost.

  • Contracts for Service – Contract has been signed prior to the furlough days being announced that obligates the department or division (e.g., use of special equipment, planned events, etc.). Cancellation of contract will create financial hardship, be disruptive to operations or damage relations with the other party.
  • Announced Event – Event has been announced and rescheduling would create significant hardship for the unit. This includes athletic events, conferences, symposia, etc.
  • Revenue Loss – Closing a department would result in a significant loss of revenue.

Employees required to work on the campus designated days will be provided the ability to use the furlough day on another day. Scheduling this floating furlough day will be based on employee preference and the operational needs of the work area.

Divisions or departments that remain open on one of the four designated days cannot select another day to close their division or department. Allowing individual departments or division to close while the rest of the campus remains open can create customer service problems.

8/25/09