MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Nearly 900 WVU employees have been furloughed in response to the millions of dollars lost by the university due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The temporary furloughs, which workers were alerted of Friday, is expected to save WVU around $4 million, according to WVU Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Rob Alsop.
“We are going to come out of this, we are going to be a strong institution going forward,” Alsop said Friday afternoon. “It was necessary at this point in time to take this step, and others to make sure we are really strong going into the future.”
Alsop said furlough decisions were made based on what functions are required to keep university functioning at this time of year.
“We did an analysis of over the next 45 to 60 days, given that our campus is closed and some of our revenue streams have dried up,” Alsop said. “What employees do we have that have been on home work assignments that are not critical over that time period.”
The furloughs, which begin May 24, will last either a month or two months. Workers will keep their benefits and also be allowed to sign-up for unemployment benefits. In some cases, workers will make more on unemployment than their actual WVU salaries because of the $600 weekly additional benefits through the CARES Act. Alsop first told workers of the possibility last month.
Additionally, President Gordon Gee and members of the senior staff have taken a 10 percent pay cut and limits on travel and supplies have been enacted.
WVU Athletic Director Shane Lyons said that coaches and athletic staff making more than $100,000 will receive a 5% reduction, while a 2.5% reduction will be implemented to staff salaries less than $100,000. A total of 65 athletic-oriented employees were furloughed, some of those workers will not return and open positions will not be filled.
Alsop said the call back of furloughed workers will depend on the ramp up for the fall semester.
“As we ramp back up toward bringing our students back on campus this fall, based on the need for employee operational needs we’ll have them return to campus,” Alsop said. “It will primarily be that June 28 or July 26 date.”
Enrollment numbers were slightly behind 2019 numbers during the last Board of Governor’s meeting, but Alsop said the university appears to be in a relatively strong position.
“We are planning for a number of scenarios, but the good news is, we continue to be trending above what some of the fearful estimates we’re hearing across the country,” he said.
Every aspect of university operations is being reviewed, according to Alsop.
“What we will do with everything right now, is we’re going to look at what is the core strategic priority of the university,” Alsop said. “If there’s something that we’re doing that we can’t afford in the future, we’ll look at it and determine whether we should continue on that path.”
WVU has already announced it plans to reopen for the fall with a possible mix of in-person and online courses.