Many ASU faculty members facing mandatory days off without pay are volunteering to take an equivalent pay reduction while continuing to work.
The University offers volunteer pay cuts instead of furlough days because many faculty and staff members are unable to take time away from teaching or research. Professors are also not allowed to cancel a class because of a furlough day.
Dennis Hoffman, director of the Seidman Research Institute and professor of economics at the W. P. Carey School of Business, said taking time off is difficult because professors typically work around the clock, not just when they’re in the office.
“If I were to take the furlough and just say, ‘All right, I’m not going to do any of my work this furlough day because I’m not getting paid,’ it just effectively punishes me,” he said. “The work won’t go away just because you’re having to do a furlough day.”
Because Hoffman is the director of the Seidman institute, he is required to take 15 days off without pay before June 30. This results in a 5 to 6 percent pay cut for the year, he said, and a considerably higher percentage for the semester.
ASU announced Jan. 28 that all University administrators are required to take 15 furlough days by June 30. Classified staff must take 10 furlough days, and all other employees must take 12.
Professors have commitments to research and service within their departments in addition to teaching that make furlough days difficult to schedule, Hoffman said.
He has encouraged classified staff to take the furlough days and not worry about the work, he said, because in some cases it will have to be delayed.
“But I think for the [research-oriented] faculty, we’re going to be there in the trenches slugging away,” he said.
Sharon Keeler, ASU director of Media Relations, said Feb. 27 is the deadline to sign up to volunteer for a pay reduction instead of taking furlough days.
Several faculty and staff members requested the pay reduction as an option, Keeler said, because of the restrictions that come with furloughs.
“When you agree to take a furlough day you’re not being paid,” she said. “You can’t be sitting in your office working.”
The number of people who signed up for the option as of Wednesday was not immediately available.
Andrew Weed, clinical associate professor at the College of Design, said he chose the volunteer pay reduction over the furlough because he teaches class every day.
“Had I taken 12 days, I would’ve basically had to cancel the semester,” he said. “It would have taken too much time away from the students.”
Had he chosen the furlough option, he said he would have found a replacement to teach his class, but that would only result in another person doing more work without pay.
On top of that, he said he felt taking the furlough option would only punish the students.
“I don’t feel like it’s the students’ fault,” he said.
Reach the reporter at adam.sneed@asu.edu.
