OFFICE OF THE ASSISTANT VICE CHANCELLOR - HUMAN RESOURCES
June 3, 1994
KEY ADMINISTRATORS/KEY SUPPORT STAFF
SUBJECT: Time Reduction Incentive Plan
The University's special voluntary Time Reduction Incentive Plan (TRIP) is being extended through June 30, 1995 to enable career employees to help the University respond to the 1994-95 State budget shortfall by temporarily reducing their percentage of appointment and salary. Note: The Medical Center will not be participating in TRIP.
Under TRIP, employees not currently participating in TRIP may request departmental approval of a reduction in their current percentage of appointment, subject to operational needs, for the period of July 1, 1994 - June 30, 1995. Current TRIP participants may extend their TRIPs through June 30, 1995, subject to operational needs. Special incentives are provided to TRIP participants. Attached is a copy of the plan description and a schedule of the bonus leave that TRIP participants earn. TRIP-94 Election Forms will be sent to departments during the next week.
To the extent possible within the context of departmental missions, operational needs, service requirements, and 1994-95 budget, employees are encouraged to consider TRIP participation, and departments and units should approve employee requests for TRIP wherever feasible. The attached plan description indicates that departments are given sufficient latitude to negotiate work schedules with employees on an individual basis to ensure that functional objectives are met. It is important that departmental priorities be evaluated and workloads be adjusted appropriately for TRIP participants.
Coupled with other budget reduction measures, sufficient TRIP participation may generate enough savings to reduce the need for involuntary reductions in time and layoffs.
Questions regarding TRIP should be directed to your Personnel Analyst. Answers to general questions pertaining to TRIP-94 will be available at the upcoming Human Resources Briefings. The dates and locations of the briefings are:
Tuesday, June 7, 1994, 12noon - Campus, Price Center Ballroom A Monday, June 13, 1994, 12noon - SIO, Hubbs Hall
Wednesday, June 15, 1994, 12noon - Medical Center, Auditorium
Rogers Davis
Assistant Vice Chancellor -
Human Resources
TIME REDUCTION INCENTIVE PLAN (TRIP-94)
Purpose:
To provide a way for employees to help the University respond to the budget deficit by volunteering to reduce their percentage of appointment and salary.
Plan:
New TRIP participants voluntarily reduce their time (i.e., percentage of appointment) during fiscal year 1994-95 for 12 months. TRIP-93 participants may request to extend their TRIP commitment through June 30, 1995 and thereby receive additional prorated bonus leave.
The minimum TRIP-94 time reduction percentage is 10% and the maximum is 45%. The percentage of appointment cannot be reduced below 50% to participate in TRIP-94.
Work schedules are at the convenience of the department and approved by the department head, but employees may request preferred schedules. For example, a person who reduces time to an 80% appointment might take one day off per week or work 6.4 hours a day.
While a pay cut is not anticipated, TRIP-94 participants will be exempt from a new pay cut during 1994-95 should one occur.
Eligibility:
Full or part-time employees (non-probationary career) in all staff and management personnel programs and non-faculty academic appointees who accrue vacation. Represented employees may participate as authorized by the various labor agreements.
Participation is subject to approval by the University (i.e., local review) based on operational considerations.
Incentives:
As an incentive to participate in TRIP-94 and to remain through the duration of their commitment, employees will be granted a bonus leave upon the completion of their TRIP-94 commitment. The depiction of the 12-month TRIP bonus for full-time employees is attached.
TRIP-94 Bonus Leave (in hours)
By Percent Reduction in Time
Percent Reduction 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45 ____________________________________________________________
Bonus Leave 40 48 56 64 72 80 88 96
The 12-month bonus leave provides an amount of leave which is the equivalent of what the employee would have accrued as vacation without the reduction in time--plus extra days of leave, that is, a minimum of 2 and maximum of 5.25 extra days of leave for a 12-month TRIP, depending on the vacation accrual rate.
A part-time employee who reduces his/her time by a percentage of full-time indicated above will receive the same amount of TRIP bonus leave as a full-time employee who reduces his/her time by the same percentage of time. For example, an employee who reduces from 80% to 60% has made a 20% reduction (and not a 25% reduction) and will receive 56 hours of TRIP bonus for a 12-month TRIP.
100% UCRP service credit will be given as long as time is not reduced below 75% of full-time during any month of the entire TRIP-94 commitment and all terms of the TRIP commitment are kept.
Health benefits (medical, dental, optical) will not be affected as long as the employee has an eligible appointment of at least 50% time and maintains an average regular paid time of at least 20 hours per week. (There are effects on other benefits and employee paid insurance which will be described in detail on the election form.)
For most employees, the actual impact on take-home pay is cushioned by the corresponding reduction in the amount withheld for taxes.
At the end of TRIP-94, employees return to the percentage of appointment held prior to TRIP or may request to continue, with department approval, at reduced time (without incentives). The right to return to the prior percentage of time will apply unless the employee is laid off according to appropriate policy or bargaining agreement provisions.
Procedures:
New participants in TRIP request participation in TRIP-94 in writing to their supervisors during the sign-up period between now and June 30 and commit to a time reduction for 12 months. All enrollments must be completed and entered into the campus payroll prior to the July processing. The reduced time schedule begins July 1.
TRIP-93 participants request an extension for participation in TRIP-94 in writing at any time before the campus-established deadline for July payroll processing and commit to a time reduction through June 30, 1995 at the same percentage reduction as their TRIP-93 commitment or at a different percentage reduction.
Campus procedures for TRIP-94 include review of departmental TRIP plans by Human Resources to ensure consistent application across the campus. Arrangements for exempt employees must be reviewed to ensure that salary basis is preserved (i.e., that exempt employees are not accounting for their time on an hourly basis.)
Records are kept on TRIP-94 participation to verify savings.
Reduction in time is effected via the Personnel Action Form PAF).
Personnel Payroll System support will be provided for the administration of TRIP-94 and for crediting the TRIP bonus leave. On July 1, 1995, the bonus leave will be credited to a bonus leave bank and will not be subject to any existing caps on accruals of compensatory time off or vacation required in policy or bargaining agreements.
Unused TRIP bonus leave is paid off upon separation; however, the TRIP bonus does not accrue and is not available for use or to be paid off upon separation until credited at the end of the individual's TRIP-94. If an employee separates before the end of their TRIP, no bonus is credited.
To receive the 100% UCRP service credit at the conclusion of TRIP-94, TRIP participants are responsible for forwarding copies of their TRIP-94 agreement and PAF to their local Benefits Office. Upon receipt, the local Benefits Office
attaches a service credit inquiry request (Form UBEN 132) and mails it to UC Benefits for processing.