SUBJECT:

UC Staff and Academic Reduction in Time (START) Program

Effective July 1, 2008, the University is implementing a new two-year Staff and Academic Reduction in Time (START) Program for the period July 1, 2008 through June 30, 2010. The intent of the START Program is to address the University's current budget deficit by achieving temporary short-term salary savings. Under START, if departments decide to participate in the program, eligible employees may voluntarily reduce their time and corresponding pay in exchange for a number of advantages, such as accrual of University of California Retirement Plan service credit, vacation, and sick leave at the employees' pre-START rates.

All regular status (non-probationary career) employees and all academic appointees, except those in faculty and student academic titles and Postdoctoral Scholars, are eligible to participate in the START Program. Eligible employees may elect to participate in START effective July 1, 2008 with actual reductions in time beginning on that date. Participation in the program must end by June 30, 2010. For exclusively represented employees, participation in START is subject to collective bargaining. These employees should contact the Human Resources Department's Employee Relations division to determine their eligibility to participate in the program.

The START Program Guidelines, Questions and Answers, and Contract Forms are available on the UC Office of the President's website at:

http://atyourservice.ucop.edu/employees/policies

To facilitate the UCSD Payroll/Personnel System (PPS) entry of the START agreements, a "How To Process START" has been developed and is available on Blink at:

http://blink.ucsd.edu/go/start

Inquiries regarding the START Program for staff employees should be directed to Jenni Leibman, Director of Employee Relations, Policy Development and Work/Life at (858) 534-4115 or via e-mail to rgoth@ucsd.edu. Inquiries regarding academic appointees should be directed to Tricia Takacs, Director of Academic Personnel at (858) 534-2597 or ttakacs@ucsd.edu.

Paul W. Drake Senior Vice Chancellor - Academic Affairs Steven W. Relyea Vice Chancellor - Business Affairs