Faculty Senate discusses changes to retirement, health care plans
At the Faculty Forum held Monday, people filled the room and lined up along the back wall to hear the discussion of the Phased Retirement Policy and Health Care Benefits program.
Financial challenges and changes have led to the need to alter these two plans.
Fred Hunsaker, vice president for Administrative Services, addressed the Phased Retirement Policy and changes to the Early Retirement Policy.
The Early Retirement Program has become a financial burden to some departments at Utah State University, said Greg Jones, Faculty Senate chairman.
“Early retirement is a privilege, not a right. In some departments, it has come to be viewed as a right and been used unwisely,” Jones said.
The problem has arisen because too many faculty are taking early retirement, and there aren’t replacements for them who are willing to work at their salary let alone a reduced salary, which is what is needed to make early retirement affordable to the university, Jones said.
“They [administration] have expressed a desire to implement this policy as soon as possible,” Jones said.
The new Phased Retirement Policy is still being presented for input from those who will be affected, he said.
This policy will provide some of the benefits of early retirement to faculty, but not overburden the university, Jones said.
The Early Retirement Policy allows faculty to retire early but still maintain 20 percent of their salary, Jones said. The Phased Retirement Policy will let faculty who are getting close to retirement cut back their workload to allow for more personal time, but will still keep them employed at the university.
“The university sees it as getting 50 percent of the work for 50 percent of the cost as opposed to getting nothing and still paying 20 percent,” Jones said.
The next step will be to present the plan to the Board of Trustees, he said.
“As a faculty as a whole, we will embrace it,” Jones said.
The Health Care Plan is also in need of revision and was addressed at the meeting, Jones said. Currently, the funding for health care for faculty comes completely from the legislature.
The cost of health care is increasing at a faster rate than the funding from the legislature, leaving a gap that must be picked up by faculty members, Jones said.
Consultants for the university have estimated that health care costs will increase by 14 percent in the next year, and funding will only increase by 12 percent, Jones said.
To make up the difference, a new health care plan is being researched by a committee headed by David Stephens, the dean of the College of Business.
Options are two-tiered, Jones said. They are looking at increasing co-pays and premiums or reducing benefits.
“Well over half of the covered employees here earn less than $30,000 a year. They’re going to be hard hit,” Jones said.