Furloughs At Sacred Heart University Due To Coronavirus

FAIRFIELD, CT — Sacred Heart University will furlough employees whose workloads have dropped due to the new coronavirus outbreak, a spokeswoman confirmed Monday.

The move follows several cost-cutting measures taken by the school in recent weeks, and will affect departments across the college, according to Executive Director of Communications Deb Noack.

The furloughs are planned to take place May 1 to July 3 for employees affected by Sacred Heart’s switch from on-ground programs to remote learning amid the spread of the virus, Noack said in an email. The school will cover health care costs for the furloughed workers if they are enrolled in a university health plan.

“We are hopeful that with their health care covered and the increases in unemployment benefits provided to the states by the federal government that most of our furloughed employees will receive the equivalent of their full salaries,” Noack said in the email, which did not include specifics about how many staff members were being furloughed.

Sacred Heart President John Petillo announced several weeks ago to university faculty and staff that he would take a 50 percent salary cut to counterbalance enrollment uncertainties and other virus-related unknowns, while other senior leaders would see a 15 percent reduction in salary.

The college also froze hiring for all open and new positions, eliminated merit raises in the coming fiscal year, suspended retirement plan matches for three months, and opted against starting any budget-funded construction projects, according to Petillo’s message to employees, dated March 27.

“The decisions we are making are out of necessity and a desire to minimize the impact on employees as much as possible,” Petillo said in the message.

Earlier in March, the school transitioned to online-only learning to prevent transmission of the virus and agreed to compensate boarding costs for students who left campus amid the outbreak, which, as of Tuesday was connected to the deaths of 1,423 people in Connecticut and 37 Fairfield residents. Statewide, there were more than 20,000 cases of the new coronavirus as of Tuesday.

Fairfield University also changed to remote learning in March and announced plans to adjust student boarding expenses. A school spokeswoman said in a statement Tuesday that the college has not had any layoffs or furloughs.

“We have maintained staffing levels commensurate with our current operations,” said Jennifer Anderson, vice president of marketing and communications at Fairfield University. “Our vendors have made decisions specific to their businesses to operate at staffing levels appropriate to the services they provide.”