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UA classified staffers call for sabbaticals

Six weeks of paid leave would allow professional, personal

Like their faculty and administrative colleagues, long-time UA classified staff members may be able to benefit from sabbaticals if a plan created by employees from the women's studies department becomes a reality.

In a forum Friday, employees from all departments - representing professions from custodial work to administrative support - discussed the preliminary objectives of a sabbatical plan in an effort to solidify the proposal for petition for Campaign Arizona funding.

Jennifer Aviles, a programming coordinator from the College of Social and Behavioral Sciences and moderator of the forum, said there is a demand among staff members to be given time for personal and professional development, such as taking a course for credit.

Currently, employees are allowed to take two University of Arizona courses per semester, but are not allowed to take time out of the work day to attend.

"Classified staff are feeling burnt out (and) disadvantaged, and deeply desire opportunities to better themselves, both professionally and personally," Aviles said.

The plan allows a six-week sabbatical for staff who have been employed by the university for at least 10 years. Staffers taking advantage of the paid leave would be given half-salary during their time off, and the sabbatical could be renewed every seven years.

Objectives of the sabbatical include giving employees time to receive training for career enhancement or for credit toward a degree. Employees may also attend conferences or seminars relevant to their fields of work or use the time away from their desks to organize files and databases. Training costs would be covered by the university.

Pat Hnilo, a programming coordinator from women's studies and spokesperson for the committee putting together the proposal, said she did not yet know what cost could be incurred by allowing paid leave to classified staff.

Hnilo said the cost factor might be a negative against the proposed sabbaticals - although employees would only be given half of their regular salary, hiring temporary replacement workers may be necessary.

Replacement workers could be drawn from a pool of UA retirees or from a temporary employment agency, according to the proposal.

"If we replaced that person, we'd have to come up with a figure of what it would take to replace that person," Hnilo said.

Hnilo said the average employee half-salary for a six-week period is about two thousand dollars. About 5,500 classified staffers are employed by the UA.