Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 29 April 20, 1995 - WTA applicants receive notification

A non-profit publication of the Office of the University Relations of Virginia Tech,
including The Conductor , a special section of the Spectrum printed 4 times a year

WTA applicants receive notification

By Netta S. Eisler

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 29 - April 20, 1995

Employees who elected to participate in the Workforce Transition Act (WTA) received notification about the status of their requests Monday from their dean or vice president.

At Virginia Tech, 293 employees signed up for the program: 185 as retirees and 108 for severance. Of that number, the university approved 240 and disapproved 53. According to Ann Spencer, associate vice president for personnel and administrative services, all of the decisions made by the university were upheld in Richmond.

There is no appeals process for employees whose participation in the WTA was denied, Spencer said, but staff members in personnel will be available for individual counseling. The positions that were not approved by the university were considered too vital to the operation of the university to be vacant, she said. "The decisions were made based on the positions, not the individuals."

Nearly half of the employees--132--will leave on May 1 of this year. The rest--161--will leave on various dates, up to June 30, 1996.

Some of the positions will be filled, but the process may be a lengthy one. "At this point," Spencer said, "the Department of Personnel and Training (DPT) in Richmond is going to work with us on the return of positions that are part of our restructuring plan." DPT has said they will return 10 percent of the positions immediately. They will work with university officials to decide about the rest.

"We consider every position that's vacant to be part of our restructuring plan," Spencer said.

Spencer will work with the budget office to decide which positions to fill. "We will be filling some of these positions differently," she said. Some positions may be converted to academic year (AY) positions; others may be downgraded to a lower level. "This gives us an opportunity to create AY positions without having to ask people who are now employed year round to change to AY," she said. "We'll just advertise and fill some of these vacant positions as AY."

Despite the problems associated with the WTA, Spencer said it can be a "tool for us in our restructuring plan."