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As East Carolina University continues to address revenue declines because of the coronavirus pandemic, 23 senior administrative leaders will be placed on furlough for 10 days.

This decision affects Senior Academic and Administrative Officers Tier 1, who are assigned those duties either permanently or on an interim basis. The positions are the chancellor, the chief of staff, vice chancellors, deans, and directors of the two libraries at the university. Their furlough days will be taken between Dec. 3, 2020 and the end of the fiscal year, June 30, 2021. The net savings from this action will be approximately $250,000.

This does not affect all ECU employees.

“Like the previous decisions regarding furloughs, this decision was not made lightly,” said Interim Chancellor Ron Mitchelson. “Though it can’t make up for the losses experienced by some of our colleagues, I feel it’s important that our leadership take on some of the burden that we are asking of others.”

Previous furloughs announced earlier this semester affect Athletics and units that provide auxiliary services; these units rely on the sale of goods or services to fund their operations. State law does not allow ECU to use tuition or state-appropriated funds to cover any revenue shortfall in these units.

ECU Human Resources is working with affected employees and providing them with information, guidelines and FAQs related to furloughs.

Furloughs may include salary reductions or leave without pay. Employees will receive information from HR about benefits when notified; furloughed employees are still eligible to participate in the State Health Plan and they continue to accrue leave.