ANN ARBOR – The University of Michigan announced this week it will be dolling out payments of $1,500 for regular, non-temporary employees at the end of this month in recognition of their efforts throughout the pandemic.
The one-time bonus was announced by President Mark Schlissel in an email on Dec. 7 to Ann Arbor campus workers in which he called them the “backbone of this institution.”
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“You have worked tirelessly both in person and remotely to assure the ongoing success of our university and its students,” Schlissel wrote to staff. “And you’ve done so amid the stress and hardship that comes with living and working through a global pandemic. I sincerely thank you for being a part of the University of Michigan family. I am very proud to work alongside you.”
Bargained-for and non-bargained-for workers, advanced post-graduate trainees, research fellows, graduate student instructors, supplemental clinical instructors, graduate student staff and research assistants and Rackham doctoral fellows on the Ann Arbor campus are also eligible to receive the payment.
Earlier this year, Michigan Medicine employees received a $1,500 one-time payment, and staff on both the U-M Dearborn and U-M Flint campuses will also receive a similar payment.
The pandemic caused the university to implement a yearlong hiring freeze and no raises for the 2020-21 fiscal year for non-bargained-for employees, leaving more work for less workers.
Roughly 25,000 employees across all three campuses will receive the one-time payments, which will amount to $37.6 million and will be sourced from university reserves.
Those ineligible to receive the year-end supplement include visiting faculty, temporary employees, faculty with dry appointments, emeritus faculty, supplemental primary faculty, workers who were hired after Oct. 1 and employees who are still not in compliance with the school’s COVID-19 vaccine policy.
“On behalf of our Board of Regents and our executive officers, I wish you a happy, healthy and peaceful holiday season,” Schlissel wrote. “With sincere thanks and Go Blue!”