UMaine System puts employees on notice over vaccination deadline
File photo / University of Maine
The University of Maine System has its the flagship campus in Orono, shown here.
Ahead of next month's COVID-19 vaccination deadline for federal workers, the University of Maine System is urging its thousands of employees to comply — or put the system's eligibility for federal grants and contracts at risk.
President Joe Biden's executive order guidance requires that employees of a federal contractor must either be fully vaccinated against the coronavirus or seek a legally recognized exemption for medical or religious reasons.
The deadline for full compliance is Dec. 8, as University of Maine System Chancellor Dannel Malloy said in an Oct. 28 note to the UMS community warning what a lack of compliance would cost the system in terms of lost federal contracts.
In fiscal year 2020, federal expenditures for the system totaled around $280 million.
"I think it's important to make clear the consequences of not complying with the federal mandate — we would put at risk the federal grants and contracts that support mission-critical university education, research and public service and related employment in our university communities," Malloy wrote.
As of Oct. 31, 2020, some 4,551 regular employees were actively receiving a paycheck from the system, of whom 42.1% were salaried staff, 28.5% hourly paid staff, 27.2% faculty and 2.2% administrators.
Additionally, there were 836 part-time faculty members teaching in the fall 2020 semester. Figures for the current year were not yet available.
88% compliance to date
In his note, Malloy said that more than 88% of the system's full- and part-time employees had already met the federal requirements to provide either vaccination or a medical or religious exemption.
Encouraging the rest to quickly follow suit, he said, "We will work through Human Resources and our labor partners to support every employee's work to come into full compliance over the next month. It's now a federal legal mandate that we do so, and we will meet this responsibility together to keep our university communities as safe as possible."
Malloy also reported that 85% of employees and 95% of fall 2021 students are fully vaccinated, and that those who haven't yet been vaccinated are tested regularly.
Asked whether system employees who don't comply by the Dec. 8 deadline could be fired or furloughed, UMaine System spokesman Dan Demeritt told Mainebiz that the organization would use its standard human resources process.
"This is not punitive," he said, "but we have to achieve compliance."
The University of Maine System, established in 1968, serves more than 30,000 students annually at 10 campuses, numerous centers across the state and online. In 2019, the system became the country's first statewide enterprise of higher education to receive unified, system-wide accreditation.
Other large Maine employers facing the looming federal vaccine deadline include Bath Iron Works, a shipyard owned by General Dynamics Corp. (NYSE: GD) with around 7,400 employees.
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