UF continues to seek a way to implement a 3 percent raise for faculty to offset new state requirements that has state employees contributing to their retirement.
UF officals presented options for restructuring benefits at Thursday's UF Faculty Senate meeting.
Vice president for human resources Paula Fussell presented two new options to attendees, saying they were tailored to feedback given by faculty since the issue was raised earlier this year.
Under one option, all faculty contributing 3 percent of their salary toward retirement will receive a 3 percent salary increase, and UF would eliminate the payout of unused sick-leave upon leaving the university. The vacation accrual rate for 12-month faculty would remain the same, at 4.5 weeks per year, but payment upon leaving for the university for unused vacation hours would drop to 200 hours, and the maximum annual accrual for vacation hours would decrease to 352.
With the second option, faculty contributing 3 percent toward retirement could choose between taking the 3 percent raise with the aforementioned benefit changes or forgoing the raise and accepting no changes to sick or vacation leave payouts and no maximum accrual for vacation hours.
Under either option, faculty who retire by June 30, 2016, would maintain the current leave structure.
Faculty Senate chairman Scott Nygren said the options were introduced to incite discussion and are not set in stone.
"Neither one has been fixed on yet," he said.
He said a final proposal for the change should be ready by early November in order for it to make it to the Board of Trustees meeting in December. Any change approved then would take effect in January.
