BATAVIA – In an attempt to free up money for the laboratory's projects, Fermilab is asking about 100 employees to voluntarily give up their jobs.
Earlier this week, Pier Oddone, director at Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory in Batavia, told employees that the lab will need to cut about 100 jobs to ease financial difficulties at the facility. To reduce the need for layoffs, Oddone said, the lab is offering a "self-selected voluntary separation program."
Under the program, employees would be eligible to apply for permission to participate. However, should lab administration determine that not enough employees have applied – or that the proper classifications of employees have not applied – then the administration could begin laying off workers.
Employees accepted into the voluntary separation program could receive a package of severance pay and benefits, as well as the ability to enter retirement, if they are eligible to retire, according to a website dedicated to answering Fermilab employees' questions on the program.
About 1,760 of Fermilab's 1,926 employees are eligible to apply to participate in the voluntary separation program, a lab spokeswoman said.
However, not all who apply to participate in the program will be accepted, Oddone told Fermilab employees in an all-hands meeting Thursday.
He said management would evaluate the applications to determine if the skills that will be lost can be replaced from within the organization or if an employee's departure might unduly harm the Fermilab organization or a particular department.
While the Tevatron particle accelerator – the device that has been the prime reason for Fermilab's existence for decades – will soon be shut down, Oddone said lab leadership believed it would be "unfair" to simply reduce the number of employees solely within the divisions that deal directly with the accelerator.
Fermilab spokeswoman Katie Yurkewicz said employees have until July 7 to apply for the program. Employees will be notified July 21-22 as to whether they have been accepted. The administration would decide after July 25 if layoffs will be necessary, Yurkewicz said.
