Sunday, Mar 22, 2020
Dear Faculty and Staff,
Yesterday New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy signed an Executive Order that closes non-essential businesses and directs residents to remain at home to the extent possible in order to repress the spread of COVID-19. We have prepared this message to provide an explanation of the measures we are taking at Rider University for all of our employees in response.
The University remains open. As has been previously announced, we will continue to provide remote and alternative instruction to students beginning on Monday, March 30 and continuing through the end of the spring semester including exams. We are extremely grateful to all faculty and staff who are working so diligently to make this happen for our students.
Effective immediately, the University has further relaxed its work from home guidelines. All full-time and part-time employees who are able to work remotely should do so. Until further notice, all employees are required to refrain from coming to either campus unless it is necessary to do so. Exceptions to this directive require advance permission from your supervisor or dean. To put it very simply: we want people to stay home.
Employees who may not be fully or at all productive working remotely are encouraged to use this opportunity to focus on professional development opportunities. Further information regarding resources available to employees through our LinkedIn Learning account is forthcoming.
We recognize the current pandemic has caused increased anxiety among many of us, especially as it relates to our jobs and income. Therefore, we are announcing the following reassurances for our employees through the remainder of this fiscal year, June 30, 2020.
The following guidelines for full-time employees have been adopted by the University, effective immediately:
- Full-time employees who can work remotely will continue to be paid as normal.
- Full-time employees whose job does not lend itself to working remotely will continue to be paid through the end of the fiscal year, consistent with their normal work schedule. For example, employees who typically work 10 months or through the end of the academic year will be paid through that period.
Should conditions change prior to June 30 such that we can return to normal operations, we will do so. If not, we will reassess this commitment beyond June 30.
The following guidelines for part-time employees (other than student workers and graduate assistants) have been adopted by the University, effective immediately:
- Part-time employees who work remotely will continue to be paid as normal.
- Part-time employees who have a schedule of regular (fixed) hours and cannot work remotely will be paid for those hours through the end of the fiscal year or academic year, depending upon their schedule.
- Part-time employees who do not have a schedule of regular (fixed) hours will only be paid for hours worked.
- Westminster Conservatory teachers are encouraged to continue remote instruction, and will be compensated accordingly.
- This commitment will be reassessed prior to June 30, 2020.
The following guidelines for student workers and graduate assistants have been adopted by the University, effective immediately:
- Student workers and graduate assistants who are in a position to work remotely, as approved by their supervisor, will be paid for the time that they do so. Tuition remission will remain intact for the spring 2020 semester for all graduate assistants, including those whose assistantship does not lend itself to working remotely.
- This commitment will be reassessed prior to June 30, 2020.
Should you need further interpretation of these guidelines and how they pertain to you or your staff, please speak with your supervisor, division head or dean.
In addition to yesterday’s Executive Order, Gov. Murphy mandated the indefinite closure of all municipal, county and state public libraries, as well as all libraries and computer labs at public and private higher education institutions.
Therefore, effective immediately, Moore Library on the Lawrenceville campus and Talbott Library on the Princeton campus are closed until further notice.
All computer labs on both campuses are closed until further notice.
In closing, we hope that all of our employees are safe at home and staying healthy. It is vitally important that we support our students as we transition to remote and alternative instruction. While many of our offices will physically be remote, we must continue to work collaboratively to serve our students and their families.
As a reminder, all official Rider University COVID-19 information can be found at www.rider.edu/coronavirus and questions can be emailed to [email protected]. You can also refer to www.rider.edu/oitconnect to find a variety of information from OIT.
Take good care, and we will get through this together.