Duke to lay off nearly 600, healthcare staff affected – Becker’s Hospital Review | Healthcare News
Durham, N.C.-based Duke University has shared plans to lay off 599 employees who had accepted a voluntary separation agreement proffered in the spring. The layoffs include roles among some of Duke Health School of Medicine workers.
In a July 25 email to employees, obtained by Becker’s, Duke University Executive Vice President Daniel Ennis, Provost Alec Gallimore and Executive Vice President for Health Affairs and Dean of Duke’s School of Medicine Mary Klotman, MD, explained that the voluntary separation program, aimed to help the university realign and reduce costs.
The email also cited the “actual and potential federal funding reductions” to its clinical, research and teaching missions, which include increased endowment tax rates and lower research support.
Affected employees will be contacted by their managers from Aug. 5 to Aug. 19, and will work with human resources amid the transition. Duke also plans to conduct further involuntary layoffs to ensure financial sustainability and support university priorities.
“Even with these cost-reduction measures in place and a high rate of VSIP acceptance, we will unfortunately need to further reduce the university workforce to ensure we can responsibly support and invest in our important missions,” the email said. “With the results of the VSIP now known, we have asked all schools and units to reassess their budgets and identify any further non-personnel expense reductions that can be made. These assessments will determine the scale of involuntary staff reductions, which will take place in August. For those staff who are funded by research grants, reductions in force occur regularly through the year based on availability of research funding.”
The email did not specify the specific roles that would be affected by the program.
News of the reductions comes amid HHS and Department of Education demands that Duke University cooperate in a federal investigation regarding allegations of race discrimination at the Duke University School of Medicine and other Duke Health components. Duke has 10 business days to respond to the voluntary cooperation request, and must respond within 20 business days to document requests.
The investigation is part of a larger initiative through Executive Order 14173, which directs federal agencies to cut unlawful diversity, equity and inclusion practices and restore merit-based standards at publicly funded universities and institutions.
“If Duke illegally gives preferential treatment to law, journal or medical school applicants based on those students’ immutable characteristics, that is an affront not only to civil rights law, but to the meritocratic character of academic excellence,” U.S. Secretary of Education Linda McMahon, said in the release.
Becker’s has reached out to Duke Health for comment and will update this story should more information become available.