With crunchy fresh lab update! (Forgive me Dopers. I’m bored and can’t be 100 yards away from a bathroom.)
Dr. Boss somehow made my resignation disappear, I’m being laid off instead. After our last exchange, I was very surprized to hear this. Apparently, Dr. Boss is very blunt (and thick) and what he was trying to tell me was that the funding for my position was running out, with no chance of renewal or other funds.
Right now, I’m burning up some vacation time and trying to translate the Depart of Labor’s information website into English.
The good news: I’m an author on a second research publication! (With a junior researcher I helped up until everything went all political.)
I don’t doubt that funding is running out, but the timing is pretty crappy. Financing higher ed has always had a hard slog in Colorado. Even grants are harder to get hereabouts.
Congratulations on being published. Tell Mouse_Spouse he is now required by law to refer to and introduce you as “My wife, the author.”
I have become irrationally angry about all of the attention Ward Churchill is getting this week.
Academics is a tough way to make a living, but its tough all over. (Last I heard, this U gets more research funding from the Department of Defense than the NIH now.) I run into a lot of people who say “Oh, you work for the University, that’s a secure job.” :rolleyes:
I’ll try to talk him into that. Having two published papers can’t be bad on the ol’ resume, especially for someone without a BS.
In a way, it’s good news on both fronts! I am hoping that by being laid off instead of resigning, you’re entitled to severance pay? And also, wouldn’t you want to save those vacation days so you can have them as payout, rather than time off? Maybe it works differently in academia, but I am curious.
I’m trying to figure out what to do about my vacation time. Someone told me that getting paid for it affects your unemployment application, so I’m trying to wade thru all of the information on unemployment benefits. I’ve got 700+ hours of vacation and sick time built up. (The down side of being a Mouse_Maven, no one wants you to leave, because that means they have to do all of the icky animal work. I’ve gotten calls while on vacation and while in an ER when I was very, very ill.)
Yep, to the 50 people who read immunology journals.
:smack: Holy crap, MM, I just realized you said “without” a BS. I totally misread that! I am so sorry! I must have sounded oh, so snooty and superior!
I am sorry. But I know you’ll return to school, probably when Mousling(s) is/are caught up in their own lives, as he/she/they will be all too soon. We Coloradoans are insufferably well-educated, and you have access to some of the finest higher education institutions in the West.
Lemme just say this: You do us Dopers (and us Coloradoans) proud, and will continue to for a long time.
Doesn’t effect the application so much as the date you can start getting paid. My layoff, the unemployment folk told me that I could start collecting after my 3 weeks vacation and my 14 weeks severance pay were over. Laid off in November so April sometime would have been my first check. What they don’t tell you is that severance was taxed at a much higher rate than regular pay, so I actually had enough money for 8 weeks (I was working again in 5, so I’m not complaining).
The vacation pay was in my hand before I left the building, so it’s kind of nice to have a little time stored up to pay for the party that night.
It’s ok. I figured that you misread the post. I’ll go back to school, if only to get Mouse_Spouse off of my case! (No joke. He really wants me to finish my degree. At first it was for my sake, now he’s saying “You want to be a good example to our kid, right?” I guess that’s what I get for marrying a well-educated Coloradoan. )
You’re too kind. Especially since I’ve been incredibly whiney and crazy for over a year! Now that a decision has been made, I feel a lot less stressed.
Ah! Thanks for the information. I’ve been told to use up my vacation time because they may not be able to pay it out. As I understand it, the law says that I have to be paid for my acrued time. Experience tells me that the U. doesn’t give up money easily.
Hell no. If I’m lucky, someone will bring cake on my last offical day - September 1st. For me: no protestors, no drum beating, no cameras and no severance. Just me and the last few items from my desk. (And maybe an outbreak of mice in protective armor. )
Mouse, you really need to get a copy of your official employee manual and stop making guesses and listening to strangers on message boards. What the hell do we know about anything?
Some employers will pay for unused vacations, some won’t.
Some states allow employers to do this, some don’t.
Some programs that receive federal funds follow their own rules, some don’t.
Unless you get a commitment in writing from an official in your HR Dept., use the damn vacation time so you don’t lose it.
Generally speaking - in most states - when you are being paid by your employer for vacation time, unused sick time, termination bonus, or whatever, you can’t also collect from the unemployment compensation fund.
Did you ever follow through and notify the Animal Police that you were no longer responsible for the rat collection?
I’m trying to read as much as I can. I work for the University but I’m paid by the Hospital, so who takes care of what is mixed. There is a stack of printed emails recording my search for answers. It’s just going to take time.
I’ve let the Animal Police know about what’s going on. Dr. Boss gave me premission to dispose of the animals, so I’ve been contacting labs that can use them for other experiments and filling out the tranfer papers. Looks like all of our strains can be used elsewhere, which is great since I’d hate to euthanize them all.
Having two published papers can’t be bad on the ol’ resume, especially for someone without a BS.
You’re going to be famous…
I figured that you misread the post. I’ll go back to school, if only to get Mouse_Spouse off of my case!