Harvard assures hourly workers of pay through the end of June, but warns of possible furloughs and layoffs after that due to large coronavirus-related losses

In a letter to the Harvard community today, university Executive Vice President Kate Lapp said that a university commitment to keep dining, custodial and security workers employed through May 25 has been extended to June 25, but cautioned that with Covid-19-related losses now expected to reach more than $1 billion, the school might have to look at the possibility of "furloughs and layoffs of some members of our workforce."

The extension of the wage guarantee applies to both Harvard employees and contracted workers, she wrote.

Lapp wrote that Harvard is already looking at roughly $415 million in losses for the fiscal year that ends June 30, in part due to reimbursements made to students for their room and board the last few weeks of the spring semester and financial assistance to students who needed help suddenly moving off campus, as well as the loss of revenue stemming from the cancellation of continuing and executive education programs and the cancellation of funds from both the federal government and private donors for work in labs that had to be shut.

The school is looking at another $750 million shortfall in the coming fiscal year, she continued.

Harvard has already frozen salaries for professors and managers, instituted a hiring freeze and begun to look at capital projects that can be deferred, she wrote. But such steps may not be enough "given the magnitude of the financial losses the university has suffered and the projected loss off revenue."

She wrote university officials are trying to figure out if the loses are temporary or permanent. If temporary, Harvard does have some financial reserves, but the school might be facing "a new normal," which would require deeper cuts, she wrote.