Essential personnel will not be paid for shifts they missed during the ice storm, associate vice president for human resources and state relations said, and some Ball State employees have not seen their paychecks from the week of the ice storm.
"During storms, people who are essential personnel -- police, grounds people and those operating the heat plant -- have to come to work even if the university is closed," Tom Morrison said. "If they don't come to work, they don't get paid."
Essential personnel are paid double time for working when the university is closed, based on an agreement with their union, Morrison said.
"In a crisis situation, we need to give them the incentive to come in, as well as an incentive not to stay home," Morrison said.
Morrison said when the university was officially closed all day Jan. 6 and part of the day on Jan. 7, all other Ball State staff who were scheduled to work received full pay compensation.
Because the heat plant runs 24 hours a day, it took a lot of people and at least a day to get everything up and running again, Heat Plant Supervisor Greg Privett said.
"I had some guys working really long hours," Privett said. "Some of them worked 10 to 12 hours a day. I even had a guy cover for some of his co-workers and work a 24-hour shift."
Only a few workers at the heat plant called to say they wouldn't be coming in during the time the university was closed, Privett said.
"One guy lost power and had a flood at his house, but we stayed in regular shifts," Privett said. "Everyone knows they're essential personnel, and they know what is required of them. If you're essential personnel, and you don't come in, there is no pay."
Sometimes people are called in to work during emergencies who are not essential personnel, Morrison said.
Electrical engineer Jack Willis, who commutes to work from Fort Wayne, slept in his office after he was called in to work during the ice storm.
"I was fortunate enough to get a hotel for Thursday and Friday night of that week," Willis said, "but the power in the hotel went out, so I had to sleep in my office Friday night. "
Morrison said dealing with employee compensation has not been an easy task.
"It's fairly complex to handle 3,000 employees," he said. "People who could not come into work as a result of the storm, outside of when the university was closed, have to work out their compensation with their supervisors. "
Ball State will work to quickly correct any mistakes regarding paychecks or compensation, Morrison said.
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