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Politics & Government

Fermilab Offering Buyouts to Reduce Staff

Fermilab in Batavia is offering a severance package, hoping to reduce staff by 50 to 90 employees.

Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory is offering voluntary separation to its employees, hoping to reduce its staff by about 50 in the wake of a lame-duck Congress that's less likely to approve funding.

Fermilab Director Pier Oddone addressed employees in an all-hands meeting Thursday to present information about a separation offer, according to the Fermilab Today website.

"We have reduced spending for materials and supplies as much as possible, but we still have a substantial gap in the funds for salaries, wages and benefits," Oddone said in the website overview statement.

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The offer was sent via e-mail to a "subset of employees at the laboratory," and the aim is to help "bring Fermilab operations into balance with the resources expected for the FY2011 fiscal year," according to the website.

You can see video of the all-hands meeting here.

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According the website's open Q&A and VSO (Voluntary Separation Offer) website, Fermilab is still filling vacant positions.

Severance pay is based on the number of years of service. The information packet was sent to about 600 employees. It will accept up to 90 severance requests.

"We are going into the new fiscal year with funding that is at best the same as last year's, but without the benefit of the $10M carryover we were able to use in FY10. This creates a significant shortfall for the laboratory as a whole," Oddone said.

You can read more about the Fermilab staff reduction in Eric Schelkopf's article in the Kane County Chronicle.

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