Danny Reinan, Contributor

Last week, as windchills reached as low as -60 degrees Fahrenheit, Augsburg was forced to suspend its normal operations. The campus was closed on Tuesday, Jan. 29 and Wednesday, Jan. 30 and partially closed on Thursday. This caused classes to be cancelled all day on Tuesday and Wednesday as well as those before noon on Thursday.

Just as class operations were suspended, many other standard campus operations were impacted by the harsh weather. Although many essential services remained open, other departments that employ students were partially or entirely shut down. This led to the cancellation of many student workers’ scheduled shifts.

The students whose scheduled shifts were cancelled due to the campus closure need not fear the loss of valuable work hours and pay. Measures were put in place to ensure that students in campus employment positions were not penalized for the closure. These measures were outlined by Theresa Gade, the Associate Director of Human Resources at Augsburg. “Augsburg did not want student employees to suffer a loss in wages due to the suspension of operations. Students who were scheduled to work, but unable to do so during the closure, will be paid for their regularly scheduled hours.”

Students whose shifts were cancelled during the closure can earn this compensation by logging their hours online as they normally would for a standard shift. Additionally, the students who worked during the time of the closure in the essential service positions that remained operational can earn time-and-a-half pay for the hours that they worked by contacting Human Resources and telling them how many hours worked should be adjusted for the higher pay.

This article was originally published in the Feb. 8, 2019 issue.