By: Ginny Washbish
The UofL IT Department looks to be battling a few troubling accusations made online. Last month, a post titled “Not all L1C4 at U of L. Rampant corruption in the IT Department,” was submitted to reddit.com.
The gist of the post is made in the first couple of lines, “The UL IT department has very quietly been finding reasons to terminate people for the last 3 years. All of these jobs are being outsourced overseas to a Managed Services group.”
The disgruntled author continues describing the work environment as a struggle between supervisors and employees. To terminate employees, several were given “30 days to learn a new language and write complex production programs.” If employees were unable to accomplish the task, they were let go. The post also suggests male discrimination, characterizing the director and overseer of all terminations as a “henchman of the VP of IT.”
According to Brenda Gombosky, an IT executive director, “The post was made to seem like a current disgruntled employee.”
Gombosky explained that the accusations made are totally incorrect. The IT Department was made aware of the post’s circulation and was advised not to publicly issue a response. “We get complaints daily. It’s freedom of speech. They have the right to say what they want,” stated Gombosky.
Some sources speculated what the author may have been alluding to a program issued by the University called Voluntary Separation Incentive Program. According to the VSIP website, “VSIP would provide eligible faculty and staff a financial incentive to separate from employment status.”
Gombosky explained that the termination process for an IT employee is more rigorous than in a corporate setting. She said, “It is a major and elaborate process thru HR and legal to terminate an employee.” She said that a director could not simply fire an individual based on them not learning a program language in 30 days.
To get more information on VSIP, visit their website at louisville.edu/hr/vsip/VSIP.
