A Cornell Information Technology employee is suing the University for $1 million for violating the Americans With Disabilities Act in a way that he says brought him “severe emotional pain and suffering, mental anguish, humiliation [and a] loss of enjoyment of life.”

A plan to build affordable housing for Cornell employees is generating concerns from residents who live near the proposed site.

“I don’t believe that they gave us enough,” one employee said of the new contract, which was approved this summer.

When Paw Pha, an immigrant from Myanmar, came to Cornell in 2006, his English and his computer skills were limited. But one day, Pha, a library collections assistant at the University, stumbled upon a newspaper ad for Cornell’s Community Learning and Service Partnership program. Now a member of the program for six years, Pha said CLASP has helped him achieve half of his learning goals.

After analyzing the results of the 2011 Cornell-wide employee survey, University administrators said that they are concerned that cuts are overburdening staff with increased workloads.

To the dismay of students and faculty, CALS cuts staff and field research programs in response to proposed decreases in state funding.  

Yesterday at noon, about three dozen Cornell workers and students gathered in front of Day Hall carrying signs that read “Cornell workers deserve a fair contract” and cheered as passing buses and cars honked in agreement.

“What do we want? Fair contract! When do we want it? Now!” yelled participants in the rally. “When working families are under attack what do we do? Stand up, fight back!”

The University announced on Friday that it accepted all 423 Cornell employees who applied to participate in the optional Staff Retirement Incentive Program.

The SRI, which has originally publicized in February, aimed to reduce the size of the University’s workforce. Personnel costs for the University’s more than 10,000 employees comprise 60 percent of Cornell’s operating budget, according to Vice President for Human Resources Mary Opperman.

The University currently faces a shortfall of approximately $230 million in its operating budget.

Opperman said that the University will save money by eliminating “a majority” of the positions vacated by the 423 employees.

Today marks the deadline to apply for the Staff Retirement Incentive program. Engineered and implemented earlier this month, the program was a “one-time-only” opportunity for staff to apply to retire early, in an effort to help alleviate excess financial strain on the University.

We saw the incentive plan as an appropriate gesture. Predicting massive layoffs, the University gave staff the chance to reconsider retiring amidst the financial turmoil in exchange for an “enhanced contribution” to the employee’s retirement fund in addition to a lump-sum payment.

The College of Human Ecology had no inclination as to any future benefits when it was given three days notice that it had to abandon the old north wing of Martha Van Rensselaer Hall eight years ago. In 2001, the college effectively lost 30 percent of its space that it used for academic, research and outreach programs when the north wing of MVR was determined to have structural deficiencies, according to John Lamson, assistant dean of communications for Human Ecology.