Government Shut-Down FAQ

• Departments are encouraged to consider slowing down active recruitments while we assess the broader impact of the shutdown. However, departments may proceed with recruitment and extend offers if they are confident in their ability to fund the position through financial instability. We want to avoid the scenario that the shutdown extends longer than anticipated and insufficient funds are available to support a new hire. HR should proactively partner with departments to review each recruitment individually and determine an appropriate strategy. 

Subject: Update on [Position Title] Recruitment ;

Dear [Candidate Name],

Thank you for your interest in the [Position Title] position with School of Medicine and Public Health, [Department Name]. We wanted to provide an update on the status of this recruitment.

Due to the federal government shutdown, a temporary recruitment freeze has been implemented. As a result, we are pausing recruitment activities on this search at this time. Once the freeze is lifted and recruitment resumes, we will reach out with an update on next steps.

We appreciate your patience and understanding during this period. Please don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.

Sincerely,
[Your Name]

• Yes, open recruitments may continue and offers may be made. Best practice is to move foward with hire especially if reference checks have been conducted. It would also be good practice to verify with the department that they feel confident enough in the funding to move forward. 

• Departments may extend positions if they are able to take on the added financial responsibility. Extensions should continue to follow the standard approval process including submitting through JIRA when required, and will be reviewed according to our standard review process. 

• Yes, you may extend a job posting deadline if making no edits to the job requisition (only collecting more applications), this is considered standard "recruiting".
• But if reposting, pull down and make updates to the job requisition to then redo/post in WD) then it's under the freeze. 

• Hiring bonuses may continue to be submitted through JIRA. We will review the bonus and if needed we will discuss with the department 

• At this time, hiring for SH, SA, and EIT positions may proceed if the department is able to take on the financial responsibility for these roles. As the situation continues to evolve, we will monitor and update this guidance as needed 

• We will continue to review requests as they are submitted.  
• Requests submitted prior to freeze, will be reviewed at this time, but not processed. The effective date of requests will be determined once the transaction is able to be approved following the freeze.  
• We will only be approving and processing requests that are related to critical retention issues that utilize the market-retention reason. These will be reviewed by the SMPH Rate and Title committee prior to approval.   

• We will continue to review requests as they are submitted.  
• We will only be approving and processing requests that were included in an offer letter that was signed and presented to the employee prior to October 1, 2025. These will be reviewed by the SMPH Rate and Title committee prior to approval.  
• Requests to end TWA will continue to be reviewed and approved
• TWA currently in place for supervision, ‘evaluation’ period is over, and the department would like to change the TWA to a permanent adjustment in the same amount of the TWA. We recommend extending the end date of the TWA at this time.  

• We will continue to review requests as they are submitted.  
• We will not process any requests at this time that include a base pay increase, unless it is related to a critical retention issue.  
• We will review and approve requests that involve a title change without a pay increase. This could include a lateral move with no pay change, or a demotion with no pay change or a pay decrease. These will be reviewed by the SMPH Rate and Title committee prior to approval.  

• New PAP requests for Trainees/Fellows that align with appointment letters that have been signed and provided to the graduate student/post doc will continue to be reviewed and approved if appropriate. 
• Changes to PAP requests for Trainees/Fellows due to the need to make corrections or to customize payments to align with days worked will continue to be reviewed and approved as appropriate.  
• New PAP requests for overloads or lump sum payments for work completed 
  • If the work has already been completed, we will continue to review and approve as appropriate. 
  • If the PAP is for future work that has not yet been completed, the PAP will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis.  

• Hiring bonus requests will continue to be reviewed and approved with appropriate documentation.  
• Relocation/moving expense requests will continue to be reviewed and approved with appropriate documentation. 
• Performance lump sum requests  
  • We will continue to review requests as they are submitted.  
  • We will not approve or process performance lump sum requests at this time.  

• Retention lump sum requests 
  • We will only approve and process requests that are related to critical retention issues. These will be reviewed by the SMPH Rate and Title committee prior to approval. 

• Raise-to-minimum requests (including Faculty) will continue to be processed to ensure all employees are at the minimum of their pay range.  
• Other corrections due to administrative error will likely continue to be processed, but will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. 

• At this time, we will not be approving student help rate increases.  

• The effective date of a compensation increase will be determined once the transaction is able to be approved following the freeze. At this time, we should not assume that any increases will be eligible for backdating. More guidance will be shared once the freeze is lifted. 

• A new TWA can be submitted if the TWA falls within our standard guidance for a dual-employed faculty TWA and the department confirms that extramural funding will be used to pay the UW compensation is available. It will be reviewed by the Rate and Title committee with the SMPH compensation team. 

• Yes, one time payments (not including hiring bonuese) are also included in the freeze.