Inclement Weather / Administrative Closing
The UT Health Science Center (“UTHSC”) will remain open except in the most severe weather conditions. Even when severe weather necessitates the suspension of classes and administrative activities, facilities will remain accessible to authorized personnel and essential services maintained by designated employees.
Chancellor authorization is required for an emergency weather closure of the University. However, departments must monitor severe weather and review their operations to determine whether their operations can be conducted safely. Working with the Chancellor and Executive Vice Chancellor (EVC), the Deans of specific colleges may opt to close even when the campus remains open.
If inclement weather occurs, UTHSC students, faculty and staff may stay informed about the campus' status via updates from one of the following:
- The Health Science Center Homepage;
- UTHSC Alert notifications sent via phone, text, and email; or
- Local television and radio stations.
UTHSC offices will be considered open unless the announcement specifically says all offices will be closed.
Administrative Closing
When inclement weather or other events warrant suspension of some or all campus activities, personnel must adhere to HR0320-H Administrative Closing and Inclement Weather. Personnel expectations are described below.
Students
Regular online classes continue to meet as usual. Face-to-face classes attempt to continue in an online modality or cancel as necessary. Program Directors, in consultation with academic deans, will finalize decisions about individual class modality adjustments. Faculty are responsible for communicating with their students about the status of their classes and are asked to be flexible with attendance. (i.e., If campus is closed, faculty must inform students if classes will continue in an online modality or be cancelled.)
Students on rotation in facilities not operated by UTHSC(e.g., Le Bonheur, Regional One Health, St. Francis, UCH, VA Hospital) must adhere to the procedures related to closings established by their college or Program Director which should be communicated at the start of the semester.
On-Campus Employees
All services and offices remain open virtually and employees who can do so should work remotely, except for employees who work in essential service operations. When inclement weather has been predicted, employees that can work remotely are encouraged to bring their laptops home and other limited work tools as approved by their supervisors to be prepared to successfully work remotely during the weather event. Employees that do not regularly work remotely should work with their supervisors to be prepared with professional development tasks in advance of the weather event. Professional development tasks assigned by supervisors should be assigned in a manner that accommodates employee remote work environments and resources. Examples of professional development tasks can be found on the HR website.
Employees that are not able to work remotely, either on routinely assigned duties or professional development tasks, will be required to take annual leave.
Off-Campus Employees
Health Science Center employees assigned to facilities not operated by UT (e.g., Le Bonheur, Regional One Health, St. Francis, UTMG, VA Hospital) generally adhere to the policy governing the facility in which they are located. For example, UTHSC employees who routinely report to work at a hospital should follow the inclement weather policy of that hospital. However, specific college or administrative units familiar with employee responsibilities have the authority to define the procedure for where off-campus employees are required to report in the event of an administrative closure of the campus. Supervisors of employees working in these off-campus locations must define and communicate to employees these procedures related to administrative closings.
Essential Services
Essential services are those designated by the EVC and are generally defined as critical to services and facilities that maintain business operations for the Health Science Center, support the physical operations and safety of campus or provide services to our student population. Employees who work in essential service operations are required to report to work unless otherwise advised by their immediate supervisor. Employees who do not work in essential service operations should not report for in-person work when the campus is closed for inclement weather.
It is the expectation that essential service employees will report to work on campus when required to do so. However, if an essential service employee determines that they are unable to work for weather related reasons, then the supervisor should be notified, the absence will be considered approved with available vacation, compensatory time, or leave without pay authorized accordingly. If an essential service employee repeatedly does not work in suspension/closure situations, it could lead to a performance improvement plan and/or progressive discipline since doing so is an expectation of the position.
Clinical Operations and Closures
UTHSC patient care and clinic areas will close only if adequate arrangements can be made to reschedule patient appointments or to care for patients in the clinic.
Campus Hosted Events
All hosted events should be canceled or moved to a virtual format unless permission is received from the Chancellor’s Office to go forward with the in-person event.
Frequently Asked Questions
Employees will receive notification through email, phone, and text stating "suspension of on-campus operations."
If on-campus operations are suspended (campus is closed); employees who can do so must work remotely. Those who cannot work remotely will receive professional development activities from their supervisor to complete remotely. Essential employees are expected to come to campus as required by policy. On timesheets, this will be reflected as regular time worked. Employees who cannot perform remote activities, including professional development, will use annual leave.