Employees of this Kentucky university can expect a $1,000 ‘thank you’ next week
Full-time Eastern Kentucky University employees will be getting a “thank you” directly to their bank accounts next week for making it through a tough year warped by the COVID-19 pandemic.
On Thursday, EKU’s Board of Regents approved a measure to place $1,000 via direct deposit into the bank account of every full-time, university employee who has been with the university since at least Sept. 30 of this year. The Colonels Care payment is slated to come next Wednesday.
“This year’s payment is not merit-based, but it’s a sincere thank you for the work that everyone has done in this most difficult year,” said EKU president David McFaddin. The president and the president’s council will be excluded from the payment, he said.
The one-time payment will go to nearly 1,600 eligible employees and will cost the university close to $2 million, university spokesperson Kristi Middleton said. The university has about 2,400 total employees.
McFaddin said the university will also be looking at ways that the university could potentially make this sort of payment annually and that administrators would evaluate how to make that possible in the coming months.
Those receiving the payment “endured probably the most difficult fall semester in recent memory, if not ever,” said Lewis Diaz the chair of the board of regents.
“It’s good for us to end the semester in ‘job well done, you are appreciated,’ and recognizing everything that they’ve all done to keep the doors open and keep themselves and our students safe,” Diaz told the board. “I also accept the challenge... of looking at the budget to replicate this in the next fiscal year.”