Fired – With Benefits. Ousted UNM Leader Given Million Dollar Separation Options.
But First, It’s Labor Day…
So, before the oratory begins about the importance of workers and the needs of working families, politicians in New Mexico might want to think about the thousands of workers they employ who make less than a living wage.
According to more than one of the national organizations which calculate what is needed for a living wage in each state, the hourly wage necessary for one New Mexican to meet the costs of living is between $20.10 and $23.10, for just themselves … more if they have children.
New Mexico’s state agencies have more than 2,000 employees; the University of New Mexico has at least 1,000 employees; and the University of New Mexico Hospital has more than 1,400 employees – all paid less than a living wage.
Those numbers do not reflect the thousands of direct care services workers also paid less than a living wage, in large part due to insufficient rates paid by the state for various care programs.
And as thousands of UNM students face food and housing insecurity, those same politicians should read Bella Davis’ August 27, 2024, reporting in New Mexico InDepth, entitled “Most New Mexico college students struggle with unstable housing and limited food.”
… Especially in light of the deal Dr. Douglas Ziedonis received, which gives him the option of being paid more than $1 million between now and a little more than a year from now, even as he was being fired from his job at UNM HSC – without cause – by the UNM president.
The saying, “the bigger they are, the harder they fall,” does not apply to the elite at UNM …
When UNM President Garnett Stokes announced last week that she was firing Douglas Ziedonis as head of the Health Sciences Department, she didn’t mention that a contract addendum she signed for the doctor’s employment a few years ago provided him with a super soft landing, allowing him to walk away with more than a million dollars in separation options.
(The Candle obtained a copy of the addendum to the contract between UNM and Dr. Douglas Ziedonis – a copy of the addendum can be found at the end of this reporting).
Nor did she mention that she signed paperwork to give him a raise just weeks before she informed him his services as the University of New Mexico Health Sciences Center were no longer wanted.
The communications departments of both UNM and UNM HSC, did not provide reporters with the details tucked away in Ziedonis’ employment contract addendum which gives him the choice of accepting a tenured faculty position at UNM, or walk away while being paid for a full year after separation.
Here are some of the details of the Ziedonis contract addendum:
When President Stokes recently informed Dr. Ziedonis he was being replaced as leader of UNM HSC without cause, that communication triggered Section 6 (Termination by the University Without Cause), of his employment contract addendum; Stokes elected to put Ziedonis on “professional” leave for 120 days with full pay and benefits.
Given that his current annual salary, as increased by Stokes in June, is $777,449.16, and that 120 days is essentially four months, Ziedonis is being paid about $259,149, as, according to the contract addendum, that he has few or no day-to-day responsibilities as EVP and CEO of HSC.
Section 6. of the contract also provides Ziedonis the full 120 days to contemplate accepting one of the following options:
a.) assume full time faculty status at the Department of Psychiatry in the School of Medicine as a Full Professor with Tenure receiving a salary equal to the average of the top three faculty of the same rank and title at that Department of Psychiatry – with this caveat: after his 120 days of “professional leave” and $259,149, the President of UNM “will award Dr. Ziedonis a six-month preparation period paid as follows: six months at a his then EVP and CEO HSC base salary” (which would be at least $388,724.58) – after those six months his new salary as a UNM Tenured Full Professor would kick in;
or he can choose the following option,
b.) after his 120 days of “professional leave” and being paid about $259,149, (for few or no day-to-day responsibilities as EVP and CEO of HSC), if Dr. Ziedonis elects NOT to assume faculty status, UNM is required to pay his base salary of $777,449 for one year after the “Without Cause Termination Effective Date.”
Those are just the separation details.
With 6,000 UNM students facing food insecurity issues – lucrative perks are enjoyed by Ziedonis and other University Personnel.
Ziedonis received these additional perks as thousands of students Ziedonis and Stokes serve face food and housing anxieties:
- One-time $40,000, lump sum Relocation Allowance, which could also be used for up to three months in lease/rental housing.
- A $40,000/year allowance for for Conference, Seminars and Professional Growth Activities.
- University-provided cellphone and traveling computer device or tablet.
- Automobile allowance of $1,000 per month.
- Incentive Compensation not to exceed $85,000 annually.
- $75,000 in Deferred Compensation allocated to Dr. Ziedonis under the University of New Mexico Employer Plan.
Those perks are similarly offered to other University elites.
Dr. Patricia Finn, Dean of the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, has a contract that includes a base salary of $610,000, additional incentive of $55,000, deferred compensation of $50,000, and a Relocation Allowance of $35,000; and $15,000 annually for her professional development.
Dr. Finn’s husband, David Perkins, is also a doctor, and was offered the position of Professor as a spousal hire. (According to a UNM spokesperson, a spousal hire is a strong recruitment tool to ensure UNM can attract the best and brightest and ensure families stay united.)
He was hired and given a salary of $355,000, and an additional $10,000 relocation allowance for Dr. Perkins.
Kate Becker, CEO of UNM Hospital, has similar perks in her contract.
The Candle is in the process of making Inspection of Public Records Act requests for the contracts of other senior executive personnel at UNM and UNMH, and will provide updated reporting in the weeks ahead.
(The graphics are from the New Mexico Basic Needs Insecurity Website – by Basic Needs Project)
The people who run UNM and UNM HSC are treated extremely better than those they lead and are supposed to serve – especially in light of evidence that thousands of workers at University venues are paid less than living wages and students are facing food and housing insecurities.
As Davis writes in her NM In Depth reporting on food and housing inequities at institutions of higher education, that “Last year, researchers with the UNM Basic Needs Project, in partnership with the state Higher Education Department, surveyed nearly 10,000 students, along with 4,000 faculty and staff, at 27 higher education institutions in the state.”
“They found stable housing and getting enough food, especially nutritious food, were challenges for more than half of students within the prior year, a rate that far exceeds national averages. And Native American and Black students — who, at UNM, graduate at lower rates than other students — struggle more than their peers to meet those basic needs.”
Memorandum Re: FY 25 Salary Increase and Addendum to Employment Contract Between Dr. Ziedonis and UNM