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If approved, the exception would allow some UA employees to be released from their contracts in response to severe budget constraints.

The Arizona Board of Regents, during its two-day meeting at Arizona State University this week, is expected to approve a two-year exception to board policies that would allow university presidents to release certain employees at any time during their contract terms, with 90 days' notice.

The University of Arizona is supporting the exception, which would impact ABOR policies covering at least 2,500 administrators and appointed personnel employees on campus, said Allison Vaillancourt, UA vice president for human resources.

If approved, the exception would continue to allow universities and the central ABOR office to appoint administrative and professional employees (appointed personnel) for periods of up to one fiscal year but would also authorize them to respond to severe budget constraints by releasing administrative and certain professional employees at any time during their appointment terms with 90 days notice.

"Currently, UA employees covered by the conditions of administrative and professional service are provided with annual employment contracts. While these contracts provide a measure of employment security to those who receive them and enable us to attract outstanding talent, 12-month commitments make it difficult for the University to respond to unanticipated and severe budget reductions," Vaillancourt wrote in a memo addressed to appointed professionals and administrators.

"Several department heads have proposed non-renewing contracts in April in case the FY10 budget is even worse than anticipated. Others have suggested that we abolish contracts or limit them to three months in order to achieve maximum flexibility. We believe these options will create more uncertainty for employees and cause extra work for departmental staff. After extensive consideration, we have concluded that the proposed exceptions to board policies are a better way to achieve necessary flexibility and enable us to demonstrate our commitment to our administrative and professional employees," continued the memo, which was sent this week.

Under the policy exception, employees could be released with 90 days' notice at any time during their appointment term, after written authorization by the president. The proposed exception would not affect classified staff, faculty or academic professional employees on multiple-year, continuing status or continuing-eligible appointments.

It is not known whether President Robert N. Shelton will use the exception, but Vaillancourt said circumstances would likely need to be "extraordinary" for the tool to be used.

"There's a lot of fear right now, but I don't see this affecting a lot of people," she said in an interview.

Employees with questions can e-mail vaillana@email.arizona.edu.

"These are exceptionally challenging times and we must respond as good stewards, taking care to preserve the talent within our community while demonstrating financial prudence," Vaillancourt wrote in the memo.