It took one sentence to lay her off and one more to reinstate her.
UF assistant professor of Czech studies Hana Filip received a one-sentence letter Wednesday notifying her that she had her job back, becoming the second professor this week to be reinstated.
"The University of Florida hereby withdraws its layoff notice dated June 9, 2008," the letter, signed by UF Provost Joe Glover, reads.
"Now it's funny," Filip said of the terse letters. "But, believe me, it was not funny until yesterday."
Filip was scheduled to lose her job in June as a result of the $6 million budget cut experienced by the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences in 2008-2009. Her layoff was challenged by the United Faculty of Florida, the UF faculty union, and an arbitration hearing was set for April 21, Filip said.
UF spokeswoman Janine Sikes said UF decided to reverse Filip's layoff before the hearing because of an arbitrator's ruling in a similar case, heard in January and decided earlier this month.
Andrea Pham, assistant professor of linguistics and Vietnamese language, who was laid off around the same time as Filip, was ordered to be reinstated on the grounds that UF violated its contract with the faculty union.
The ruling states UF can only target organizational units such as departments for layoffs, and that Pham's two Vietnamese classes did not constitute such a unit, as UF contended.
"I did not expect it," Filip said of UF's decision. "It was a good surprise."
"I'm just hugely relieved that I can go back and just do my work," she said. She said she hasn't been told yet what she'll be teaching next year. Paul D'Anieri, dean of CLAS, wrote in an e-mail that he will talk with the heads of the programs in which Filip teaches to decide that in the coming days. More classes will likely be added to the schedule soon, he wrote.
He also wrote that he wasn't sure where the money to reinstate Filip will come from. The college is currently preparing for a possible cut of about $9.3 million. "We'll need to identify deeper cuts in order to pay for these unanticipated expenses," D'Anieri wrote.
Filip said she has mixed feelings about the experience of being laid off then reinstated.
"On the one hand, I am grateful for all the support from the faculty here but, on the other hand, it was a huge trauma I was put through," she said.
