University of California President Mark Yudof presented a new plan for furloughing employees Friday, a sliding scale approach that cuts pay according to how much workers make.

His plan exempts employees whose salaries are covered by outside grants, gives UC campuses flexibility in choosing furlough days and funds employee retirement plans at pre-furlough levels.

UC regents will vote on the plan Wednesday.

Yudof's proposal differs significantly from the furlough plan he presented to workers last month. He said he revised it after receiving thousands of e-mails from UC employees who were concerned about diminishing retirement benefits and a proposal to take furloughs on paid holidays.

"No one likes it but I think we've done a good job listening," Yudof said at a news conference Friday.

"The principle was really one of sharing the pain," he said.

His plan divides workers into seven tiers, with those who make less than $40,000 taking a 4 percent pay cut and those who make more than $240,000 taking a 10 percent cut. Employees in the middle ranges will see their pay cut by 5, 6, 7, 8 or 9 percent.

The pay cuts will be achieved by giving employees unpaid days off, with the number of furlough days varying between 11 and 26 depending on pay level. About 360 senior managers will be given only 10 days off, regardless of how much their pay is reduced.

Employees will work with their supervisors to figure out when to take their furlough days. But Yudof said he expects professors not to take them on days they have class.

"If you have teaching obligations, you ought to be there," he said.

If regents approve the plan, most UC employees would be subjected to furloughs for one year starting Sept. 1.

About a quarter of UC employees – those who are paid by outside research grants from the federal government or private industry – will be exempt from the plan. Yudof said it didn't make sense to cut their pay because grant money can be used only on the specific projects it funds. It can't be used to help solve UC's deficit.

The furloughs would save UC more than $200 million and cover roughly a quarter of the university's $813 million deficit.

Yudof said the rest of the deficit will be covered through the increase in student fees approved in May, refinancing debt load, and staffing and program cuts at individual campuses – including the liver transplant program at UC Davis Medical Center, which began shutting down at the end of last year.

The university will have to negotiate the furloughs with more than a dozen labor unions that represent some UC workers.

And at least one union says it won't go along with the plan.

"Many people who work for the university are underpaid as it is," said Kevin Scott, a UC Davis research associate and a member of the University Professional and Technical Employees union.

Instead of furloughing workers, he said, UC should cut administrator pay and scale back on building projects.

But faculty, who are not represented by unions, seemed pleased with Yudof's new plan.

Mary Croughan, a UC San Francisco professor who heads the statewide Academic Senate, said faculty are relieved that the new plan preserves retirement benefits.

"Our retirement program is one of our best recruitment tools," she said.

Robert Powell, a UC Davis professor who is chairman of the Academic Senate on that campus, said Yudof responded to the faculty's concerns.

"Considering where he started and where he ended up, he certainly listened to us," Powell said.

"He heard people on the need for graduated pay cuts and he responded in a very positive way."

Call The Bee's Laurel Rosenhall, (916) 321-1083.