On Thursday, UC's Board of Regents approved roughly 3.1 million dollars in incentive to 38 senior medical executives for meeting their 2009 performance goals.  The payouts would range from 30,000 to 220,000 dollars in bonuses.  The move comes six months after top executives received a 25 percent pay hike.

Amazingly according to multiple reports the incentive was simply the reduction of infection in hospitals which triggers tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands in bonus pay.  According to a release:

With the University of California imposing a 32% fee increase to students and implementing furloughs and layoffs as a means to cut costs, the UC System is now under increased scrutiny from a variety of fronts.  On November 23, 2009, the California Public Employment Relations Board (PERB) issued a complaint regarding unfair labor practices and bad faith negotiations. 

This week, UC Associate Vice President for Information Resources and Communications, David Ernst was exposed for for misusing $150,000 in public moneys to finance lavish overseas trips, meals, and stays at expensive resorts under the guise of official business while he was employed at the California State University.

Last week, the San Francisco Chronicle unleashed quite a stir with an article that reported that while the UC Board of Regents was voting to cut millions from UC Budgets through furloughs, pay cuts, layoffs, student fee hikes, and other campus cutbacks, they were also approving pay raises, stipends, and other benefits for more than two dozen executives.

Wrote the Chronicle on August 7, 2009: