Faculty Rights Tips

With campuses taking emergency steps in response to COVID-19, many faculty members are being asked to make plans for teaching online, “virtually,” or though self-directed study. Taking on this work may not always be possible, but when it is, some faculty are concerned about their Intellectual Property rights as they share their work electronically and in online, electronic platforms. 

Sometimes, we need to take time away from the University to care for an ill family member.  

Faculty members with seriously ill parents, children, spouses, or domestic partners have the right to take a leave of absence of up to 12 weeks to care for their eligible family member.  

Have you (or someone you know) ever been called into a meeting with an administrator and you were not quite sure what the meeting was about?

And once in the meeting realized, you were being questioned or investigated about some issue for which you might be disciplined, reprimanded, or otherwise negatively affected? You need, and are entitled to have, a union representative or another advocate of your choosing with you at that meeting. 

You can invoke your right to have an advocate with you before or during the meeting by saying:

Our Faculty Contract provides two programs for tenured faculty who are close to retirement. Article 29 covers the provisions for the Faculty Early Retirement (FERP) program and Article 30 covers the Pre-Retirement Reduction in Time Base (PRTB) program.

Here’s a timely tip for Lecturers who may be assigned to a class that gets canceled in the first few weeks of the term (from Article 12.5):  

“… If a class is canceled prior to the third class meeting, the temporary employee shall be paid the portion of the term worked prior to the cancellation.

Article 34 of our faculty contract covers vacations. The Vacation Article only applies to faculty with 10 or 12-month appointments, and it does not apply to faculty on Academic Year appointments.  

Faculty who qualify under Article 34 earn two days of vacation for every qualifying month of service. Part-time faculty earn this same credit on a pro-rata basis.

By now many campuses are well into their evaluation cycles. The Faculty Contract provision below applies to all faculty undergoing any form of evaluation, but it is especially timely for probationary faculty applying for tenure or any faculty member up for promotion.

Range elevation is the process through which eligible Lecturers and temporary Librarians can increase their salaries by moving from one salary range to the next.

Normally, eligibility requires five years of service in current range and no Service Salary Increase (SSI) eligibility. Thanks to CFA’s Bargaining Team, range elevation has been expanded so that long-term Lecturers, even if they have not maxed out SSIs, may be eligible too.

Every faculty member, including instructional faculty, coaches, counselors, and librarians has a Personnel Action File (PAF). It is the only official personnel file for employment information and information that may be relevant to personnel recommendations or actions.

Article 11 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement covers the various rules about faculty Personnel Action Files.