Faculty Rights Tip of the Week: Lecturer Preference for Work at the Start of the Academic Year, with COVID-19-related Entitlement Protections

At the beginning of each new term, teaching assignments for lecturers are often in flux until the last minute. It can be a challenging time for both lecturers and department chairs/programs. During the pandemic and economic recession of 2020, these challenges are all the more acute. 

Article 12.29a of our Collective Bargaining Agreement governs the assignment of classes during the academic year (i.e. in terms other than Fall). This article provides protection for long-term lecturers. The administration must follow the order of appointments specified in this article.

If you are a lecturer who has lost classes this term, we urge you to review Article 12.29a of our faculty contract and contact your campus CFA chapter faculty rights representative if you have questions.

It’s useful to know that qualified lecturers with 3-year appointments must be offered work up to their entitlements before their department offers the same work to lecturers without 3-year appointments.

Furthermore, lecturers who worked in 2019-20 have preference for work over newly hired lecturers. All qualified 1-year and 3-year lecturers have the right to work beyond their entitlements before that same work is offered to a brand new lecturer.

Moreover, CFA negotiated a Memorandum of Understanding to protect lecturer entitlement during times of COVID-19, which allows faculty on temporary appointments who may have a reduction in their entitlement assignments for 2020-21 to maintain their current time base entitlement for Academic Year 2019-20 if they become eligible for course assignments in 2021-22. This protects faculty preference for work for those who may lose work during state budget cuts, but who return to the CSU in the future. You can read the MOU in its entirety here.

If you believe that your rights have been violated, please contact your CFA Faculty Rights Representative. Please note that faculty members only have 42 days to file a grievance from the date they found out about the violations. At most campuses, that deadline is coming very soon.

Want to learn more? Become active with your local CFA chapter Faculty Rights team. Find your representative here.

• Browse the faculty contract.
• See an archive of Faculty Rights Tips.
• If you have questions about a faculty rights tip or would like to suggest a tip, please write us with the subject line “Faculty Rights Tip.”