LECTURER CRISIS GUIDE
Last Updated July 1, 2009
This is a guide prepared by the CFA Lecturers Council, which we hope provides information and resources during this difficult and uncertain time. For questions this guide doesn’t adequately address, please see the links provided and the contact information at the end of the guide.
1. Stay Informed
Read the CFA Weekly Headlines. The most recent versions have had updated FAQs on the budget crisis and the proposed furloughs. The Weekly Headlines are archived on the CFA website: http://www.calfac.org/
You can sign up at the home page to receive the Weekly Headlines directly.
2. Understand Your Lecturer Contract Rights
See the Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA): http://www.calfac.org/contract.html
Review the information in the 2007-2010 Lecturers’ Handbook: http://www.calfac.org/allpdf/lecturers/lecturershandbook_Sept2008.pdf
For an overview of Lecturer rights, see the PowerPoint on the Lecturer page of the CFA website: http://www.calfac.org/allpdf/lecturers/nutsandbolts_Apr28_2009.ppt
See Information Updates for Lecturers: http://www.calfac.org/lecturers_updates.html
3. Apply for Unemployment Benefits if You Are Eligible
Most Lecturers have contingent appointments and are eligible for unemployment benefits during breaks in the academic year or during terms in which they do not get work. Because their future work is contingent on budget and enrollment, they have no “reasonable assurance” of future work. Full-time Lecturers who are at the end of an appointment may also be eligible.
See pp. 21-24 of the Lecturers’ Handbook. See also “Information Updates” and “Information about Unemployment Benefits” at the Lecturer page on the CFA website: http://www.calfac.org/ These resources have information that will help you apply; for example, since you are represented by a union, you will be asked for your “union number” which is 1983.
4. Notify Your Chair of Your Availability for Work and Your Contract Information
It’s important that Lecturers send an email to their department chair listing courses they have previously taught plus courses they are otherwise qualified to teach, along with your availability to work during the upcoming term.
5. Understand the Assignment Order of Work for Lecturers
Review the employment section in the Lecturers’ Handbook and the appointment information in the Lecturer Nuts & Bolts PowerPoint. Review the assignment order in
Article 12.29 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement.
The CSU administration must follow the order of appointment in Article 12.29 (a) when assigning work at the beginning of the academic year. Decisions regarding reappointment must be based on your official Personnel Action File. You have the right to see your file.
All Lecturers who have been evaluated have “careful consideration” rights for work. See the Lecturers’ Handbook and Article 15 for more information about the periodic evaluation process. Lecturers with three-year appointments are only required to have a periodic evaluation once during the three-year duration of their appointment, but every Lecturer has the right to request an evaluation every term, if so desired. If you have not been evaluated this term and want to be (or if you have never been evaluated), send your chair an email requesting a periodic evaluation
Lecturers with three-year appointments under Article 12.12 and 12.13 have enhanced preference for work. Departments are required to post no later than June 30 a list of Lecturers who are eligible for three-year appointments. If your name is not on that list and you believe you are eligible for a three-year appointment, check with your department. If that does not resolve the issue, contact CFA.
For more information on Lecturer assignments, see the CFA Faculty Rights Handout on Lecturers: http://www.calfac.org/rephandouts.html
6. Understand Layoff, Reduction in Time Base, and Non-Reappointment
The magnitude of the current budget cuts put many Lecturers in peril of losing their jobs. For an overview of layoff, reduction in time base, and non-reappointment, see the CFA handout “Faculty Rights 101: Layoff and Non-Reappointment””:
http://www.calfac.org/rephandouts.html
The handout also describes the reemployment rights for Lecturers with three-year appointments, per Article 38.48 of the CBA.
7. Keep Checking with Your Department about Available Work
Departments must meet the entitlements of Lecturers with three-year appointments who are qualified to do the available work and give “careful consideration” to other incumbent Lecturers before hiring any new Lecturers. It’s important to note that If two Lecturers have equal preference for available work, the department has the flexibility to decide which Lecturer will be appointed, so long as there is some reason for the choice that is made. Once a Lecturer is appointed, that Lecturer’s entitlement should be filled if work is available for which the Lecturer is qualified before a second Lecturer is given work.
8. Know Your Options on Benefits
Lecturers need an appointment for at least one semester or two consecutive quarters and at least six units to be eligible for health benefits. You can accrue units from more than one department and more than one CSU campus to maintain eligibility for benefits. Lecturers with an academic year appointment and at least six units per semester or
quarter have year-round benefits. If you lose health benefits, talk to the campus benefits or human resources office and find out exactly when your benefits will run out. Ask about going on COBRA, which allows you to continue benefits by paying both the employer and employee costs. See p. 19 in the Lecturers’ Handbook.
The Federal Recovery Act provides a subsidy of 65% of COBRA costs to employees who lose their benefits because of losing their job between Sept. 1, 2008 and Dec. 31, 2009. To qualify for the subsidy, you must be “involuntarily terminated,” which in the CSU includes Lecturers who are not reappointed to ANY work.
9. Know Your Options if You Are Facing Non-reappointment
If possible, apply in other departments on your campus or at other CSU campuses. If you have the good fortune to find such extra work, remember that you can teach up to 16 units in a term at one campus (see p. 14 of the CSU Lecturers’ Handbook for restrictions on this workload and also see CSU letter on this issue at http://www.calfac.org/allpdf/lecturers/16th_Unit_Memo_10-2-07.pdf). Part-time Lecturers can teach up to 18 units per term if teaching at more than one CSU campus. If you are offered work through extension self-support programs, remember that work does not count toward health benefit eligibility.
If you are a member of CalPERS and are eligible to retire (meaning you are at least 50 years old and have at least five years of full-time equivalent service credit) and are currently eligible for heath benefits, you can retire from the CSU and protect your health benefits for life. You must retire within 120 days of when you separated from the CSU (which is the ending day of your last appointment). If you retire, you lose your entitlement rights that have accrued during your employment.
Retirement is a complicated and important decision. Before making this decision, talk to your campus benefits or human resources office and talk to CalPERS. You can go on the CalPERS website at http://www.calpers.ca.gov/ to order publications to walk your through the process, to send questions to CalPERS retirement specialists, or to get the address of your nearest CalPERS office to talk to a CalPERS specialist in person.
If you retire from the CSU, you can return to employment in the CSU as a retired annuitant. But there are restrictions on how much you can teach and there is no guarantee that you will be rehired and no guarantee that you will receive your pre-retirement salary. See pp. 20-21 of the Lecturers’ Handbook for more information, but remember that you need to check with your campus benefits or human resources office AND with CalPERS directly on any retirement question.
10. Contact CFA to Get Help and to Take Action
The contract, especially for Lecturer appointments, is complicated and can be very confusing. For help or questions, contact your campus CFA Lecturer Representative and/or your CFA chapter office. For contact information go to: http://www.calfac.org/lecturerscouncil.html or http://www.calfac.org/chapters.html
The budget cuts are a crisis for all faculty, but the impact is most severe on Lecturers.
The cuts are also a crisis for our students because class a Lecturer loses is a class that will not be available for a student. Contact your CFA chapter and read the Weekly Headlines to find out how to take action in support of the CSU by, for example, contacting your local Legislators and writing letters to the editor about the value of the CSU to our state’s future, going to the CFA home page to sign up for FaceBook causes, attending campus all-faculty and Lecturer meetings as well as off-campus actions.
During this crisis, if you have input or questions, you can write directly to statewide CFA at furloughsandbudgetcuts@calfac.org and if you want to get involved, send your name to summerfightback@calfac.org