Douglas College Faculty Association

Know Your Rights: a Brief Guide to the Douglas College
Collective Agreement for Contract Faculty

What is Contract Faculty Work?

Contract faculty are defined as non-regular instructors paid by contract for
each course taught. The maximum number of contracts, without becoming a regular
faculty member, is any number of courses in one semester and one in each of the
two remaining semesters (i.e., ? + 1 + 1). As a non-regular faculty member,
therefore, you could teach up to six three credit courses in an academic year.

Non-regular faculty can also be appointed on hourly basis. As an emergency or
substitute contract instructor, your workload can be up to 100%.
Chair/Coordinators are strongly encouraged to convert hourly contract faculty to
a semester contract if the substitution work is significant.

Besides teaching, contract faculty are eligible to do projects or some kinds of
coordination work.

Pay

The following table gives the semester pay rate for Contract faculty for a 3 credit course (a section). Pay is every two weeks.

2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
$5280	$5391	$5505

This includes vacation pay.

Benefits

Contract faculty, with a minimum of a 25% workload over a 90-day period, are eligible – upon application – for health and welfare benefits: the Medical Service Plan; Extended Health; Dental; and Life Insurance. Be aware that while your coverage will be at 100%, you will jointly pay the premiums with the College as pro-rated by your workload. So, if you teach two sections in a semester, you will pay 50% of the premiums.

It is possible to extend benefits coverage beyond a contract (from 30 to 130 days) and, where a new contract is signed, to bridge coverage to the new contract with pro-rated premiums deducted from the first new pay cheque.

Contract faculty are entitled to two paid sick days. After a 30 calendar day period of sick leave (all of which is credited as FTE service and despite 28 of the 30 days being unpaid), contract faculty are entitled to Short Term and Long Term Disability at 70% of salary.

You are also eligible for the College Pension Plan. When you sign your employment contract, Employee Relations will ask whether you wish to enroll or decline by signing a waiver form. Since the pension is a defined benefit plan (with the employer matching your contributions) and you might be offered further contracts, you may want to give serious consideration to signing up.

Contract faculty are also eligible for paid Parental Leave. Besides EI funds, a base salary is calculated for your previous 26 weeks employment with the College – then a salary top up is paid out. It is important to apply for parental leave to maintain your seniority and job eligibility.

Contract faculty are eligible for paid leaves of absence on such grounds as: compassionate; bereavement; jury duty and court appearance; and for College committees.

You are covered by the College’s liability insurance. In addition, contract faculty can access the counseling services of the Employee and Family Assistance Plan (Wilson Banwell). Contact Employee Relations about how to do so.

Working Conditions and Professional Development Money

Contract instructors should consult LA 8 for details on hours of work, scheduling, travel allowances, work assignments, free parking, and access to Professional Development (PD) funds. PD funds for contract instructors are calculated on a ‘snapshot’ basis for advance hire contracts – so emergency or hourly contracts will not be factored in. Consult your Chair/Coordinator about how to apply for a pro-rated amount of the annual $500 per FTE Professional Development allowance.

Job Security / Seniority

Seniority is calculated by FTE (Full Time Equivalency) service. One FTE is made up of eight three credit sections. Contract faculty with 0.75 FTE (six sections) service have a right of first refusal to work they are qualified to teach (QTT). That is, the Department is obligated to offer you work in order of seniority. You, on the other hand, have an obligation to inform the Department of where you can be found. Otherwise, the work can be offered to the next qualified instructor on the inventory list.

If you refuse work for two consecutive semesters or do not work for two years, all seniority and the right of first refusal is lost. Contract faculty with less than 0.75 FTE have no right to first refusal. They may be hired or not by the relevant Selection Committee.

All Contract faculty should have their Qualified to Teach (QTT) credentials added to the Contract faculty inventory list for the course(s) for which you have been hired. You may also be interviewed, or granted, qualified to teach for other courses and have this added to the inventory list. QTT interviews are at the discretion of the Department.

Contract faculty need to be aware that Regular faculty can bump Contract faculty for top up / layoff purposes.

If a course is cancelled, you are entitled to a $200 cancellation fee. Your potential FTE service will be credited towards your seniority.

Chairs and Coordinators are also required to consult Contract faculty about their preferences for work in the next academic year, including the right to decline some work by written waiver.

Evaluation

A Department/Discipline/Program Selection Committee can evaluate a Contract faculty member. The methods of evaluation are to be consistent with a Regular Probationary faculty member. Evaluation can be done from the first contract. If an instructor receives two consecutive unsatisfactory evaluations, you can be terminated at the conclusion of the second evaluation’s contract. Where evaluation is not done, the instructor is deemed to be satisfactory.

Regularization

Regularization is the process by which a faculty member is defined as holding an ongoing employment contract that is rated (i.e., placed on a salary step) and paid for on the primary salary grid. Most regular positions are externally selected, but there is an internal selection process that can draw upon Contract faculty who hold ‘Regular Status’.

Upon accumulation of two FTE, provided you have been deemed to be satisfactory and have sufficient QTT, you can be interviewed as a candidate for Regular Status by the Department Selection Committee. If the Committee awards you Regular Status, this means you are the internal candidate, in seniority order, for the next regular position that becomes available, that you are qualified to teach. Internal candidates have priority over external candidates.

Obtaining Regular Status, however, does not mean work. But it should be treated as a job interview for Regular work.

Working as a Contract Faculty member beyond two FTE, without obtaining regular status, can be used to hold a contract faculty member to less than four sections.

Your Individual Rights

In governance terms, Contract faculty may attend and vote at Department meetings. However, Contract faculty can neither vote for Department Chairs nor be a Department Chair.

Contract faculty also have the benefit of the Human Rights or Fair Treatment article, protection from harassment – on named Human Rights grounds, and copyright protection. You can request copies of written evaluations, your personnel records, and your place on the Seniority List (see MyDouglas for the latter).

Your Union Rights

Contract faculty are full members of the DCFA. You can attend meetings, request representation or a grievance from your area representative or the Table Officers, and you will receive the DCFA publication, Faculty Matters. Contract faculty also elects a Non Regular Faculty representative to the DCFA’s governing board, Executive Council (EC). This election occurs every two years and is conducted electronically by the DCFA Ombudsperson. The provincial union, the Federation of Post Secondary Educators (FPSE), has a standing committee on Non Regular Faculty, to which the DCFA nominates the Non Regular Faculty EC representative.

All contract instructors should consult the Douglas College Agreement, both Local and Common, for the specific wording on the above terms of employment.

For more information contact the Douglas College Faculty Association at 604-527-5166.

Top