Faculty Rights Tip: Lecturers and Work Assignment During the Year

At the beginning of each new term during the academic year, teaching assignments for lecturers are often in flux until the last minute. With enrollments shifting up and down during this not-yet-post-pandemic-era in higher education, it is an especially challenging time for both lecturers and department chairs, as the former experiences the frustrations of precarity in employment.

Article 12.29b of our Collective Bargaining Agreement (CBA) 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 in the Winter or Spring term or if you are a department chair making last-minute class assignments of available work, we urge you to review Article 12.29b of our CBA and contact your campus CFA chapter faculty rights representative if you have questions.

The primary difference between 12.29b and 12.29a (which governs Fall terms) is that lecturers on 1-year appointments in Winter and Spring terms have a higher preference for work than do term-appointed lecturers, which means that their entitlement base must be met before providing careful consideration to term-appointed lecturers. 

It is useful to know that lecturers with a 3-year or 1-year time-base entitlement have enforceable contractual rights. Lecturers with either of these appointments (3-year or 1-year) must have their time-base entitlements met before any work is assigned to incumbent lecturers who are lower in the preference-for-work order.

With fluctuating enrollments and uncertain budgets upon us, guard your entitlement rights, and contact your campus CFA faculty rights representative if you have questions about your entitlement rights for Winter or Spring 2024.

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

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