Faculty Staff Union, Inc.

University of Massachusetts Boston

CONTRACT INFORMATION SHEET

To All Deans, Department Chairs/Program Directors, and Administrative Assistants:

This information sheet is designed to provide you with important information about the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between the university and the FSU.  It is intended to help in your management of lecturers (non-tenure stream faculty) in particular. Please contact the FSU office with any questions.  You can access a copy of the CBA from our website.

Gap Insurance for New Tenure Stream Faculty

Newly-hired tenure stream faculty members are eligible for a subsidy for health insurance (or reimbursement for out-of-pocket medical expenses) of up to $500 per month for 2 months in the period between the hire date and effective date of health insurance coverage (effective health insurance coverage from the state’s Group Insurance Commission (GIC) begins 60 days after the first day of employment). The health insurance subsidy covers both continuations of existing coverage as well as new coverage.  Please contact Human Resources for more information on this program. Information can also be found in Article 26.11 of the 2007-2008 collective bargaining agreement. (This program subsidy cannot be used for dental coverage.)

Course Assignment by Priority Lists for Lecturers

Departments and programs are responsible for assigning courses to post-probationary Lecturers[1] according to a departmental course prioritization list (see Article 21(B).6 of the 2007-2008 collective bargaining agreement for more information). Each Department or Program that hires per-course Lecturers must have a priority list that ranks its post-probationary Lecturers by seniority, meaning that the longest serving Lecturers on this list shall be offered a course before any Lecturer below them on the list or any newly hired Lecturer; post-probationary Lecturers have the contractual right to be notified of their position on the priority list if requested (see Article 21(B).6(d) of the 07-08 collective bargaining agreement). However, Lecturers not on the list or Lecturers who are lower on the list than other post-probationary Lecturers, may be offered a course first if it is determined that they are uniquely qualified to teach that course. In addition, departments have discretion over how they apportion course offerings to Lecturers on the priority list. For example, a department with 7 courses to assign and 3 prioritized Lecturers may choose any of the following methods: offering one course each down the list (several times), or 2 courses down the list, or 3-3-1, or 4 courses to the most senior, then 3 to the next most senior. However, departments should have a standard practice in this regard that is known to all relevant Lecturers.

Assignment of In-Person CCDE Sections

In addition to the above-mentioned priority list, each department or program must maintain a separate priority list for assigning in-person CCDE courses. (Note that CCDE priority lists do not differentiate between tenure stream and non-tenure stream faculty in assigning courses). Overall CCDE seniority is determined not by hire date but by the total number of in-person CCDE courses taught.

Course assignment also involves the 3 separate “pools”: Fall/Spring, Winter session, and Summer session. In order to be in a pool, an individual must have taught in that term within the past two years. Courses should be assigned by overall CCDE seniority to members in the pool for the term in question. For the Fall/Spring and Summer terms, each member can request, and must be assigned, up to two sections[2] of their choosing, as long as they are qualified to teach those sections.[3] If courses remain unassigned after this process, courses should then be offered to faculty members with CCDE seniority who are not in the relevant pool. As with regular courses, an exception can be made if someone not in the pool is the only one qualified to teach the course in question. Note that new faculty members can be hired to teach CCDE sections only if all qualified members of the pool as well as all other department faculty have declined to teach those sections.

Maintaining Ones Position on the Lecturer Course Prioritization List

A post-probationary lecturer shall not have his/her position on the departmental course prioritization list changed if a) they have a brief interruption of service of 4 consecutive semesters or less caused by the employer (i.e. they have not been offered courses), b) they take 4 consecutive semesters or less for purposes of professional development (to be approved by the Dean with the recommendation of the department chair/program director), c) they take 4 consecutive semesters or less for medical reasons, or d) they take 4 consecutive semesters or less for the purposes of introducing a child (natural, adoptive, or foster) into the household. Please note that one’s position on the various CE priority lists shall remain the same regardless of the length and type of any breaks in service.

Health Benefits for Lecturers

Per-course Lecturers will become eligible for health benefits when they meet the following criteria: they complete a period of teaching of 5 courses over 3 consecutive semesters (or 8 courses total, whichever comes first) and then, starting in the semester immediately following this period, they teach 2 courses a semester for 2 consecutive semesters. Upon the start of the 3^rd consecutive semester after the completion of the 5 over 3 (or 8 total) period, they will become benefits-eligible provided they are minimum half time (note that only Fall or Spring courses- either ‘regular’ or DCCDE- count toward benefits status; Winter and Summer Session courses do not count). However, any Lecturer who is hired at 0.75 FTE or higher will be immediately eligible for benefits.

Loss of Benefits for Lecturers

Benefited Lecturers must remain at a minimum half-time status to keep health benefits. If a benefited Lecturer falls below half-time status, the University will make its best effort to find an alternative assignment for said Lecturer so that he/she will be able to maintain benefits eligibility (see Article 21(B).49d) of the 07-08 collective bargaining agreement). A formerly benefited Lecturer who has lost their benefited status due to either an involuntary break in service or a less than half-time course assignment will be immediately reinstated in benefited status as soon as they resume a minimum half-time course load. Note that the GIC will only provide benefits to employees who are minimum half-time each semester, meaning that a benefited Lecturer can not be 0.75 one semester and 0.25 the next and still maintain benefits—such an individual would lose benefits for the 0.25 semester.

Additional Responsibilities for Benefited Lecturers

All benefited Lecturers are paid on a salaried, rather than per-course basis, and may be expected to perform non-teaching related duties for the department or program.

Multi-Year Contracts for Long Term Lecturers (the Senior Lecturer Promotion)

When a benefited Lecturer has reached 10 years of service from hire date, they are eligible for promotion to Senior Lecturer which comes with a guaranteed, 2-3 year contract of minimum half-time employment.[4] Department chairs shall be responsible for notifying eligible lecturers of their pending eligibility. Notification of eligibility must occur within 60 days of the start of the Fall semester prior to the year in which the promotion is to be effectuated. Eligible lecturers will be evaluated for promotion by the departmental personnel committee (DPC). Based on the DPC’s evaluation the department chair will then make a recommendation for or against promotion to the college personnel committee (CPC). The CPC will then provide a similar evaluation for the Dean who will in turn notify the Provost of his/her recommendation. The Provost shall make the final determination on Senior Lecturer promotion. A written statement must be provided to the eligible candidate if either the department chair or Dean disagrees with the respective personnel committees. Eligible lecturers must be notified of the Provost’s decision no later than August 15^th following the academic year in which the review takes place. Please note that those eligible for the Senior Lecturer promotion shall be evaluated solely on the basis of the work that they are hired to perform (eligible lecturers who wish to provide additional materials to the DPC for evaluation may do so but those who do not shall not be penalized). For more information on the Senior Lecturer promotion, including information on the review process for eligible Lecturers, see Article 21(B).13 of the 07-08 collective bargaining agreement as well as the Memorandum of Understanding- Process for and Effect of Promotion to Senior Lecturer (page 121 of the contract).

Bargaining Unit Status of Lecturers

All new Lecturers, whether they are part-time or full-time, short-term or long-term, are in the bargaining unit as soon as they are hired. Therefore they will be immediately covered by the terms of the CBA (including eligibility for all union negotiated pay raises), and will have access to union representation for any labor related issues.

Dues Paying Requirement for Bargaining Unit Members

All members of the bargaining unit (regardless of FTE) are required to either pay dues or an agency fee to the union.  Any new Lecturer hired with questions about the union or  dues should contact the FSU office directly (617.287-6295; fsu@umb.edu). Generally, members choose to pay dues via automatic deduction from their paychecks. The FSU can provide your department or program with payroll deduction forms for this purpose if you wish.

Mandatory Retirement Payments for Lecturers

In addition to state and federal income taxes, non-benefited Lecturers are required to pay the employee portion of Medicare (though not Social Security), as well as OBRA (a mandatory alternative retirement program for employees who are not in the Optional Retirement Program (ORP) or the state retirement system (SERS)). OBRA funds are returned to Lecturers if they end their employment at UMB, but it should be noted that the OBRA monies are taxed (OBRA monies are taken pre-tax upon hire and are taxed only when cashed in; however, OBRA funds can be rolled over, tax free, into IRA’s, etc). Benefited Lecturers, in addition to paying state and federal income taxes, pay their portion of either the ORP or SERS. Lecturers with questions on these payments should contact Human Resources directly.