Download a copy: THE NTA Rights and Benefits Brochure
Brochure text is also included below.
The Professional Staff Congress is the union that represents 30,000 faculty and staff at the City University of New York (CUNY) and the CUNY Research Foundation. It represents part-time and full-time faculty and staff, including Non-Teaching Adjuncts. The union is dedicated to advancing the professional lives of its members, enhancing their terms and conditions of employment, and maintaining the strength of the nation’s largest, oldest and most visible urban public university. With organized action from you and your colleagues, the union is able to secure, rights and benefits for its members. If you’re not a member of the PSC yet, join. You can submit a membership authorization card online at: psc-cuny.org/join-PSC.
HOURS & WORKLOAD
Non-Teaching Adjuncts are limited to 375 hours per semester for the Fall and Spring semesters. If working at different colleges, you cannot exceed 225 hours at the first college and 150 hours at the second.
For the Summer semester, you are limited to 175 hours.
If you work at more than one college or department, it is your responsibility to inform your department chairs/supervisors. If you are given assignments in excess of the contractual workload, your department chairs/supervisors can inform the college(s).
NON-TEACHING ADJUNCT SALARY SCHEDULES
The teaching rates for Non-Teaching Adjuncts are available online:
PAY SCHEDULES
Every semester, your department should receive and inform you of the pay dates for Non-Teaching Adjuncts. The first paycheck of the semester is usually not issued until several weeks after the start of the semester. If your check is not available on the first and/or second scheduled pay date, contact your college Human Resources office about requesting a salary advance. Contact your adjunct grievance counselor if you are not paid on time.
ANNUAL EVALUATIONS
At least once an academic year, you are entitled to an annual evaluation conference with your supervisor. If your annual evaluation is not scheduled by March 1, you must file a request with your supervisor within 10 working days.
Within 10 working days from the evaluation conference, you should receive a written memo of the conference, which is placed in your personnel file. A copy is also given to you.
You have a right to submit a written response to the evaluation conference memo and place it in your file.
After four semesters of service, annual evaluations for adjuncts will be at the request of the supervisor or NTA. If you request one, you cannot have an evaluation more than once every four semesters.
PERSONNEL FILES
You have a right to examine your personal personnel file upon request. You have the right to add to the file any information on your academic and professional accomplishments, among other documents such as certificates received in professional development courses.
APPOINTMENTS & REAPPOINTMENTS
December 1 and May 15 are the notice deadlines. You must receive written notice of reappointment (which should include your title and hourly rate) or non-reappointment by December 1 in the Fall semester and May 15 in the Spring semester. If you do not receive a letter by the appropriate date, notify a PSC adjunct grievance counselor.
Grievance counselor contacts can be found here.
Once you have received an appointment, you must be told of changes in the conditions which impact your employment as soon as the college is made aware of them.
UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE
All adjuncts who are non-reappointed or have had their hours reduced, and whose total earnings from all employment is less than $504 per week may apply for unemployment insurance. Non-Teaching Adjuncts should receive the college’s record of employment letter and the notification to employees for separation or hours reduction letter within five days of non-reappointment or reduction in hours. These documents should be used with your application. If you did not receive the documents, check with your college HR.
See: psc-cuny.org/benefits/resources-laid-adjuncts.
HEALTH INSURANCE
Individual health insurance is available to eligible adjuncts with no other source of health insurance in their third semester of working. NTAs must have worked the previous two semesters for 15 or more hours per week, or an equivalent combination of teaching and non-teaching hours (not including Winter or Summer sessions). To determine eligibility for health insurance only, one non-teaching hour is equivalent to 0.4 teaching contact hour.
The health insurance benefit is retained as long as you work 15 non-teaching hours per semester. Summer work does not count.
GHI and HIP have no premiums; other plans are more costly. Family coverage is available at an additional cost. Contact your college Human Resources or Benefits office for details on how to enroll.
WELFARE FUND SUPPLEMENTAL BENEFITS (RX DRUGS, DENTAL, OPTICAL)
Benefits are provided to Non-Teaching Adjuncts who are eligible for health insurance. You must enroll in this coverage via a separate application form from when you enroll in health insurance. For more information, visit psccunywf.org.
COBRA
If you lose your health insurance because you work under 15 non-teaching hours, you may maintain benefits under COBRA, the federal law which continues coverage at the same group rate for up to 18 months.
If after one semester you resume working 15 non-teaching hours, your health insurance will be restored. If you are ineligible for health insurance for two or more semesters, you must reestablish eligibility.
SICK LEAVE
During any semester or session, NTAs may be excused for personal illness or personal emergencies, including religious observances, death in the immediate family, or similar personal needs which cannot be postponed, for a period of 1/15 of the total number of clock hours in that particular semester.
Request for such leave, when possible, must be made in advance in writing. If it is not possible, notify your department chair / supervisor as soon as possible. The reason provided should be satisfactory to them.
COVID-19 SICK LEAVE
New York State law authorizes paid sick leave for precautionary order or quarantine due to COVID-19. This benefit is not available for employees who are physically able to work remotely.
Leave is up to 10 working days of paid sick leave at the employee’s regular rate of pay and can be used a maximum of three times from October 1, 2021.
Non-Teaching Adjuncts should be paid for the number of hours they would have normally scheduled work.
A positive COVID-19 test is required for a second or third period of isolation/quarantine.
Employees are not required to use their existing sick leave for COVID-19 sick leave.
JURY DUTY
You must be paid your regular salary for jury duty and give CUNY any jury pay you receive.
PAID FAMILY LEAVE
New York State provides a Paid Family Leave (PFL) program that includes part-time workers. PFL offers paid, job-protected time off to bond with a new child, care for a family member with a serious health condition (including COVID-19), or assist one’s family if a member is deployed on active military service outside the U.S. A small deduction is taken from your paycheck, up to a limit, to cover the program. Read more details below.
Eligibility, Time Off and Rate:
If you work 20 hours or more a week, you are eligible once you have completed 26 weeks of employment. If you work fewer than 20 hours per week, you are eligible after 175 days of employment. PFL provides 12 weeks of leave. For example, if you are an adjunct working three days per week, you are entitled to 36 days of PFL if you take PFL in one-day increments and to 12 weeks of PFL if the leave is taken in whole weeks. (If you work three days a week, the PFL wage replacement benefit will be based on three days per week.)
Employees on PFL are paid 67% of their average weekly wage, up to a cap of 67% of the statewide average weekly wage (SAWW). The SAWW is calculated annually by New York State; For 2024, the SAWW is $1,718.15. The maximum weekly benefit is 67% of this amount, or $1,151.16.
Department Notification:
You are responsible for notifying the college that you intend to apply for PFL benefits. If the request is foreseeable, you must provide the college Human Resources office with at least 30 days’ advance notice. If the event or reason for the leave is not foreseeable, you must notify the college as soon as practical. All employees should follow their department procedures and keep their department chairs informed of their plans for use of PFL.
WORKERS’ COMPENSATION
You may be covered by Workers’ Compensation for on-the-job injuries. Call the district office at 1-800-877-1373.
PENSIONS & ANNUITIES
All Non-Teaching Adjuncts are eligible to join the NYC Teachers’ Retirement System (TRS) and Tax-Deferred Annuity programs from their first semester working at CUNY. To join the pension program, you can get application forms from your campus Human Resource office (HR) or the TRS website and submit them to HR. If you begin work at other CUNY campuses, you must inform each campus HR of your TRS enrollment and request deductions be made. You should check your pay statements regularly to make sure deductions are occurring.
Adjuncts are also eligible for the NYS Tax Deferred Compensation 457 Plan, which allows a state employee to defer up to $16,500 of their annual income.
For information, call 1-800-422-8463.
YOUR RIGHTS
WEINGARTEN RIGHTS
- If you’re called into a meeting with management that could lead to disciplinary action, you have the right to union representation.
- You may assert this right before or during any meeting with a management representative, such as a department chairperson, dean, or affirmative action officer. At that point, the management representative must either delay and reschedule the meeting until a union representative is available, deny the request and end the meeting, or give you an opportunity to choose to have the meeting without a union representative or end the meeting.
GRIEVANCES & INFORMAL COMPLAINTS
- A complaint is an informal claim by an employee or the PSC of improper, unfair, arbitrary or discriminatory treatment. A complaint may, but need not, constitute a grievance and is processed through an informal procedure.
- A grievance is an allegation by an employee or the PSC that there has been a breach of the contract or the CUNY bylaws.
- Contact a PSC representative and/or adjunct grievance counselor immediately. The deadline to file a grievance is 30 working days* from when a contract violation occurs or when you first became aware of the violation. Grievances relating to appointment/non-reappointment must be filed within 30 working days* of your scheduled date of notification. (* 30 working days exclude Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays in NY State.)
- Call the PSC office at (212) 354-1252 to speak to an adjunct grievance counselor, or contact an adjunct grievance counselor for your campus.
PSC-CUNY CONTRACT
The full contract is available online. Familiarize yourself with the contract, which contains rights, benefits and salary schedules.
Any questions?
UNION CONTACT FOR NTAs
- Vice President for Part-Time Personnel
-
Lynne Turner, [email protected]
Updated: 4/2024
Published: April 4, 2024
