Remote Work Agreement and other Impact Bargaining Agreements

IMPACT BARGAINING AGREEMENTS

• Remote Work Agreement (PDF)
• Agreement to Disburse Unused Travel Funds
• Deadline to use annual leave extended
• Equity Raises Agreement
• Deferring Tenure Review
• College Laboratory Technician Series Tenure Clock and Lecturer CCE Clock
• Fellowship Leave (Sabbaticals)
• Agreement on Extension of Notification Date for Adjunct Appointments for Fall 2020

The PSC and the City University of New York have conducted impact bargaining during the pandemic.

A provision neotiated in April 2020 created options for professorial faculty who wished to defer tenure review. The full text of that agreement is available here.

In mid-August (2020) agreements were reached on;

Schedule of Tenure Review of CLTs: College Laboratory Technicians, Senior College Laboratory Technicians and Chief College Laboratory Technicians who are  candidates for tenure effective September 1, 2021, may receive a one-year extension in their tenure review, if they so desire.

Schedule of CCE for Lecturers: ThIs is an option for Lecturers who wish to defer consideration for the Certificate of Continuous Employment (CCE).  The option is designed to respond to concerns Lecturers have raised about the disruption in their teaching and their ability to prepare for the CCE review during the period of remote instruction and public health crisis.

Annual Leave:  This section specifies conditions under which the deadline for the use of annual leave for the year ending 8/31/20 can  be extended  to 12/31/20.

Here is a PDF of the annual leave, CLT, lecturer signed agreement. The language also appears below. 

Sabbaticals: Thisagreement provided for faculty who, because of circumstances related to the pandemic, wished to defer or decline a sabbatical scheduled for the 2020-2021 academic year. Some faculty found that travel or scholarly or creative activities they had planned for their sabbatical year or semester have been made impossible by the pandemic. The agreement allowed one to defer asabbatical (technically called Fellowship Leave) without having to reapply. Here is a PDF of the Fellowship agreement. The text also appears below.

College Laboratory Technician Series Tenure Clock and Lecturer CCE Clock

1.       College Laboratory Technicians, Senior College Laboratory Technicians and Chief College Laboratory Technicians who are  candidates for tenure effective September 1, 2021, may receive a one-year extension in their tenure review, if they so desire. It is understood that if such a College Laboratory Technician, Senior College Laboratory Technician or Chief College Laboratory Technician is reappointed for the 2021-2022 academic year, the reappointment will be without tenure and will be deemed the 4th reappointment (i.e., fifth consecutive year of service) toward tenure. Such a member of the CLT series must request a tenure clock extension by emailing their college provost by September 15, 2020. The written record of the request shall be placed in the employee’s personnel file. By September 30, 2020, each college provost shall send the CUNY Office of Labor Relations a list of all CLT series employees who elected the one-year extension. CUNY OLR shall forward that list to the PSC by October 15, 2020.

Members of the CLT series on the tenure track for consideration in later years who wish to seek a one-year extension based on the circumstances of the spring 2020 semester must apply to their college provost by February 1 of the spring semester preceding their fall tenure review. These requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with past college and university practices.

2.       Lecturers who are candidates for a Certificate of Continuous Employment (CCE) effective upon their reappointment for the 2021-2022 academic year may receive a one-year extension in their CCE review, if they so desire. It is understood that if such a faculty member is reappointed for the 2021- 2022 academic year, the reappointment will be without a CCE and will be deemed the 4th reappointment (i.e., fifth consecutive year of service) toward CCE. Such a Lecturer must request a CCE clock extension by emailing their college provost by September 15, 2020. The written record of the request shall be placed in the employee’s personnel file. By September 30, 2020, each college provost shall send the CUNY Office of Labor Relations a list of all faculty who elected the one-year extension. CUNY OLR shall forward the list to the PSC by October 15, 2020.

Lecturers on the CCE track for consideration in later years who wish to seek a one-year extension based upon the circumstances of the spring 2020 semester must apply to their college provost by February 1 of the spring semester preceding their fall CCE review. Their requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis, in accordance with past college and university practices.

3.       For the annual leave year ending 8/31/20, the August 31 deadline to use annual leave will be extended to 12/31/20, as follows:

•       Annual leave above the contractual cap (normally 45 days) as of the close of business 8/31/20 may be carried into the annual leave year that begins 9/1/20.

•       The annual leave balance in excess of forty-five (45) working days or in excess of the personal accrual maximum as of August 31, 1987, will be deducted from the employee’s accrual balance on December 31, 2020.

•       The provisions of Article 14.9(b) concerning compensation for an annual leave balance if the employee is separated from service will remain in effect, except that, for the annual leave year ending on 8/31/20 only, the annual leave payment due to the employee upon separation, or to his/her estate, shall be the lesser of: (1) the leave balance to the employee’s credit on the date of resignation, retirement or death; or (2) the contractual cap, (45 days or the personal accrual maximum as of August 31, 1987).

•       The parties agree that nothing in this agreement is intended to alter the provisions of Article 14.9(b), except as specifically set forth in this agreement.

•       The provisions of Article 14.7 concerning unscheduled holidays remain in effect, and unscheduled holidays from the annual leave year ending 8/31/20 will not be carried over.

The Board of Trustees of the City University of New York approved these matters at a meeting of its Executive Committee on August 12, 2020.

AGREED:

Signed by CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, August 19,2020

Signed by PSC President Barbara Bowen, August 18,2020

Fellowship Leave (Sabbaticals)

•       Faculty members who are scheduled to be on Fellowship Leave during either or both semesters of the 2020-2021 academic year but who no longer wish to take their Leave as scheduled, owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, may exercise the option to defer or decline their Fellowship Leave as specified below:

•       Faculty members who are scheduled to be on Fellowship Leave during the Fall 2020 semester may request that their Fellowship Leave be deferred and be taken in the Spring 2021 semester or Fall 2021 semester, without having to reapply.  Department Chairs shall try to accommodate such requests. The faculty member and Department Chair shall jointly recommend a new effective date for commencement of the Fellowship Leave to the President.  As part of such a recommendation, the Department Chair shall confirm that the work of the department can be so arranged as to be carried forward effectively during the proposed period of the leave.  The President shall review the proposed effective date and make a final determination.  Requests for deferral of Fall 2020 Fellowship Leaves must be received by the Department Chair by August 24, 2020.

•       Faculty members may decline Fellowship Leaves that were approved for either the Fall

2020 semester or the Spring 2021 semester or both, and shall be permitted to reapply for a Fellowship Leave to commence at a later date.  The declination will not be considered to break service for the purpose of counting years of eligibility for a fellowship leave. Declination of the leave must be received by the Department Chair by August 24 for Fall 2020 semester leaves and by October 15 for Spring 2021 semester leaves.

The parties agree that nothing in this agreement is intended to alter the provisions of Article 25.3, except as specifically set forth in this agreement.

AGREED:

Signed by CUNY Chancellor Félix V. Matos Rodríguez, August 20,2020

Signed by PSC President Barbara Bowen, August 19,2020