Adjunct Action is hosting a workshop on unemployment insurance benefits for adjunct professors. The workshop will be led by Monica Halas, Lead Attorney for Greater Boston Legal Services and Maryann Parker, Chief Counsel for the Public Division of SEIU. Watch it below starting on Friday, July 19th at noon.
Check below for the documents referenced in the talk.
If the video below is jumpy visit http://www.ustream.tv/channel/adjunct-action for a better version.
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Reasonable Assurance
In case you were unaware, the Department of Unemployment Assistance publishes a manual for its staff, including hearing officers. It is equivalent to a guidance memo – it does not necessarily have the force of law, but DUA is expected to follow it and an unexplained or unjustified deviation from it is grounds to reverse the decision. The DUA issued a revised manual in 2009. You can find it here: http://www.masslegalservices.org/content/2009-dua-service-representatives-handbook?tid=1064
The section on Reasonable Assurance is under “1500 Special Determinations.” Here is the relevant portion on adjuncts. It is more favorable to employees than the standard applied to elementary and secondary level teachers.
(J) Adjunct Professors Adjunct professors do not have a permanent position at an academic institution. An adjunct may be someone with a job outside the academic institution who teaches courses in a specialized field, or it may refer to persons hired to teach courses on a contractual basis. It is generally a part‐time position with a teaching load below the minimum required to earn benefits, although the number of courses taught can vary from a single course to a full‐time load.
An adjunct is generally not required to participate in the administrative responsibilities at the institution often expected of other full‐time professors, nor do they generally have research responsibilities. The pay for these positions is usually less than that paid to regular teaching staff, even though adjuncts typically hold an advanced degree. Many adjuncts also hold concurrent positions at several institutions or may be simultaneously employed in private industry.
Adjuncts provide flexibility to the faculty, acting as additional teaching resources to be called up as necessary, however, their teaching load is variable: classes can be transferred from adjuncts to regular teaching staff, classes with low enrollment can be summarily canceled and the teaching schedule from one semester to the next can be unpredictable.
In nearly all cases continued employment in the next ensuing academic year or term is contingent on enrollment or financing or both. For adjunct teaching staff there can be no reasonable assurance if re‐employment is contingent on such factors as enrollment or funding regardless of the extent to which past patterns of re‐employment indicated a likelihood of returning to work.
In adjudicating cases involving adjunct professors, if fact‐finding indicates that re employment is contingent on enrollment or funding, it should be determined that no reasonable assurance exists and the claimant approved for benefit payment.
