Good News Re: One-Semester Ed Leave Pay Rates

Hello Colleagues,

*If you took a one-semester Ed Leave after September 2020, this will be of particular interest to you.*

The KFA recently filed a grievance regarding the pay rates for faculty members taking a one-semester Education Leave, and it has been successfully resolved.

A faculty member who successfully applied for a one-semester Ed Leave came to me to query changes in his pay rate that extended outside of his Ed Leave. He was puzzled because the language in the Agreement says that salary changes are confined to the single semester in question.

Here is the language: Article 14 describes the provisions for Educational Leave. (It is scintillating reading, as is all of the Agreement! I recommend it!! 😉 ) Article 14.08 says that members on leave [for the periods of time specified in 14.05 and 14.06] shall receive a salary equal to 80% of their salary, and 14.08 b (i) explicitly says “Educational leave under Article 14.05 will entitle a faculty member to a four-month period at 80% of salary […],” and in 14.08 b (iii) “A faculty member will be returned to full salary immediately upon their return.” This language was modified from the previous language to clarify issues around leave duration for the shorter term, and it was ratified in September 2020.

In other words, as per this language, a member on a four-months’ Educational leave should receive their normal salary until the start of their leave, should receive 80% of their normal salary during their leave, and should be returned to their full salary immediately upon return from the leave. This seems very clear.

The member who contacted us had experienced a reduction of his salary for his vacation and PD in addition to his Ed Leave semester, when we queried this, the Employer explained by saying that his salary for vacation and PD should be averaged due to the Education Leave. We believe the language is very plain and disagreed with this interpretation, and as a result we filed a formal grievance.

I am happy to report the grievance has been successfully resolved, and that all members who took a one-semester Ed Leave after Sept 2020 (when the 2019-2022 Agreement was ratified) and whose pay outside that Ed Leave term was averaged, should now have their pay rate corrected retroactively. If this applies to you, you can either wait for the Employer to correct your pay, or you can contact the Employer and request a recalculation of your salary. You can either contact your Dean’s office, or you can query whoever is the current Payroll contact for your area. (That seems to change a lot, so I suggest looking it up on the KPU Directory, or asking someone in Payroll.)

I want to thank the individual who came forward and brought this to our attention. If he had not, then we would not have been able to correct this. The KFA does not receive any contract or pay information about any member, so if you are concerned there might be a problem, please do ask!

If you want to check anything, you can go to any KFA Open Office Hours, or you can contact the office:

Email: faculty.association@kpu.ca    Phone: 604-599-2200

In solidarity,

Diane.