OPSEU Local 560
To:	All Members of OPSEU Local 560
From:	OPSEU Local 560 President Ted Montgomery
Date:	February 4, 2002
Subject:	Updates:

REDUCED ASSIGNMENTS

Under Article 14 of our Collective Agreement, faculty “may undertake a less than full-load assignment.”  This can be done only at the request of the employee.  While on such a reduced assignment, the faculty member receives pro-rated salary and benefits, as mutually agreed between the employee and the college.  Seniority continues to accumulate on a full-time basis.  Persons seeking a reduced load for health reasons can often continue on full salary and benefits by having days deducted from their sick-leave bank.
For teaching faculty, the reduction has been measured by taking one or more sections from the teaching assignment.  Recently, however, a problem has arisen.

A faculty member with an agreed-to reduced teaching load was assigned by his chair to perform additional complementary functions.  The College took the position that overtime for any such additional workload would only begin over 44 hours per week on the SWF.  The Union argued that there should be a reduction of workload commensurate with the teaching reduction, and that overtime should accrue when the revised workload limit was exceeded.  The Workload Resolution Arbitrator, asked to resolve this matter, found that there was no contract language to support overtime payment for any assignment under the 44 hours regardless of any agreed-upon teaching reduction.
If you are contemplating a reduced-load assignment, you will need to spell out in your request and in any agreement for a reduced load, not just the teaching reduction, but the concomitant total workload reduction as well.  The five-hour complementary function allowance is not reduced. Make sure that you contact your steward or the union office if you are planning on seeking a reduced load.

DENTAL BENEFITS

One of our members brought to my attention that SunLife has not been properly compensating some claims for Dental benefits.
One of the gains of the last round of bargaining was to separate claims for crowns and bridges —Schedule E— from the more general dental coverage — Schedules A, B, and C, which cover diagnostic, preventative, restorative, as well as periodontal, surgical, and prosthodontic procedures.  There is a $2000 per annum limit on schedules A, B, and C.  Previously, claims for crowns and bridges were also capped within that same $2000.  Now claims for crowns and bridges are separate and stand alone with their own $2000 limit, not combined with or reduced by any other claims.

Unfortunately, SunLife has not updated its system to reflect the changed coverage.  If you have had any dental claims for crowns or bridges, for yourself or your dependents, check to be sure that your claim has not been reduced improperly, and that it is not being counted against any future claims you might make under schedules A, B or C.  I have relayed this information to the union representatives on the Joint Insurance Committee who have raised it with SunLife.

SICK LEAVE BUYOUT

Faculty hired before April 1, 1991, and with the College for ten years or more, are eligible to cash unused sick leave credits when they retire or terminate employment with the College. The employee may cash in up to 260 credits and receive one half of a year’s base salary as a lump-sum gratuity.  Each year, there is an opportunity to buy out early and stay with the College.  And each year I am asked for an opinion as to whether or not faculty should buy out early.  The early buyout is at 75 cents on the dollar and, because one continues to earn income, it is hard to tax shelter this buyout.  Therefore the dollar value is greatly reduced from what you will get upon retirement.

The buyout is awarded on the basis of seniority, but everyone who applied last year was granted the buyout.  The five million dollars which is set aside for this purpose was not all spent last year.
If you are seriously contemplating the buyout, my first advice is to consult with a trusted financial advisor before deciding whether or not to apply.  My own recommendation on seeking the buyout has not changed.  Unless one has either a desperate financial need or the investment opportunity of a lifetime, it is not a good idea.    Remember, when one severs the employment relationship, all, or nearly all, of the money can be rolled into the special one-time RRSP untaxed.  The tax bite when the buyout is simply added to salary is significant.

Also, the closer one is to retirement, the closer one is to getting the full-value of the payment. Obviously, anyone nearing retirement should not apply for the buyout. Further, as our salaries rise, so does the value of the gratuity.

The big question at one time was whether or not the right to this gratuity was safe and assured.  There has been no attempt by management to eliminate or reduce this right since it was amended in 1990.  It has never been mentioned at the bargaining table, and it is clear that as the number of persons eligible diminishes so does whatever incentive there may have been to end the practice which will, in due course, end on its own. Further, the contract still provides that any amendment to the gratuity system must be voted on exclusively by those members who are eligible.

So, unless this cash is just the right amount for that Krispy Kreme franchise you’ve dreamed of … but even then, a loan is probably a better way to go at this time.

Ted Montgomery, President OPSEU Local 560
 

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