G-34-4.3.1
Notifying Department of Absence Due to Illness or Bereavement
If there is a need to be absent from scheduled class meetings or events (i.e. committee
meetings, office hours, advising, etc.) normally due to personal illness, or illness
or death of a family member, the faculty member will contact the Department Chair
and the Department Administrative Assistant as soon as possible. Use of accrued sick
leave under these circumstances will be in accordance with the appropriate provisions
of the COCC/Faculty Forum collective bargaining agreement. If a class is cancelled
for the day, the Department Administrative Assistant, or office specialist for the
branch campuses, will be responsible for posting a sign at the classroom with instructions
for the students. If a scheduled event such as an advising day is missed, the Department
Chair will attempt to find an appropriate substitute.
In the case where a substitute will be needed for a class, the Department Chair in
consultation with the program director if appropriate is responsible for finding a
qualified substitute. To be qualified, class substitutes must be an approved part-time,
adjunct, or full-time faculty member. Faculty members are neither to hire nor to pay
substitute instructors. If an absence is anticipated ahead of time, the faculty member
missing class should provide assignments and activities consistent with the syllabus
to the approved substitute that has been cleared by the Department Chairperson. The
following process should then be followed in choosing and paying substitutes:
Faculty can substitute for another faculty member on an informal basis, without adjustments
to NOAs, if agreed to by both faculty members. The Department Chair should still be
informed.
If a substitute is needed and is not done on an informal basis, the following process
should be used:
b1. Part-time or adjunct faculty that substitute for another faculty member should
be compensated as follows:
b2. In most cases, short-term substitutes (5 hours or less) would be paid $25/hour
and long-term substitutions (over 5 hours) would be paid a percentage of the load
for that class, including the final exam (ex. 7 classes substituted out of 21 total
classes = 7/21 = 0.33 or 33% of the total load for the class. If the total load is
3, the substitution load would be 33% of 3 = 1 LU). When a short term substitute is
required to do extensive preparation or grading, the Chairs have the flexibility to
use either method for paying substitutes with permission from the VPI.
b3. Part-time non-benefited faculty may be absent one class session per course per
term without reduction in pay due to illness (only). For short-term concentrated classes,
the sick leave with pay will be no more than 50% of the contracted course hours as
determined by the appropriate department chairperson. This benefit for part-time instructors
does not accrue from term to term. Additional classes missed due to illness or other
reasons in the term will result in a revised contract to reduce the hours paid. Under
those circumstances, part-time instructors missing a class will have their NOA adjusted
for short- term illness (5 hours or less) at $25/hour and long-term illness (over
5 hours) would be deducted at a percentage of the load for that class.
Department chairs must ensure that these changes are correctly indicated on the NOAs.
It is the responsibility of each Department Chair and Administrative Assistant to
track the absenteeism of part-time instructors and to document it with the appropriate
form located on the HR forms page. A copy of the completed form needs to be forwarded
to the Instructional Deans' offices for approval and processing along with any supplemental
NOAs that are done for substitute part-time instructors covering classes. The Deans'
office will be responsible for tracking absences across campuses for part-time instructors.
If more than 3 days will be missed due to illness of the faculty member/Instructor
or family member, they should contact Human Resources regarding the use of Family
Medical Leave Act and/or Oregon Family Leave Act as applicable.
