The process of assigning duties for the next academic year will be soon—if it is not already—underway. As a reminder, the Collective Agreement stipulates that duties are to be assigned by your Department Head or Dean following consultation and discussion at a meeting of the faculty in your academic unit (Article 11). This provision is in place to ensure transparency and fairness in this collegial process.

If you are assigned a teaching load that is more than your unit’s normal assigned duties (Article 18.5.1), you are entitled to a stipend—currently $5,500 for a 3-credit course.

Article 11.2.2 specifies that teaching during your designated non-teaching term is overload teaching. In this case, you can negotiate to reduce your teaching load proportionally in other terms instead of receiving the stipend.

Article 11.2.2 also identifies teaching off campus as overload teaching; other examples, however, may not be quite so clear. Duties must be assigned equitably among all members of your academic unit according to the Guidelines for the Assignment of Duties agreed upon by your unit. Assignment of duties must take into consideration the full range of your academic responsibilities, your rank and type of appointment, and your unit’s standards for renewal, tenure and promotion (Article 11.4). In the case of teaching, the process must also take into account priorities for academic programs as well as the individual preferences of employees. For all these reasons individual teaching loads may differ, but it is always worthwhile to ask yourself if you are teaching more than your fair share.

What is your experience with overload teaching? Let us know in a reply to this email.

If you have questions or concerns about assignment of duties or the assignment of teaching duties, simply let us know in a reply to this email and someone will contact you.

To read more, see our “Assignment of Duties Fact Sheet” and our “Equitability in the Assignment of Duties Fact Sheet”.