11.2.7 Changes to assigned teaching. Changes to an employee’s assigned teaching after the annual assignment of duties (Article 11.1) are permitted only after consultation between the Department Head or Dean and the employee. If the proposed change occurs within the period six weeks prior to, or after the start date of the assigned teaching, the employee shall receive overload remuneration in accordance with Article 18.5.1 or equivalent reduction in assigned teaching before the end of the following academic year.

18.5.1 The assignment to teach classes as overload whether on-campus or off-campus, shall be made by the Department Head (or the Dean in non-departmentalized Colleges) following consultation with the departmental (or College) faculty in committee, subject to the approval of the Dean. … Effective July 1, 2024, the stipend for teaching a three credit course or equivalent as overload shall be $8,000.

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While “changes to an employee’s assigned teaching” might seem to imply that payment or reduction in assigned duties shall occur in the case of any change within the given time period, the new article rests upon the concept of overload, which is referenced in both the new article and in article 18.5.1. Overload is understood to be an increase in the employee’s workload over and above what was originally assigned during the annual assignment of duties process.

The USFA considers that any change to assigned teaching within the period six weeks prior to, or after the start date of the assigned teaching must be assessed in terms of whether it constitutes overload and justifies overload remuneration or an equivalent reduction in duties.

We are confident that in most cases the Department Head, or Dean in non-departmentalized colleges, and the employee will be able to reasonably work this out. If the change results in no extra workload, then there is no overload. However, we are aware that some situations may constitute a gray area and result in potential disputes.

We recommend that any such dispute be brought to the USFA to assist with an informal resolution of the issue (which may be referred to JCMA if further action is warranted).

Deeming teaching as overload should include (but is not limited to), for example:

• teaching an extra class over and above the assigned duties
• teaching a class the employee has not taught before
• teaching a class that is not the employee’s area of expertise
• teaching a class that the employee may have taught previously but would require the creation of a new syllabus, handouts, slides, and/or learning of new content by the employee
• teaching a class with a certain expected enrolment and having the enrolment increase significantly
• being assigned to teach a face-to-face class and having it changed to a blended/hybrid class, or vice versa
• having a class cancelled after a significant amount of preparation has already been completed (especially where the class will not be taught in a subsequent year by the employee)