next »

[profussing]

f.y.i. maybe someone will find this helpful during the lean dog days?


UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS FOR PART-TIME FACULTY: The Right to Unemployment Benefits

"Here's one hard earned right part-time faculty can exercise two or three times a year, and yet few of us do: The right to draw unemployment pay between semesters and during the summer break (if we ever take a summer break!) is one of the few advantages to being employed as part-time, temporary instructors with no guarantee of "rehire."  For even if we have signed a contract to teach the following semester, including summer school, we can still collect unemployment during those breaks, since fluctuating enrollment and funding can break that contract at any time and leave us jobless.

http://home.att.net/~cocptsolidarity/cocptfu-unemploymentfactspage.html

[tenured_feminist]

You could give this a try, but I think it's no slam dunk. These claims are based on one California state court ruling, and I don't know off hand whether there are cases with different interpretations controlling in other states. And usually you have to go through a lot of procedural crap to get anywhere with these cases, though I can see that being worth it for some folks.

[wild_rose]

It took me five weeks to convince the unemployment office in my state that a letter from my department head saying that there was no guarantee that my contract would be renewed in the fall meant that I had no contract for fall.

Five weeks is a long time to wait when you have no other income.

[mj_romo]

It does work in California and is relatively easy to accomplish there.

Here's a link for how to do it easily in CA:
http://www.cpfa.org/unemployment.html

I think Unemployment is actually pretty familiar with it now; I started getting the appropriate benefits 2 weeks after I applied last summer.

[starfleet_grad]

In my state, anyone with a term contract (like an adjunct) has no rights to unemployment benefits when the contract expires. State law.

[roguerouge]

Has it worked in Massachusetts? I've been denied there based on a similar claim that I "would be" re-employed in the fall.

[proftext]

I don't know about all states, but it does work where I live, so people should check it out. I have done it over the summer and I also applied for benefits when my school cut my courses from two to one course a semester, and it worked. You definitely need to be very clear with the Unemployment Office about what your situation is (for example, I talked to someone by phone and was forthcoming about having a contract for fall etc, but I still qualified based on the fact that I never had "complete assurance" of a job [there was a more legal/technical term]), because you do NOT want to be accused of fraud.

But it does work. And it is very helpful = esp. for those of us trying to work on research/scholarly work in order to be marketable for the fall job market.

Has it worked in Massachusetts? I've been denied there based on a similar claim that I "would be" re-employed in the fall.

[quietncali]

This summer, I was scheduled to teach a course but very few people enrolled.  I emailed the "bosses" and asked if they'd cancel the courses (not b/c I was desperate to teach it, but b/c if I had it out of the way, I could focus on other things).

I guess I need to be more direct b/c I was asking them to call it cancelled so that I could be on my merry way.


Instead of cancelling it right then and there, administrative head says that I can choose to teach it  for less $ and I have a couple of days to think about it and would call in a few days to hear my "decision."


Thinking about it, AH probably was covering AH's rear end.


to the OP, that is great your institution doesn't catch an attitude about drawing unemployment. 

[pedanterast]

In my state you can collect unemployment but not in the summer.  For example if you adjunct every fall, you can collect unemployment until the end of the school year in May, assuming you meet all the other requirements.  And, if you had a contract for the next fall, you would be "job attached" and would not have to look for other work for six months.  If you had a one-year contract that was not renewed (and expired in May), then you could start collecting unemployment in August or September or whenever the next school year started. 

I was in the former situation, working a lot in the fall and not at all or maybe one course in the spring, and I collected unemployment for four years.  The fifth year, in the exact same situation, they denied my claim, and I appealed and won.  It never bothered anyone at my school.  If it had, I would simply have said, "Well, then give me some work."

Finally they started paying me year-round even though I wasn't working year round, and that made me eligible for benefits and ineligible for unemployment.  That was actually pretty much of a financial toss-up but since I wasn't getting any younger I figured the health and disability coverage might save my butt some day, plus they didn't give me a choice anyhow; they just did it.

[theatremom]

In my not so great state, all the employer or state need to demonstrate is "reasonable assurance" that you'll be employed during the next semester. They consider: 1) your name on a course listing, 2) a letter from the school announcing the dates/times of fall/spring in-service, or 3) the fact that you've worked the previous 1-2 semesters for that school as "reasonable assurance."

It's almost impossible to collect unemployement benefits between semesters. It's not quite as impossible, but still difficult, to collect unemployment in cases of last-minute cancelations or course reductions.

Just one of the joys of living here.

[bartlebysghost]

bump

Is there a way to find out state policies on bennies for adjuncts/underemployed? Or advice for improving one's eligibility?

Thanks!

[retrenchment]

You could give this a try, but I think it's no slam dunk. These claims are based on one California state court ruling, and I don't know off hand whether there are cases with different interpretations controlling in other states. And usually you have to go through a lot of procedural crap to get anywhere with these cases, though I can see that being worth it for some folks.

Mildly insulting.

Has it worked in Massachusetts? I've been denied there based on a similar claim that I "would be" re-employed in the fall.

Step four: you can contest it http://www.unemploymentforadjuncts.com/campaign/

[untenured]

You could give this a try, but I think it's no slam dunk. These claims are based on one California state court ruling, and I don't know off hand whether there are cases with different interpretations controlling in other states. And usually you have to go through a lot of procedural crap to get anywhere with these cases, though I can see that being worth it for some folks.

Mildly insulting.

How exactly is a pragmatic assessment of the relevant law insulting, even mildly so?

[caesura]

I've had no problem getting unemployment in California.  I did have to have a phone interview and explain that I'm on a course-by-course basis, with no real guarantee until the day the course starts.  They contacted the school to verify, and benefits followed.

[veleda]

I'm in Massachusetts, teaching one course this summer and have been receiving a tiny amount of UI for the past 10 weeks. I get quite a bit more (comparatively) in between semesters. And of course nothing in the Fall and Spring when I teach 3-5 courses. It has helped tremendously.

It's also why I don't begrudge my union dues.

V.