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[psychdiva]

One of our adjuncts became gravely ill four weeks prior to the end of the term. While he was still hospitalized, the university terminated his teaching contract for the semester and ceased paying him on that contract. To my knowledge, our school's adjunct contracts provide zero protection in case of illness or disability. Does that mean he has no recourse or is there something he can do to fight this (if he survives)? I am disgusted and outraged with our school's handling of the situation and have been wondering whether the adjunct has any avenues for fighting this.

[mj_romo]

It depends highly on whether or not he's a member of the union.  Some schools don't allow adjuncts to join.  If he's a member of the union, there may be some recourse, but I wouldn't count on it.

What the school did is fairly typical of the way adjuncts are treated in such situations.  I belong to a school where I can be in a union, and I can even accrue sick leave, but I'm only allowed to use 2 weeks, back to back, of that sick leave at a time.  If something were to happen where I would have to be out longer, I could use those 2 weeks for pay before being terminated.

[aneumey]

I have seen things like that, but not with four weeks to go in the semester.  Unfortunately, adjunct contracts are for teaching a term at a time, and if an adjunct fails to complete that term, it is seen as a failure to deliver, often with little or no consideration for the reasons behind this.

[der_gadfly]

What is missing from your description is whether or not the original instructor was invited back for the next semester.

From the institutional perspective, the instructor was contracted to teach X# of sessions of CourseName between StartDate and EndDate. The instructor is expected to be there for all sessions, or arrange a suitable substitute (some institutions require dept chair/dean approval of the sub). In the event that the duties cannot be fulfilled, the institution may emplace a suitable replacement who receives the balance of the pay, and the original instructor ceases to receive any pay.

While you may be outraged by all of this, and it does have a high 'suck' quotient, I doubt there is any legal remedy. Where I was in a former stage of my career, I took over a class in mid semester, the original instructor (who had accepted fulltime employment outside academe) was 'terminated' and I got the balance of the pay for the course. Another time, an instructor was terminated for cause, and the replacement instructor completed the contract and received the balance of the pay.  

Much as I empathize with the ill instructor, there is little point in trying to get any money, but the instructor SHOULD meet with the Chair/Dean and even HR to discuss next semester.....

[kedves]

My understanding is that this is one of the downsides of contract work of all types, not only in the education business, but someone with knowledge of labor law would know more than I do.

It sounds as if his condition remains serious.  I wanted to pass along my wishes for a quick and complete recovery.

[gengidashiell]

My understanding is that this is one of the downsides of contract work of all types, not only in the education business, but someone with knowledge of labor law would know more than I do.

Absolutely.  I don't work FT in academia, and many of my staff are contractual.  The concept is extemely simple: you don't work, you don't get paid.

So, when our agency closes whether it is planned (like a holiday) or completely a shock (like a power outage), the result is the same: contractual employees do NOT get paid.

If someone went two weeks and was sick at my office, we might retain them, but we don't have to.

I agree with the comment above that there is a "suckage" factor, but it's one of the natural parts of most contractual work, in or out of academia.

[macaroon]

Poor guy!

Best wishes for a speedy recovery for your colleague.

To my knowledge, our school's adjunct contracts provide zero protection in case of illness or disability.

This is indeed one of the downsides of doing contractual work.  I have friends who make their livings through more lucrative contract work, and they purchase disability insurance from outside companies.  That's "the recourse", I'm afraid. 

[womanofproperty]

To my knowledge, our school's adjunct contracts provide zero protection in case of illness or disability.

This is indeed one of the downsides of doing contractual work.  I have friends who make their livings through more lucrative contract work, and they purchase disability insurance from outside companies.  That's "the recourse", I'm afraid.

A regular poster was asking just such a question about disability insurance in another thread - but I've noticed there were no responses. 

Disability is a real issue for contingent faculty.  I wish I knew more.

OP, my wishes for a quick recovery to your colleague as well.

[zuzu_]

That does suck.

This reminds me of something at a place where I used to work: a tenured, FT faculty member started an adjunct emergency fund. Full-timers (and adjuncts who could afford it) donated money to be kept in a fund. Dollars are then given to an adjunct faculty member under circumstances like your colleague's.

Why not start up something like this?

[kaysixteen]

This gets me wondering-- the way this adjunct was treated does 'suck', but, of course, it is also more or less normal in most areas of non-management America.  How long does Wal-Mart keep workers on-staff who are sick (answer-- longer than this, as they are allowed to take non-paid leaves of absence, but they are probably more generous than many smaller employers).  IOW, professors are used to more professional, shall we say enlightened, civilized, etc., work policies than most Americans get, even though these policies are more or less normative for all or at least most classes of workers in most other westernized countries?  Is there any other country in the westernized world whose university systems regularly make use of anything resembling American-style 'adjuncts' (other than, perhaps, grad students on teaching fellowships?)  America seems stuck in an increasingly reverting to the 19th century style employment model, and the Democrats, however much they are now in total control of the government, do not seem to be acting as the 'Party of the People' here, and doing anything about it....

[figee]

I like the idea of an emergency fund, but really, isn't this the essence of a casual, contractual workforce?  Our tutors don't have their contracts terminated, but if they don't work, they don't get paid, precisely because we need the funds to cover the classes by someone else.

As for the USA's working conditions, whenever I visit I am both thrilled bu how cheap somethings are, but also horrified at the low wages casual and PT staff seem to be paid.  This always is drummed home to me when I run into trouble over how much to tip waitstaff and housekeeping.  Here, we tip only if the service has been good/ excellent, because people have a reasonable per hour rate.  There, the minimum wage is so low that tipping is compulsory, and it always annoys me that I get effectively 'taxed' because the wages are so low.

[msparticularity]

My experience has been that this kind of stuff is (unfortunately) entirely up to the department chair. A "good" chair will work things out so that the obligations get covered by the department members, and the individual gets paid for the rest of the semester. Succeeding semesters will then need to be negotiated separately, of course.

A "bad" chair will just want to get the university to cover the costs of the gap. And when you leave it up to the bureaucrats, they'll terminate the contract so they can make the budget balance to cover the costs of paying someone else to do the remaining work.

[wild_rose]

My experience has been that this kind of stuff is (unfortunately) entirely up to the department chair. A "good" chair will work things out so that the obligations get covered by the department members, and the individual gets paid for the rest of the semester. Succeeding semesters will then need to be negotiated separately, of course.

This is what happened to me last spring; however, we had a good chair at the time and I was a graduate of the department. I don't know if the latter had much, if anything to do with it.