Disclaimer: This document is intended to provide information and clarification on practices and procedures concerning some personnel matters, in order to assist department chairpersons, secretaries, and support staff. It does not supersede City University Bylaws, University and College policies, the PSC-CUNY collective bargaining agreement, and applicable law, nor grant rights or entitlements in any manner not provided by the above-cited documents.

In several sections below, it is noted that the college submits a request to a University office such as the Office of Academic Affairs. In such cases, the University makes the final determination.

1. Searches

1.1. Guidelines for Searches

See Document Draft – Guidelines for Searches from Affirmative Action Office.

1.2. Procedure for Faculty Searches

See description on provost’s website.

1.3. Procedure for Searches for Non-teaching Instructional Staff: HEO and CLT Series and Research Assistants and Associates

See Bylaws, Section 11.

The non-teaching instructional staff includes:

· The Higher Education Officer (HEO) series, which has payroll titles of HEO, Higher Education Associate (HEA), Higher Education Assistant (HEa), and Assistant to Higher Education Officer (aHEO). Functional titles may differ; a HEO could be the Director of a Center.

· The College Laboratory Technician (CLT) series, which has payroll titles of Chief College Laboratory Technician (Chief CLT), Senior College Laboratory Technician (Senior CLT), and CLT.

· Research Assistants and Research Associates

Hiring in these non-teaching instructional staff positions follows essentially the same procedure as that used for hiring teaching faculty, as described on the provost’s website under Faculty and Staff Issues. Accordingly this section focus on differences in the procedures. Note that Research Associates must be reappointed every year; CLT’s eventually are eligible for tenure; and HEO’s have multi-year appointments in due course.

To hire in these positions, first obtain approval for the position by submitting an Authorization to Search to the Provost and President, as for other positions. The Authorization must specify a salary range. If this is a replacement position, include the name and line number of the previous occupant; this helps in tracking the search throughout the process.

Compose a job description, qualifications, search plan, etc, as for faculty positions. In addition, prepare an organizational chart.

If this is a new position, extra steps are involved:

· Prepare two charts showing the current and proposed organization.

· The position must be approved by the College HEO (or CLT, as appropriate) Screening Committee. To do this, partially fill out a green CUNY Non-teaching Instructional Staff Action Form (HEO, CLT, RA), specifying payroll title, functional title, and salary range. Submit this form, the Authorization to Search, the job description and the current and proposed organizational chart to the chair of the HEO or CLT committee.

After Screening Committee approval, submit all materials to the Affirmative Action Officer, who will discuss your search plan with you. After approval, the Officer forwards these materials to Human Resources.

Human Resources checks that the job description matches the title, converts the information to Personnel Vacancy Notice format, and submits it electronically to Human Resource Management at the CUNY Central Office.

After approval, the Central Office assigns a PVN number and a closing date and posts the vacancy on the CUNY website. For non-teaching instructional positions, the closing date is normally a minimum of 30 days after posting. Once the vacancy is posted, you may do other advertising (newspapers, periodicals, etc.) as specified in the search plan.

After the closing date, candidates are ranked and an applicant pool prepared as for faculty searches.

Only after the candidate pool is approved by Affirmative Action may interviews be conducted.

When the search committee has chosen a candidate, a new copy of the green Non-teaching Instructional Staff Action Form is prepared. This time it is filled out completely. The form with the supporting documents it specifies is submitted to the HEO (or CLT) Screening Committee.

The Human Resources Office must then request approval for the successful candidate from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations.

1.4. Documentation Needed to Process Appointments

Listed below is the documentation required to enable Human Resources to process appointments for full- and part-time faculty, adjuncts, HEO’s, CLT’s and research positions:

1.4.1. To be completed by the candidate

I-9

· Must be completed in person so original documents can be examined

· Must be completed no later than 3 days prior to appointment to title

· Candidate must sign and date the form

· If candidate is a lawful permanent resident, make sure Alien # is filled in

· If candidate is on a work visa, make sure Alien # or Admission # and the end date of the work authorization is filled in

· Enter the documents on the correct list and complete the required information

· Enter the first date of employment in the certification portion and complete with authorized signature, name, title, address and date.

Three Letters of Reference

· Must be dated within the past 3 years

· Must be signed and on original letterhead; e-mail will not be accepted

· If part of a university dossier, the original cover from the forwarding university is required.

Highest Degree

· Original transcript or new hire must bring the original diploma to the Office of Human Resources.

Social Security Card

· In the absence of a social security card the college will accept a W-2 form from the last employer or a Medicare card.

Application for Instructional Position

· Page 1 must be completed and signed

· Page 2 (higher education/degrees) must be completed

· Page 5 (personal data) must be completed

· New hire may submit CV in place of or in addition to the remainder of the application

Non-Resident Alien Substantial Presence Tests Form

· Any new hire who is not a citizen or a lawful permanent resident must complete this form. Non-Resident Aliens must also provide an unexpired work authorization and a copy of a foreign passport and visa with I-94 departure record or SD20-19.

Other Forms Required

· Supplemental Application (Non-Teaching Instructional Staff Supplementary Application)

· Constitutional Oath

· Ethnicity Form

· Emergency Contact Form

· Withholding Certificates

1.4.2. To be completed by department

· Authorization for placement on payroll (not required for adjuncts)

· Personnel Action Form

1.4.3. Change in status for adjuncts

· If a candidate is changing from an adjunct appointment to a full-time appointment, the personnel file must comply with full-time requirements. Please check with Human Resources to determine if the paperwork on file is sufficient.

The staff has been instructed not to make any exceptions.

Thank you for your cooperation.

2. Appointments

2.1. Schedule for appointment and reappointment

See Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 10

Members of the Instructional Staff on tenure- or certificate-bearing lines (generally, professorial titles and Lecturers) in their first year must receive notice of reappointment as follows:

· Persons hired on September 1, on or before April 1;

· Persons hired on February 1, on or before May 1;

· Persons hired in Institutes and Centers, on or before May 1.

In subsequent years, such persons must receive such notice on or before December 1, except Lecturers in their second year, who must receive it on or before April 1.

Persons in adjunct titles hired on a semester basis must receive such notice on or before December 1 in the Fall semester or May 1 in the Spring semester. Such notification of appointment must be stated to be subject to sufficiency of registration and changes in curriculum.

2.2. Request for declaration of degree equivalency

See Bylaws, Section 11.8.

The Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs may accept certain accomplishments or degrees as equivalent to the PhD normally required for faculty positions. Such equivalencies may be requested in individual cases for the following:

· In art (studio), music (performance), and theatre (performance), experience and artistic achievements and recognition. At Queens College , the practice has been to require, in addition, an M.F.A. for a professorial appointment and a BA for a lecturer appointment. Note that an M.F.A. would not suffice in other disciplines, such as creative writing, theatre history, or art history. (See example)

· Ed. D., D.S.W., J.D. with admission to the bar, or M.D. or D.D.S. with license to practice. The candidate must teach courses related to the degree.

(See example)

The college declares the equivalency, and the provost sends a letter to the Office of Academic Affairs, accompanied by a curriculum vitae, requesting approval of the equivalency declaration.

2.3. Request for a waiver of the bylaws

See Bylaws, Section 11.1.

Any bylaw requirement may be waived by the Board of Trustees, including the PhD normally required for faculty positions. The provost requests such a waiver in a letter to the Office of Academic Affairs, accompanied by a pink waiver form signed by the President, and normally also by a curriculum vitae.(see example)

In requesting a waiver, note the comment on the request form stating "specify[ing] clearly the qualifications of the candidate which can reasonably be accepted within the spirit of the requirement." Particularly for adjunct and substitute appointments, the spirit of the PhD requirement is presumably that a person with a PhD in the discipline has attained a certain level of expertise; the research involved in earning a PhD is not relevant for such appointments, which carry no research obligation. Accordingly, the waiver request should demonstrate how the candidate has acquired in another way, such as through experience, a level of expertise appropriate to the course material to be taught.

Note the distinction between an equivalency and a waiver. The former says a certain combination of academic work and performance or experience is, for particular field as described above, the equivalent of a PhD, while the latter simply waives a requirement. For example, the record of a studio artist with a significant body of work could be accepted as the equivalent of a PhD, for the field of studio art.

(See example)

3. Tenure and Promotion

3.1. Tenure Timeline and Interruptions

See Bylaws, Section 6.2 and Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 10

Tenure may be awarded after five years of continuous service. Accordingly, tenure is normally considered during the fall semester of the candidate’s fifth year, and reappointment for the sixth year confers tenure. As described above, notification must be made by Dec. 1 of the fifth year.

As described in Section 6.2 b, full professors may be granted tenure after not more than four years of continuous full-time service.

If service is interrupted by even one day of unpaid leave the tenure clock is “reset” and five years of continuous service are again needed. However, service is bridged by unpaid special leave of at most one year granted for the purpose of caring for a newborn child; this does not reset the clock, as described in the Bylaws, Section 13.5 e. In addition, service interrupted by fellowship leave deemed by the College to be valuable to it may justify “early tenure” as described below.

3.2. Early Tenure

See Bylaws, Section 6.2 d

A request to grant early tenure may be made if the candidate has not less than one year of service at the College. The following may be appropriate reasons:

· Service interrupted by fellowship leave deemed by the College to be valuable to it.

· Other substantial reasons which indicate the College would be well served by granting early tenure.

· Holding tenure in another institution.

The tenure process is the same as for other tenure cases, including the department and College P and B votes.

Please note the “clarification,” from the President, of procedures for promotion and early tenure, posted on the provost’s website.

The President must request early tenure in writing from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations. The customary cover letter from the Provost must provide the department and College P and B votes.

(See example)

3.3. Appointment with Initial Tenure

See Bylaws, Section 6.2 c.

A person who had tenure elsewhere and is appointed to the position of professor at CUNY may be appointed with immediate tenure.

The provost must request this in a letter to the Office of Academic Affairs.

Include documentation that the candidate has tenure at another accredited institution; this would normally be a letter from the institution’s Human Resources or other appropriate office.

(See example)

3.4. Distinguished Lecturer Title

See provision in 2000-2003 Collective Bargaining Agreement – first item in agreement regarding non-economic issues.

The Distinguished Lecturer title has the following features:

· It is not eligible for tenure

· An individual may not serve in the title for more than a total of five years

· The salary range is from the minimum on the Lecturer schedule to the seven-year step on the Professor schedule

· The position is primarily teaching, but may include research

· There will be no more than 80 Distinguished Lecturers across the University

· The workload of Distinguished Lecturers is the same as that of Professors in the college to which they are appointed

The provost must request permission to appoint in this title from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations.

(See example)

3.5. Professors Emeriti or Emeritae

The procedure is described in the University Operations Manual

A retiring full professor with at least ten years of service automatically receives emeritus status. In exceptional cases, such status can be requested for those with less than ten years of service and for associate and assistant professors.

The College P&B must vote to recommend this. The approval of the University is not needed.

(See example)

4. Salary Issues

4.1. Salary Step Increments

Faculty and staff may, in exceptional cases, be granted a salary increase of one or two steps. The Provost requests this in writing from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations.

One-step merit increments are usually approved if the cover letter makes a case for merit and repeated requests for the same individual have not been made.

(See example)

Two-step merit increments require documentation, such as an offer from another institution.

(See example)

For staff in the HEO series, the green Non-teaching Instructional Staff Action Form must be prepared and approval of the HEO Screening Committee must be obtained.

4.2. Appointments to Longevity Steps

See Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 24.2

The Collective Bargaining Agreement provides two additional step increments, the so-called “longevity steps,” after five and seven years of service at the highest step in the annual step series, for employees in professorial, instructor, lecturer, HEO series, and CLT series titles.

(See example)

In exceptional cases, new faculty may be appointed to one of these longevity steps. The provost must request a waiver from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations. Faculty members so appointed will, however, not receive annual step increments and their salaries may therefore remain unchanged for several years. This can be demoralizing.

4.3. Above-Scale Salaries

See 2000-2003 Collective Bargaining Agreement.

This “new” Collective Bargaining Agreement provides that some faculty may be given salaries in specified ranges in excess of the salary scale.

An ad-hoc faculty committee must approve a range for an above-scale salary for a particular candidate.

The provost then determines the specific above-scale salary to be offered and requests approval for the offer from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations. As described in a letter from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations, the provost’s letter must detail the membership of the ad-hoc committee and the process used to determine the level of the salary offer.

4.4. Partial Appointments in Visiting Professorial Titles

See Bylaws, Section 11.10 and Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 1 (single line at the end of the section).

Persons may be appointed to partial (fractional) positions in visiting professorial titles. As the assumption is that the person is visiting from another institution to which they will eventually return, there is an expectation that they will eventually “go home,” although no specific time frame has been stated. There is, therefore, no need for a search, although one may be desirable.

Persons in fractional positions receive some benefits, but not, for example, those in the Welfare Fund, as indicated in the following quotation from Article 1 of the Collective Bargaining Agreement:

The following title is included in the unit but excluded from the provisions of the Agreement with the exception of Articles 1, 3, 4, 8, 23, 24.3, 26, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, and 44:

Visiting (full-time title) one-half to full-time.

4.5. Timing of Vacation Pay

The contractual two months vacation leave is paid during the summer on a semester basis. Vacation pay for the fall semester is paid the following August and that for the spring semester in July. This can lead to unexpected payment patterns. For example, someone who is paid in the fall semester, but on unpaid leave in the spring, will receive paychecks in August.

5. Leaves and Awards

5.1. Faculty Fellowship (Sabbatical) Leave

See Bylaws, Section 13.1 and Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 25.

Tenured teaching faculty and Lecturers with CCE are eligible for fellowship leave for purposes of research, teaching improvement, or creative work, generally after six academic years of continuous full-time service. A leave without pay bridges the gap; it does not reset the clock. So, for example, someone who has served three full academic years and is then on leave without pay during one academic year needs to serve three (not six) more full academic years to be eligible for fellowship leave. The time unit is an academic year, however, so a leave without pay for a spring and fall semester in the same calendar year counts as two bridge years.

The candidate applies for leave using the CUNY fellowship leave application form posted on the provost’s website, following the posted schedule, and attaching a Queens College cover sheet.

For all fellowship leaves, faculty member must submit a report after expiration of the leave.

The faculty member must remain at the university for at least one year after expiration of the leave.

Leaves may be half year or full year, at half pay, or half-year at full pay. The latter are described separately.

5.1.1. Half Year Leave at Full Pay

These awards are competitive and only a limited number are awarded, typically one a year.

The application must first be approved by the candidate’s department P and B.

It is then considered by the Committee on Half Year/Full Pay Fellowship Leaves and Scholar Incentive Awards.

The Committee’s recommendations are then considered and voted on by the College P and B.

Candidate(s), (usually, one) who receive a positive recommendation from the College P and B is/are informed by a letter sent to their on-campus address.

Candidates who receive a negative recommendation are informed by letters sent on-campus and to their home address by certified mail.

The Provost requests approval for the leave from the Office of Academic Affairs.

(See example)

5.1.2. Half-pay Leave

Half-pay leaves are not competitive.

They may be awarded in several combinations, as a full year extending across an academic year (fall and spring semesters) or a calendar year (spring and fall semesters), or half year (fall or spring semester), or, by exception, two consecutive fall or spring semesters.

Some of these combinations may result in unexpected pay patterns. This is because the contractual two months vacation leave is paid during the summer on a semester basis. Vacation pay for the fall semester is paid the following August and that for the spring semester in July. Therefore someone who is on half-pay leave in the fall, but in regular service at full pay in the spring, will receive smaller paychecks in August than in July.

The application must first be approved by the candidate’s department P and B.

The recommendation of the department P and B is then voted on by the College P and B.

If approved, the application is added by Human Resources to a checklist submitted to the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations.

5.2. Changes to Fellowship Leave

Faculty may request changes in their fellowship leave, including complete cancellation or an early end.

An early return, if requested by the faculty member, fulfills the University’s fellowship leave obligation. If a faculty member returns after one semester of a planned two-semester leave, the second semester is not “banked.”

To modify a planned or in-progress fellowship leave, the faculty member fills out a Change in Instructional Personnel Action Recommendation form, available from Human Resources. The form must be signed by the department chair and the dean, who forwards it to the provost for approval by the president.

(See example)

5.3. Scholar Incentive Award

See Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 25.5

Faculty in certain instructional titles are eligible for these awards. They permit eligible faculty to go on leave with partial pay from the University.

Awards are available after one year of full-time service. Candidates become eligible again after another six years of creditable service. Awards cannot be held concurrently with a Fellowship Leave.

Awards can provide up to 25% of annual salary, although the total of the award and outside support cannot exceed 100% of the candidate’s annual salary rate without the leave.

Application forms and guidelines are posted on the provost’s web site. Note the deadlines indicated on the form. The department chair must describe arrangements for covering the candidate’s teaching and other responsibilities during the leave period.

Letters are required from a grant supporting agency or the institution where research will be carried out. Alternatively, letters of support solicited by the college may be submitted, as described on the application form.

The application must be approved by the department P and B and then considered by the Committee on Half Year/Full Pay Fellowship Leaves and Scholar Incentive Awards. Its recommendations are submitted to the College P and B.

Candidates who receive a positive recommendation from the College P and B are informed via an on-campus letter.

(See example)

Candidates who receive a negative recommendation are informed via letters sent on-campus and to their home address by certified mail.

The Provost forwards approved applications to the Office of Academic Affairs.

Successful candidates must submit a report at the completion of the leave. They must also remain at the University for at least one year after completion of leave.

5.4. Library Reassignments

See Collective Bargaining Agreement, Article 25.4

Members of the instructional staff who serve in the libraries may be reassigned for research, scholarly writing, and other recognized professional activities that enhance their contribution to the University. These reassignments are not to exceed four weeks during any year.

College P and B approval is required.

The Provost forwards approved applications to the University Librarian.

The staff member must submit a report on completion of the reassignment.

(See example)

5.5. Leave for Special Purposes

See Bylaws, Sections 13.5 and 13.6

Members of the instructional staff can request unpaid leave for various purposes as described in Section 13.5. Section 13.6 limits repeated leaves.

The candidate applies for leave using the CUNY form for special leave of absence without pay, posted on the provost’s website.

Approval by the College P&B is always required.

Leaves of two years or less require, in addition, only the President’s approval.

A third year also requires the Chancellor’s approval. The provost must request this from the Office of Faculty and Staff Relations.

Leaves for child care and disability are handled by the Office of Human Resources.