As you have likely heard by now, the spring semester will be online, and, barring some miraculous change in the next week or so, so too will the summer semester. The start dates for each will remain the same. We’ve had many productive discussions with the employer and believe that those who have already been hired will be given every opportunity to succeed and teach. What does this mean for sessionals?

During this time of increasing uncertainty, many of you will be looking toward government income support – most notably, the Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) and Employment Insurance (EI). The CERB is a newly announced program and it seems to be evolving in real time. We’ve received many inquires about accessing these programs and are trying to provide some insight as best as we can. Unfortunately, due to the dynamic nature of these programs and further amendments that are likely to occur, we do not have as many definitive answers as we’d like; however, our National Union has created this helpful CERB Q&A that may answer some common questions.

In short, we would encourage all members to apply to the CERB/EI as soon as your income ends, whether by virtue of the semester coming to an end or by layoff. If in doubt, apply! The worst thing that will happen is that you will be informed you did not meet the eligibility criteria.

At first glance, unfortunately, it appears that most TAs/RAs/Tutors and Sessional Faculty will not be eligible for the CERB as it requires COVID-related job loss. General end-of-semester contract endings are not COVID related. Unfortunately, the CERB does not at this point extend to a lack of jobs for folks over the summer, even if the job scarcity is COVID-related. In short, it seems that many students will be left out of any sort of economic relief (for the time being at least), though we are hopeful that will change. We would encourage you to take a few moments to contact the Prime Minister at justin.trudeau@parl.gc.ca and tell him to do the right thing by students who are being hammered by the COVID-19 crisis.

The CERB does, however, cover those who are sick or quarantined, looking after kids or other family members, or looking after someone that is sick or quarantined. The CERB does not require a medical certificate for this type of access.

The CERB will apply to postdocs who are laid off due to COVID-19. If this is the case for you personally, please contact us ASAP and apply for the CERB.

If you have lost employment due to COVID elsewhere, but are still employed at McMaster, you are likely not currently eligible for the CERB, but you should be as soon as your income at McMaster ends. The final pay of the semester is April 17th.

April 17th represents what Service Canada refers to as an ‘interruption of earnings’  and should be the date you list on your EI application as the last pay date (not the date for which you were last paid). The ‘day for which you were last paid’  and your ‘last day worked’  should be listed as April 18th.  We would encourage all members who may utilize Employment Insurance at any point over the spring/summer semesters to apply, even if you are employed during the Winter term.

The first pay in the Spring term, for those of you who are employed, will be on May 22nd and the first day of work will be May 3rd. This means you should be able to collect EI from April 19th to May 2nd, if you have enough insurable hours. For information on EI, click here. If you have already served a withholding period in the past 52 weeks, you will be able to collect EI as of April 19th. If you have not served a withholding period, you can serve one week over the holidays and should be able to collect EI as of April 26th.

In certain instances, it is possible to both work and collect EI (with some clawbacks) if the amount of work have in the winter has dropped substantially from the work you had during the fall term. More information is available here.

The employer will upload your ROE automatically to Service Canada over the week of April 20th. You can apply for EI as of April 19th.

If you have any additional questions regarding CERB/EI, please let us know. We will do all that we can to help you navigate through the process.

PDF Version

For CUPE 3906 Members

** April 22nd CERB Update**

Union Business (Office Closure / Benefits claims, etc.)

Canadian Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) & EI Info and Resources

UNIT 1 (TA/RA in lieu) Work

UNIT 2 (Sessional Instructor) Work

MELD Sessional Instructor Work

UNIT 3 (Postdoctoral Fellow) Work

McMaster University’s CUPE Member FAQ Page

A Compelling Essay about Putting your Courses Online

For CUPE & Non-CUPE Members

Accessing Aid & Leaves if your Income is Cut-Off / Reduced

Q & A on Income Supports Available During COVID-19 Pandemic

Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) FAQ

The Employer has posted CUPE 3906 Member-specific updates regarding McMaster’s COVID-19 response  in a “Frequently Asked Question” style.  Please click here to visit the update.

As always, please contact the Union (staff@cupe3906.org or mecampbell@cupe3906.org) if you have any questions.

Dear MELD Sessionals,

By now, we assume that you’re already aware of the cancellation of classes and exams, and we hope that you’ve ready our recent message sent to all sessional faculty. We’re sending this as a MELD-specific follow-up.

At this point, we’re unsure how the program plans on proceeding with the remainder of the academic year. We have reached out and are awaiting a response, and expect that many of you have done the same. It is our understanding that the MELD program will be closed like undergraduate and graduate classes.

Despite working on an hourly-rated model, we do not foresee the closure of classes to adversely impact you or your access to income. The decision to cancel classes was the employer’s – not yours. As such, we do not believe that the employer is in a position to withhold pay from you. While missed work normally has to be made up within five business days in order to get paid, this is because of changes to the unplanned leave provisions. Unplanned leave is initiated by an employee, not by the employer. The current situation is not one in which you’re unable to attend work and perform the related duties, but rather, one in which the employer has elected to close classes. The unplanned leave and make-up provisions do not apply in this situation.

Unfortunately, it remains unclear what the next steps are for MELD classes, and we will update you as soon as we have some additional clarity. There are various ways to provide make-up learning opportunities for students. We know that you are willing and able to work, and at this juncture, that is all that matters.

We have been informed that there is a joint cc/dd meeting on Monday at 12:30. We advise you all to attend via Zoom rather than travelling to campus.

If you have any additional questions, please let us know.

Dear Postdocs,

By now, you’re likely aware of McMaster’s decision to cancel classes. Specifically, McMaster has determined that all in-person classes for undergraduate and graduate students will end at the end of the day Friday March 13th and that no in-person exams will be held at the end of this term. We applaud McMaster for the decision to put the safety of students and staff at the forefront.

Please note, however, that while classes are cancelled, the university is otherwise opened. Paradoxically, the Employer expects non-teaching staff to continue to attend work.

Your safety is our first priority. We recommend you make personal decisions that are consistent with your sense of well-being and current health. Please note that your Collective Agreement affords you “10 paid business days per appointment year, or a pro-rated portion equivalent thereof for any portion of an employee’s appointment that is less than 12 months and for employees holding partial appointments.” For clarity, please be advised that “Such days are to be utilized for absences due to personal illness or injury. When an employee utilizes such day(s) they must include such days on the weekly hours of work report given to their Department Administrator. There will be no carry-forward of sick days from one appointment year to the next and there will be no cash payout of unused sick days.”

Please note that “in the event that an employee takes a leave of greater than 5 consecutive business days, the employment supervisor can require a doctor’s note to substantiate the employee’s absence subject to 21.03(a).” To be absolutely clear, we feel that doctor’s notes are antiquated, a burden to an overstretched and underfunded health care system, and put you in harm’s way. Of course, if (self)quarantined, they are not an option in that case. That said, “if requested, an employee must provide medical documentation supporting the absence to their employment supervisor that includes confirmation of an in-person assessment by a physician; workplace restrictions, if any; and a return to work or reassessment date. Where the requested medical documentation includes the foregoing information, the Employer will, to a maximum of $50.00, reimburse the Employee 50% of the cost of the first medical documentation requested for each period of absence due to personal illness or injury regardless of length.”

We would strongly encourage you to reach out to your supervisor to discuss the possibility of work-from-home arrangements and other amendments to your typical work.

If you feel that attending work represents a clear and imminent danger to your health, please let us know.

As it pertains to the next few weeks with public elementary schools closed, our Postdoctoral Support Fund has recently been expanded to include support for childcare. A separate email to this effect will follow in the coming days.

If you have any other questions, please let us know. Please note, however, that we have a large volume of emails and a response may be delayed. We will prioritize emergent situations. Finally, we would like to recognize that McMaster Human Resources has been in regular contact with your Union. We appreciate the transparency and information that they’ve provided to us.

Dear Sessionals,

By now, you’re likely aware of McMaster’s decision to cancel classes. Specifically, McMaster has determined that all in-person classes for undergraduate and graduate students will end at the end of the day Friday March 13th and that no in-person exams will be held at the end of this term. We applaud McMaster for the decision to put the safety of students and staff at the forefront.

We are sending this email to you in your capacity as an employee. We encourage you to reach out to your Chair, Director, or Dean to confirm next steps for how you expect to finish the balance of the semester. The Employer has noted that instructors are asked “to work with their Chairs, Directors and Deans to be prepared to communicate with students by Wednesday, March 18th to let them know how the remainder of their courses will be managed and grades assessed so that they can complete their credits within the normal timeframe of the winter term. These solutions will vary from course to course.”

Online teaching is one possible option, but by no means is it required or mandatory and it may not be applicable in all classes. Article 19.04 of your Collective Agreement states that “The Employer will not, without training, require an employee to use technological skills other than those agreed to at the time of hiring.” In any situation, we strongly recommend, however, that you do not make any alternative in-person arrangements with students.

We do not foresee any loss of pay as all work should be restructured in a way that it can easily be made up. In some instances, material can be put on Avenue to Learn, but in other cases focusing on the final assignment may be more appropriate, especially if your final classes are simply provided material for a now non-existent in person examination. You know your class and your students the best; the Employer must be reasonable with your proposals and best judgement.

For Hourly Rated Sessional Music Instructors, we would recommend you check in with your supervisor. While alternative arrangements may be made, you should not be teaching after April 17th, nor should you be required to move teaching offsite. In the event that work cannot be reasonably be made up, you should not experience a reduction in income. Please let us know if something to the contrary is suggested.

A separate post will be forthcoming for MELD Sessionals.

For those of you with TAs, you are likely to reallocate many of their remaining tasks. In some instances, tasks may be cancelled altogether. Normally, any changes to TA duties require a signed amendment to their Hours of Work forms; given these exceptional circumstances, we recognize this may not be feasible. In any situation in which TA expectations are changed from the original Hours of Work form, you should endeavor to provide them with clear instructions (written is preferred). TAs will be encouraged to log their hours. In no situation can TAs pay be reduced, even if work expectations are. Likewise, you cannot assign additional hours without the approval of your Chair or Director.

If your Chair or Director instructs you to restructure work in a way that you feel is not reasonable, please let us know. If you feel additional hours are required in light of the circumstances, please let us know. Under no circumstance should you be expected to perform any additional work over what you were originally allocated without proper compensation. Finally, you must be paid for any tasks that you are no longer expected to do. The cancellation of classes should not lead to any loss of income.

Article 18.01 of your Collective Agreement provides you with unplanned leave, which may be necessary depending upon your personal and familial circumstance. The agreement notes that “In the event that an employee requires an unplanned leave it is the responsibility of the employee to both advise their Supervisor and to make up for any missed class and lost time that was missed. When making up the class(es) is a practical impossibility, an alternate arrangement, approved by the Supervisor, will be made.”

Please note that each course – and perhaps even each section of a course – is likely to be different. We recognize that a one-size-fits-all solution is not possible in such a situation.

If you have any other questions, please let us know. Please note, however, that we have a large volume of emails and a response may be delayed. We will prioritize emergent situations. We would like recognize that McMaster Human Resources has been in regular contact with your Union. We appreciate the transparency and information that they’ve provided to us.

Finally, please make use of the Employee Family Assistance Program if you are experiencing additional stress, anxiety, or any issues related to your mental health. A flyer outlining the program can be found here. You can access the program directly by visiting https://homeweb.ca/.