Congratulations on (almost) reaching the end of another term! We hope that you’re staying well in light of the current pandemic. Before the term comes to an end, we wanted to provide some updates that might be useful. This message contains important information about the following:

• Professional Development Fund (PDF) deadline extension + invitation to join the Benefits Committee 
• McMaster’s policy on work from home expense reimbursements during COVID-19
• Post-Contract Work
• Large Class Supplemental Fee

The deadline for Unit 2 Professional Development Fund applications has been extended to Monday, December 13. All Unit 2 PDF applications for the Fall 2020 term will be reviewed after this deadline.

The application form can be found here. Please note that electronic submissions are now preferred and should be sent to benefits@cupe3906.org in a single document. Any questions should also be sent to benefits@cupe3906.org.

We’d also like to take this chance to remind you that we are always looking for members to join the Benefits Committee. For Unit 2, this committee is especially important for ensuring an efficient and accurate adjudication of PDF applications. The time commitment is minimal and all meetings are now held virtually. If you are interested in joining the Benefits Committee, please email benefits@cupe3906.org and/or staff@cupe3906.org.

With the end of term fast-approaching, we would also like to remind members of the Employer’s policy for reimbursing work-related expenses during the pandemic. This policy assists employees who are working from home due to the pandemic closure, and contemplates a number of expenses such as long distance and internet overages, printer ink, and more.

Members should contact their employment supervisors and/or Department or Area Chairs for more information about how to submit expenses. Please note that the Union is not involved in administering this policy, nor can our benefits funds be used to cover the costs associated with working from home.

You can find more details about the policy here and here.

Any post-contract work (that is, work requested by your supervisor and done after your final grades have been submitted) is separate from your contract and payable at a rate of $66.70/hour. This would include reviewing grades that are being challenged, marking exam that have been deferred, and dealing with cases of plagiarism. This is not an exhaustive list, and more information, including the appropriate form you’ll need to fill out and submit to get paid, is available here. If you are asked to perform this work and are collecting EI, please let us know.

We have also heard that most sessionals have yet to been paid the Large Class Supplemental Fee. For those of you earning the base rate and teaching a class with more than 75 students, please note that your last pay stub should reflect an additional supplementary payment of $2.00 per student per unit for each student above 75. For a typical 3-unit course, this would amount to $6.00 per student for each student above 75. If you taught a class with more than 75 students and you have yet to see the supplemental fee added, please reach out to your department ASAP to confirm that this additional supplement will been paid on December 18. If the payment is not processed by the end of this week, it will not make the December 18 pay and will come on the December 31 pay date. This could adversely impact EI, so please follow up with your administrator this week and let us know if there are any issues.