What Has the Union Done for You Lately?

1. Appropriate Placement of Dental Adjunct Faculty Member, By Laura Sanchez, SJCC Executive Board Member

San Jose City College Dental Assisting has expanded its programs to include the hire of practicing dentist Dr. Hema Jhamb, licensed since 1992. She has worked for Western Dental and opened her private practice in the Evergreen area.

In the spring of last year Dr. Jhamb was called in for an interview. Dr. Jhamb completed an online application and provided other pertinent information, along with a copy of her dental license and subsequent interview questions/responses. She was placed on the Salary Schedule at Class II, Step 1 until her placement was to be determined. She NEVER left Class II, Step 1, which is A.A. degree and six years work experience. Unfortunately, even after her credentials were evaluated and reviewed by the Office of Academic Support, it was then decided that her foreign credential from India that reads “First Bachelor of Dental Surgery Degree,” only qualified Dr. Jhamb a salary placement Class IV and Step 1, which is BA level for disciplines not requiring a master’s degree.

But she was NEVER moved to even to that level! Dr. Jhamb worked part-time and even signed off as our supervising dentist for a new Radiation Safety Course that went forward to the State Committee on Dental Auxiliaries for approval; a course that requires a dentist signature!

In the meantime, the Faculty Association, AFT 6157 Executive Board Member representatives were working diligently to resolve this issue with the then current VP for Academic Affairs, Tim O’Hare, to try and prove that Dr. Jhamb’s credential that included her California Dentist License, DEA number, and credentials from India qualified Dr. Jhamb placement at Class VI Doctorate level. After months of discussion, emails, debate over the literal meaning of her credentials, she left our college; at the time she was only receiving AA level pay.

During the Fall Semester 2008, the Union continued to pursue the issue to at least provide retro-pay for what the Office of Academic Support would ONLY recognize as a bachelors degree. Upon further investigation, the new interim VP for Academic Affairs Lois Lund, found documentation from Tim O’Hare’s files that stated he was in agreement that Dr. Jhamb’s credentials and dentist license be recognized at a doctoral level. It was then that Sandra Dillon, head of Human Resources, decided to approve retro-pay and accurately place Dr. Jhamb at Class VI.

When the news came, I immediately called Dr. Jhamb and told her that finally the issue was resolved and asked if she would return to continue our quest to expand our dental assisting program and rejoin our faculty as a valuable member of our qualified team of teachers. She graciously accepted!

These issues are the kinds of issues your Faculty Association, AFT 6157 are determined to resolve for full-time and adjunct faculty even if it takes all year or years to get it done. What it takes is persistence and commitment to serve faculty. There is no magical recipe that makes it easy to work through these types of issues on behalf of all faculty. It just takes people like you and me to make a choice that our rights are worth fighting for because we believe in the integrity of the institution of higher education and the people who work on the frontline to make this college a wonderful place to be.

2. San Jose City College-Overload Grievance Finally Settled-3 Years of Hard Work, by Barbara Hanfling, FA, AFT 6157 Executive Director

Background
About 2 ½ years, the FA, AFT 6157 brought to the attention of the District the issue of under paying full-time faculty in overload assignments at SJCC. This issue had been brought to the Union’s attention, by our ever vigilant and patient Executive Board Member and Fiscal Officer, Linda Ferrell. Historically SJCC and EVC were paying faculty differently when working in overload assignments.

Patience was certainly the name of the game. This issue has been outstanding since October 2006 and the Union and District have agreed to extend timelines while waiting for both a list of affected faculty and agreement from the District that back pay needed to be offered.

To start at the beginning, SJCC had always paid Full Time Faculty teaching overload for the full 16 weeks whether there was a holiday during that semester or not (EVC had never paid for the holidays-so they were not part of this settlement agreement).

Unilaterally and without notifying the Union or involved faculty, in fall 2006, SJCC decided to change its past practice. This is against the Education Code and the Contract, so the Union took on this issue and demanded that SJCC faculty working overload be given back pay for the loss in wages.

In early January, 2009 we reached agreement. To ensure consistency and fairness to faculty, the Union and District agreed to settle the issue for any full-time faculty overload for fall 2006 and Spring 2007 at SJCC by providing back pay to those faculty whose pay had changed. The reason this agreement only covers Fall 2006 and Spring 2007, is that beginning Fall 2007, all adjunct and full time faculty working overload are now on the full time salary schedule and get their pay not by the day and hour (as was the case) but as a salary, whether there are holidays or not. The reason it only covers SJCC, is that EVC had a different practice (not paying for holidays) and never unilaterally changed their practice.

Agreement: Below are excerpts from the agreement regarding SJCC Full Time Faculty .
Please ensure that any possibly affected faculty read this agreement as there are timelines involved for any appeals:

1. To be eligible to receive any back pay, the SJCC Full Time faculty member needed to have worked 14 or more weeks. Any faculty member who was listed in the information provided by the District who worked 14, 14.5, 15, and 15.5 weeks will be paid for 16 weeks. Union dues will be deducted from the back pay.

2. The back pay will be paid to SJCC faculty affected by this settlement on January 31, 2009. The Union has the list of faculty who received back pay, please contact them for more information.

3. The FA will notify its members at SJCC of the back pay agreement. The SJCC faculty on the list will have until March 1, 2009 to appeal in writing to both Sandi Dillon, Acting Vice Chancellor of Human Resources and Barbara Hanfling, Executive Director of the FA, AFT 6157 if they believe that they were not paid appropriately. Each appeal will be reviewed by the District and the Union on a case-by-case basis which may or may not result in an adjustment in back pay.

4. Any SJCC faculty member who did not receive retroactive pay and feels they should have been included in the back pay may appeal in writing to both Sandi Dillon, Acting Vice Chancellor of Human Resources and Barbara Hanfling, Executive Director of the FA, AFT 6157, no later than March 1, 2009. Each appeal will be reviewed by the District and the Union on a case-by-case basis which may or may not result in an adjustment in back pay.

Great Victory
As a result of the hard work on the Union, more than $12,000 was allocated to about 44 SJCC full time faculty members. Fairness and equity, notice and respect are critical in the relationship between the Union and the District. We are pleased we were able to settle this grievance without ever having to file a formal grievance.

The goal of the Union is always to work with the District to find equitable settlements to issues raised by faculty. Thanks again to Linda Ferrell for her diligence in bringing this to our attention.