Chairs and Part-time Healthcare

Department Chairs

The Federation has compiled the following contextual information regarding department chair implementation pathways for the reference of Federation members as they offer input on how we approach implementation of these new positions.

Per our 2025-2028 collective bargaining agreement, the Federation and the District must bargain the final implementation details for department chairs. While the details of implementation are still under negotiation and subject to change, during our August 4 session, the District has signaled willingness to implement department chairs in one of two scenarios:

Scenario 1: Department chairs would first be funded for two divisions (BDAT and BSS) as a pilot in SP27, followed by full implementation of all remaining eligible department chairs in FA27.

Scenario 2: Forgo the pilot program and give all eligible departments the opportunity to elect chairs beginning in FA27.

Department Chair Compensation (Preliminary Conceptual Agreement):

Important Notes:

• The District has initially proposed to fund the pilot program described above at the approximate projected cost of the program.

• The District has proposed to fund full implementation of department chairs in FA27 at a bit over half of the approximate projected cost of the program, meaning that under a revenue sharing model, faculty could expect less available money for other increases to salary and benefits.

• The District has not proposed increased funding for Scenario 2 to reflect savings from forgoing a pilot program.

• The long-term feasibility of department chairs is dependent on the District fully committing the funding for the positions, which they are currently not offering to do.

• The above described scenarios, including the compensation terms, are under active negotiations and subject to change. Your input will help inform the bargaining team as we make counterproposals, but both bargaining teams must ultimately reach the best agreement possible, which neither party may find to be ideal.

Part-time Healthcare (PTHC)

The Federation has compiled the following comparative information about the current District-funded PTHC premium reimbursement program (current MOU that expires at the end of SP27) and proposed utilization of the CA-funded PTHC program to provide PT faculty healthcare at the same level as FT faculty at ECC. Again, we offer this information for the reference of Federation members as they offer input.

Similar to department chairs, our 2025-2028 collective bargaining agreement requires that the Federation and the District negotiate PTHC. ECC regularly employs 400-600 PT faculty.

Current Reimbursement Program (MOU) - Key Facts:

The District allocates $325,000 each fall and $325,000 each spring semester ($650,000 annually) to reimburse eligible PT faculty for up to $8,000/semester in paid healthcare premiums.

Potential Advantages of Current Reimbursement Program:

• PT faculty are eligible for direct cash payments of up to $8,000/semester to offset documented healthcare premium costs.

• Any healthcare plan is eligible (with proper documentation).

• Individual benefit and total District spending is much more generous than previous contracts that initially only offered a selective (only 20 participants) $20,000/year budget, followed by a universal semester stipend of $75 (per person, often up to about $90,000/year total).

Potential Disadvantages of Current Reimbursement Program:

• Reimbursements and amounts are determined on a first come, first served/reimbursed basis. Thus when the budget is reached for a semester, all further reimbursement applications are denied. For example, in Fall 2025, we had 56 applicants, but only 40 were reimbursed.

• Due to the above, this program is potentially less equitable, with reimbursements favoring PT faculty who are already familiar with the process, receive assignments earlier, have more regular assignments, etc.

• Over time, the data have indicated that the average size of individual reimbursements is increasing, with the total number of available reimbursements decreasing, and the total number of denials increasing. Effectively, fewer people are receiving individually larger benefits over the lifespan of the MOU so far. In Spring 2026, of the 106 eligible PT faculty members who applied for reimbursement, only 83 PT faculty members received a reimbursement due to the budget cap.

• It does not support the OneFaculty (Single Tier) goal of aligning FT and PT working conditions, as it preserves a tiered healthcare system further divided by those who are reimbursed and those who are not.

• Because the reimbursement program does not offer healthcare coverage to PT faculty equivalent to FT faculty, ECC is eligible for up to only 50% for its incurred costs for PTHC premiums.

• Since this is directly funded by the District, reimbursements for this program might otherwise be allocated elsewhere if the state, for instance, was covering the cost of premium reimbursements (see below). For reference, the annual cost of the current PTHC MOU ($650,000/year) could fund a raise of approximately 0.75-1.00% across all faculty salaries, rates, and stipends (PT, FT, Instructional, Non-Instructional).

• Multi-district PT faculty must achieve cumulative load that meets the 40% requirement or lose eligibility for reimbursement. Additionally, they must request paperwork from each district each term.

• Paperwork can be difficult to assemble, submit, and get approved by HR.

State-funded Program (AB190) - Key Facts:

In the past several years, the Federation, based upon member input and the goal of providing more healthcare to more PT faculty, has tried to move ECC to utilize the funding available through state Assembly Bill 190, Section 8, which provides $200+ million of ongoing funding for PTHC premiums when a California community college district offers its PT faculty the same healthcare, including dental and vision coverage plans, that are offered to its FT faculty members. Our current proposal and other recent PTHC proposals have been based on this legislation. Like the current PTHC reimbursement program, PT faculty must meet the same 40% cumulative load requirement, which can include assignments at other California Community Colleges, to be eligible. 

When a district participates, it is eligible for reimbursement of up to 100% for incurred premium costs (i.e. CA reimburses districts for 100% of the district costs for PTHC premiums). For more detailed information, visit the Chancellor's Office webpage.

Potential Advantages of State-funded Program:

• The program is universal, giving the same potential opportunity to all eligible PT faculty without budget caps or first come/first served basis of service.

• All PT faculty are eligible for FT faculty equivalent benefits, currently as follows:

  • Single: Up to $16,000/yr (9 plans at no additional cost to faculty in 2026)

  • 2-Party: Up to $22,000/yr (4, nearly 5, plans at no additional cost to faculty in 2026)

  • Family: Up to $27,000/yr (3 plans at no additional cost to faculty in 2026)

  • Dental and vision are also available.

• It supports the OneFaculty (Single Tier) goal of aligning FT and PT working conditions, as it provides equivalent healthcare access to both parties.

• Ongoing insurance paperwork is significantly diminished, as receipts showing payment of premiums will generally no longer be necessary.

• Individual faculty benefit is similar to or larger than the current reimbursement program when District plans are utilized.

• Current District spending for the current PTHC reimbursement program would decrease, allowing potential reallocation of the money elsewhere (e.g. salary, course caps, etc.).

Potential Disadvantages of State-funded Program:

• No direct cash payments to PT faculty, which may reduce the current net benefit that a given participant in the current reimbursement program may receive.

• Changes to insurance providers may be necessary if District-provided plans are selected and the employment load of a PT faculty drops below 40% for that semester.

• Multi-district PT faculty must achieve cumulative load that meets the 40% requirement and must request paperwork from each district each term (same requirements as current reimbursement program).

Important Notes:

• The long-term feasibility of PTHC is dependent on the District fully committing to funding the program, which they are currently not offering to do.

• The above described options are under active negotiations and subject to change. Your input will help inform the bargaining team as we make counterproposals, but both bargaining teams must ultimately reach the best agreement possible, which neither party may find to be ideal. Currently, the District is not engaged in bargaining any PTHC plan to replace our current PTHC MOU, which ends in June 2027.