As a part-time faculty member in CLPCCD, you accrue seniority, beginning on your date of hire, and or when you are assigned to a subject area. Seniority lists are established and maintained in each Division of each college. Your seniority is based on your date of initial term of service in the college specific discipline. Your seniority can be affected by a “Break in Service” of 3 consecutive semesters (not including Summer or Intersessions), which can cause you to be removed from the seniority list. Part-time faculty with more seniority (as defined in the Union Contract, Article 18.B.1) are typically offered class assignments before part-time faculty with less seniority in the scheduling process each semester.
Please be sure to submit your part-time preference form on time. Part-time unit members shall complete an Assignment Preference and Availability Form each year for the subsequent Academic Year. Flexibility with regards to your availability may give you more opportunities to be assigned to classes.
If more than two part-time faculty members are hired on the same day in the same discipline, they are given a random lottery number by the district that will determine their rank on the seniority list.
Seniority lists should be posted in division offices, but they can also be found posted on the Part-time Faculty: Faculty Association.
You must submit your assignment preference and availability form to the appropriate Administrator's office, via campus email, by the deadline to be considered for assignments for the immediately following Summer and Academic Year. Please view Article 18B.1.b.1. regarding what is considered a break in service. You will be evaluated within the first two terms of being hired, and every three years after that. To retain your place on the seniority list you must not receive two. consecutive evaluation where you received a mark of Needs. Improvement or Unsatisfactory. When these conditions are met, administration will make reasonable efforts to fill your request for class assignments with the same or similar class load as previous assignments.
Please contact your Dean or Manager to discuss the reasons for reduction. If anything seems unclear about the process, don’t hesitate to contact your college’s FA Part-Time Representative (contact information can be found on the last page of this handbook).
Every semester, the division dean assigns classes to all the available faculty.
The Seniority List and your Assignment Preference and Availability Form will have the major role in dictating what order classes are offered to faculty. It is imperative that you fill out the Assignment Preference and Availability Form each year and return it by the first Friday after the start of Spring semester to your division office to be considered for assignments for the following Academic Year. The Assignment Preference and Availability Form is sent to faculty via campus email no later than the first week in December. If the Assignment Preference and Availability Form is not submitted, the Part-time member risks losing their seniority preference when classes are assigned.
Courses are offered to all available faculty based on program need. Class assignments are first offered to full-time faculty, then to overload for full-time faculty, then to retirees with Emeritus status, before being offered to part-time members. After full-time, overload, and emeritus have been assigned, the appropriate administrator may reserve up to 20% of the total FTEF for their discipline(s) to assign at their discretion. This may mean that a faculty member who is lower on the seniority list may get “bumped up” due to specialty knowledge or expertise that fulfills program need. The remainder of assignments are made based on the part-time faculty Seniority List, Assignment Preference and Availability forms and the maximum load requested by each unit member (1 class, 2 classes, 3 classes, or maximum allowed (67%).
You have the right to decline any or part of an offered assignment without penalty (however if you decline all class offerings it would count toward a potential Break in Service). You can accumulate separate Seniority credit in more than one discipline. The Seniority List and Assignment Preference and Availability Form are available for you to view at any time on the Part-time Faculty-Faculty Association.
Please see Article 18B of the Faculty Contract to find language around your specific situation.
If you have any questions, please contact your college’s FA Part-Time Representative (contact information can be found on the FA E-Board Contact Information).