Stewards’ Bulletin: Grievance Alert and Update on Pay Issues
Grievance Alert: 30 active grievances about violations of faculty rights
Recent University decisions have forced the CFA to file an unusually high number of grievances over the past two years: There are now 30 active grievances about violations of faculty rights (see list below).
While we work to resolve them (many are headed for arbitration), the CFA stewards want all members to be aware of the grievances. We give updates at general meetings (third Tuesday of every month, including today, 11:30 to 1:00, GM zoom link). We are also going to post bulletins with updates and notes on specific issues, which we will archive on the soon-to-be unveiled new CFA website. This bulletin’s topic:
Payroll issues: pay stubs and over-/under-payment problems
The most recent grievance concerns pay stubs. As you know, our pay stubs do not explain how your pay is calculated. They just show total salary and standard deductions. The Employment Standards Act requires the University to give enough information to check that your pay is correct. The University is violating this requirement.
In December 2020 the CFA asked HR and the Finance department to work with us to fix the pay stubs, The administration agreed that the pay stubs do not satisfy section 27 of the Act. They planned to fix this by May. After several months with no change, the HR department informed us that the payroll software can’t give pay details, but that they are working on it. This is the message from HR each time the CFA has followed up, most recently in November 2021.
We have been left no choice but to file a formal grievance about pay stubs.
Over-payment and under-payment issues & how to respond to claw-back notifications
Since the pay stubs give so little information, you can’t tell if you are being underpaid or overpaid.
If you have questions about your monthly payment, we recommend that you write to your HR advisor to ask for a monthly breakdown of your pay, including your workload charts, confirmation of your salary step placement, and the step rate for all your work. This way you can confirm the gross income for that month. For now, this is the only way to ensure your pay is accurate.
If the administration writes you about past “overpayment,” please get in touch with your CFA stewards to discuss options (see below). The University cannot legally claw back claimed overpayments without your prior written agreement.* If you disagree that there has been an overpayment, the employer must negotiate the issue with the Union, your representative.
( * The administration has proposed to change this in the current round of bargaining. )
Types of active grievances (at 21 Feb 2023)
Benefits (including parental leave problems): 5
Collegial model / Governance: 5
Contracting out of faculty work: 3
Discipline / Evaluation: 6
Regularization/Workload/Hiring: 4
Salary / payroll issues: 2
Unsafe workplace / Discrimination: 5 (incl. medical accommodations & harm from negligence)
Stewarding Support
If you are concerned that your rights under the collective agreement or legislation have been violated, or have questions about interpreting the collective agreement, please talk with your departmental area steward or write to that steward and the CFA senior stewards: Michael Begg (mbegg@capilanou.ca), Doug Alards-Tomalin (douglasalardstomalin@capilanou.ca), and the CFA office (cfa@capilanou.ca). To help us ensure we respond, please write to all three (and your area steward).
Please also read the Know Your Rights [PDF] guide on the CFA website. We welcome suggestions on additions and clarifications that would make that document more useful. Our full collective agreement, including the provincial Common Agreement that it incorporates, are in the Resources section of the website.