Ask Annie! ...Some recent Questions

by Annie Ngo, FA Contract & Evaluation Liaison

Do you have a question about the contract? Please submit your questions to Annie at https://forms.gle/TQUo1tEFi18fBfXy6. Please note that questions regarding benefits should be directed to Human Resources: Carolyn Sneary, CSneary@miracosta.edu

Here are three recent questions that were submitted by faculty and may be helpful to know.

Q: Can I take FMLA to take care of a parent?

A: Yes, see F.5.2 Family Leave, reason #3:

Employees are entitled to up to twelve (12) weeks of unpaid leave (or 26 weeks for leave to care for a covered service member who is injured or ill) per year (12 months):

#3: “In order to care for the spouse/domestic partner, or child (regardless of age or ability to engage in self-care), parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling of the faculty member, if such spouse/domestic partner, child, parent, grandparent, grandchild, or sibling has a serious health condition, as verified by an appropriate medical advisor.”

Q: If a faculty member unbanks a semester (15 LHE), are they relieved of institutional service?

A: In short, yes.

If a regular faculty member unbanks 15 LHE for a semester (i.e. an entire semester), they are relieved of their regular contractual obligations to the district (including contact hours, prep hours, student hours, and institutional service hours as defined in C.1.1).

That being said, if a faculty wants to participate in these activities it would be voluntary. It is not uncommon for faculty to participate in things like hiring committees, TRCs, or other activities of significance during sabbatical and unbanking. They are not required to do so though.

Q: As a tenured faculty member, how do I find out when I am scheduled to be evaluated?

A: It's in the details....

Each tenured faculty member (TFM) shall be notified that they are scheduled to be evaluated by the end of week two of the semester preceding the evaluation by Human Resources. Human Resources shall also send a reminder to the TFM by the end of the first week in the academic semester of the evaluation. The evaluation shall be based primarily on activities and observations since the last evaluation period.

Faculty can always contact evalsupport@miracosta.edu if they want to know when they are scheduled to be evaluated.