PCCFFAP Assignment Rights

Assignment Rights Application and Assessment

Assignment Rights are the only form of job security available to a part-time instructor. They are an assurance of regular, annual teaching assignments. Assignment Rights ensure that you get at least one class assignment per term, and that you get preference for all remaining assignments in your department. Even if you have already been receiving the course assignments you prefer, there is no guarantee of that continuing should circumstances change in your department. Assignment rights also stipulate discipline and/or dismissal procedures for part-time instructors. Those without assignment rights status have no recourse to protections or appeals should they be dismissed from the college.

Assignment rights are not automatically granted--you have to apply for them and complete an assessment procedure. This is an official management assessment. Therefore, the division dean is responsible for the assessment, not your department chair.

Assignment rights apply to a particular campus (except for departments which are district-wide, in which case the assignment rights apply district-wide). You may have separate assignment rights at separate campuses. You are eligible to apply for assignment rights if you have taught:

In the same discipline
9 out of the last 12 terms
At least 3 out of last 4 terms have to be at the campus where you are requesting your assignment rights

Once you have been awarded assignment rights at a particular campus, there are two ways to get assignment rights at an additional campus. You can transfer your existing assignment rights at your previous campus to your present campus without going through the entire assessment process again. You have to teach at least one course in the same subject area and department at the new campus for 3 out of 5 consecutive terms. Final approval is up to the division dean of the new campus. Note that you give up your assignment rights at the previous campus once you transfer them to your present campus.

Another way is to apply for an assignment rights assessment at another campus. You have to teach at least one course in the same subject area and department at the new campus for 3 out of 5 consecutive terms. Then you can apply for the full assignment rights assessment from the dean at the new campus. You have to apply a term in advance, so you can apply in your second term of teaching at the new campus, get assessed in your third term, and be granted assignment rights in your fourth term at the new campus.. This will not affect your assignment rights at other campuses.

Assignment rights expire if you do not teach for four consecutive terms. There are exceptions for leaves, class reductions, and temporary full-time positions.

To apply for an assignment rights assessment, write a letter to your division dean or manager (and cc your department chair, if you prefer). The assessment will take place the term following your application (you can apply the term before the term you are eligible). The Faculty Federation strongly recommends that you send all communications by e-mail in order to document your application and assessment. We also recommend that you cc or forward messages to David Rives, Part-Time Contract Administrator at the Federation, on all your communications: drives@pcc.edu

The assignment rights assessment includes a management assessment and a self-assessment. This often includes a classroom observation. Other observation tools, such as student assessments, can be agreed on by the supervisor and the teacher.

Once you have been granted assignment rights status, you must make a request to management each year for the numbers of courses per term you would like to teach. The deadline is the February 1^st preceding the academic year. You will be notified of your course assignment by the end of spring term. You must then accept the assignment in writing within 10 days.

Obtaining assignment rights and receiving an annual assignment is up to the individual teacher. If you know of cases where a teacher with assignment rights has not received their proper course assignments, please contact David Rives at the Faculty Federation: drives@pcc.edu

For more information on applying for assignment rights: Article 4
For more information on assessments: Article 7