Know Your Rights: Check Your Cheque 2025

What We Learned — and What to Do Next

Our latest Check Your Cheque infosession was held on December 10, and once again the message was clear: your pay advice is one of the most powerful tools you have for protecting your rights and your earnings. Whether you’re new to Camosun or have been here for years, understanding how to read your paycheque is essential, and based on the questions and conversations we had, it’s something many members are still figuring out.

This follow-up blog post recaps the key takeaways, provides next steps, and offers links to the resources referenced during the session.

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Why Checking Your Cheque Matters

Every pay period, your pay advice needs to accurately reflect:

• Your step
• Your percentage workload
• Any term stipends, Chair/PL stipends, or co-op/placement amounts
• Increments earned based on full-time equivalent (FTE) service and/or Professional Development Activities
• Correct deductions for taxes, pension, and benefits

Mistakes happen! Incorrect pay notices are not uncommon, especially for term faculty and during times of workload changes, leaves, or retroactive adjustments. Sometimes the errors aren’t obvious unless you know exactly what should be there. If your gross pay or deductions aren’t what you expected, it is always worth investigating.

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Start With Gross Pay: Are You at the Right Step?

The first and most important thing to check is your gross pay, which tells you:

• What step the College believes you are on
• Whether your workload percentage is being applied correctly
• Whether any term contracts, stipends, or bridging pay have been correctly included

To do this, members should compare their biweekly gross wage to the CCFA salary rate table and verify that the amount matches their expected step (pro-rated if applicable). If you’re a term faculty member, remember that your gross wage includes 16.8% vacation pay in lieu. If you have term contracts in two adjacent terms at 50% or higher, be sure to verify your bridging pay is included.

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Understanding Increments (Step Raises)

This continues to be one of the most common sources of confusion — and error.

Continuing Faculty

• Move up one step for every 12 months of full-time equivalent (FTE) service
• Full-time continuing member increments should appear consistently on your anniversary date each year
• Part-time continuing member increments will accrue more slowly because your workload percentage is below 100%

Term Faculty

• Require 217 FTE days to move up a step (all your contracts are combined until they reach the equivalent of 100% for 217 days)
• Mixed continuing + term workloads are combined proportionally

If you believe you’re due for an increment and did not receive one, that’s a major red flag — and you should contact your HR Assistant and the CCFA immediately. Your next increment date can also be confirmed in writing when you request your benefit and placement information, which you should do periodically for comparison. We know some of you find doing math hard, so we’ve created this handy worksheet to help you keep track!

During the infosession, we reviewed examples where employees had:

• Delayed increments
• Weird partial-step calculations
• Salary lines that did not align with the expected step
• Incorrect pension contributions
• Wrong retro pay amounts

But in each case, adjustments were made only after members asked questions. Always check. Always ask. The Employer does not usually proactively correct all errors, and even when they do, it can still be wrong. Your second paycheque of the month includes some of your monthly benefit deductions (rather than those that come off of each cheque), so this is the one you should use for your full review.

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Most Common “Errors” Found on Term Contracts

There are several recurring issues we see in Term faculty contracts. The worst are incorrect start and end dates, usually due to not including your prep and wrap-up weeks, bridging, or non-standard course lengths. Match your contract (when you finally get it) to what you’ve been paid for. Make sure you’re checking every contract and not assuming consistency from term to term! When you find something you don’t understand, we’re happy to help. Just email ac.ytlucafnusomac@afcc to book a meeting.

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Retro Pay: Great When It Works… Tricky When It Doesn’t

We don’t yet have a clue when we might be getting retro pay, because, once again, our employer has exploited the situation to delay our bargaining (a whole other story). However, we’ve never had a retroactive wage adjustment that couldn’t be misapplied. This is exacerbated for members with complex employment histories (disability leave, parental leave, partial workloads, term-to-continuing transitions), who are especially vulnerable to calculation errors. The union isn’t informed of when you take leave or return, so it’s vital that you check your own cheque and let us know if you see anything amiss.

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What To Do If Something Looks Wrong

Email your HR Assistant and ask for:

• Your current step placement
• Your next increment date
• The current Benefit Premiums Sheet
• The Manulife employer-paid premiums for LTD/STD/Life/AD&D
• List and explanation of any additional deductions you don’t recognize

If you find potential errors, explain what you expected and what appears incorrect

Keep every response; it becomes part of your paper trail.

Contact the CCFA if you’re not satisfied with the explanation, or if the error is not resolved quickly. We can support you — particularly in cases involving repayment demands, contract errors, or unresolved disputes.

Special thanks to the members who bravely shared their experiences and earnings statements! Every time we hold this infosession, we’re reminded how complex our payroll environment is, and how essential it is for faculty to be informed and vigilant. When it gets particularly difficult, such as in cases involving repayment demands, contract errors, or unresolved disputes, remember, we are here to help you get every dollar you are entitled to.