Know Your Rights: Vacation 

This is a message from your friendly neighbourhood union rep, Kelly Pitman. 

Vacation entitlement for CCFA members is covered in Clause 8 of the Local Collective Agreement. I urge you to read the clause to get the full picture of your rights and obligations. 

In the meantime, here are some highlights. 

Calculating Vacation  

Continuing Employees, Probationary Employees, Post-Retirement Employees, and Term Employees with Appointments of 12 or More Months 

• The vacation year runs from September 1 to August 31. 
• These faculty members receive 44 days of vacation per year at the percentage of their continuing contract. 
• 3 of those vacation days must be taken during the three non-statutory days during the Christmas break “unless the college directs the employee to work on those days.” This leaves 41 days to be scheduled. 
• The yearly vacation allotment is based on a full year’s work. Therefore, it will be reduced if one takes an unpaid leave. 
• Parental leaves, sick leaves, and disability leaves do not result in lost vacation. 

Term Employees with Appointments of Less Than 12 Months 

• Faculty members in this category receive vacation pay at 16.8% of gross salary instead of vacation days. 
• These employees are not eligible to be paid on the non-statutory days during the Christmas break unless these three days are part of their assigned work time. 
• Term employees with right of first refusal can turn down work for one semester a year without losing their right of first refusal so that they have the equivalent of a vacation period.  

Scheduling Vacation 

• Vacation scheduling is supposed to consider the needs of the faculty member and the needs of the college.  
• Faculty members (except coordinators and ProSit program developers) who have earned vacation days are entitled to take a minimum of 6 weeks of vacation each year without interruption. 
• Vacation is not normally approved during peak periods, but if you work in an area with no periods of reduced activity, you maintain your right to six weeks uninterrupted vacation, so the college must find a time for you to take it if you want to. 
• If your dean or director agrees, you can defer up to 20 vacation days, and you can keep deferring it if you keep getting permission. 
• Vacation that cannot be used must be paid out, most often on retirement or resignation. It can’t be taken away. 

Vacation is as much a state of mind as it is a span of time.

– Mark Kunen

Taking Vacation 

• While you are on vacation, you are not expected to check your Camosun email accounts, attend meetings, support students, or do any other work. 
• If you are required to work on vacation, you must be allowed to take the lost vacation days later. Best to be clear with your supervisor before the fact, however. If you decide on your own to upgrade your courses during your vacation and then later ask for the vacation days back, you’re not likely to get a yes. However, if the work is imposed upon you, inform the dean that you will need to defer some vacation days. 
• Sometimes, your school or division office will pressure you to break up your vacation or to take deferred vacation when you need to work. You do not have to say yes. As my colleague Mark Kunen says, vacation is as much a state of mind as it is a span of time. A half-day of “vacation” between final exams, for example, probably increases your workload on your return and is hardly relaxing.  
• If you are hospitalised or seriously ill while on vacation, you can request, with documentation, to have that time deemed sick leave rather than vacation, leaving you vacation to take later. You must make this request to your dean or director within two months of returning to work. 

If you have questions or concerns about vacation, please contact Jeanne Iribarne, Chair of the Contract Management Committee at ac.nusomac@enrabiri. 

Enjoy your vacation when the time comes. You’ve earned it. 

kp