[Senate] FW: Letter from UC System Provost and EVP Katherine Newman re Academic Continuity and Leave Reporting
Cherysa P Cortez
cherysa.cortez at ucr.edu
Thu Jun 13 12:05:52 PDT 2024
Sent on behalf of Academic Senate Chair Sang-Hee Lee
Dear Senate Colleagues,
In concert with System Academic Senate Leadership and Divisional Senate Chairs, I forward a letter from UC System Provost and Executive Vice President Katherine S. Newman on academic continuity and leave reporting.
Systemwide Chair Steintrager and Vice Chair Cheung emphasize that instructors of record and principal investigators who find that their academic student employees or graduate student researchers are continuing to strike labor may seek out and hire additional help for grading or research continuity. We realize that there may be practical and resource impediments to such hiring. However, impacted faculty should at least report these issues to their department chairs and/or deans and work with them to secure required assistance and funding.
Yours,
Sang-Hee Lee
Riverside Senate Division Chair
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This letter with enclosure is sent on behalf of UC System Provost and Executive Vice President Katherine S. Newman. For your convenience, the text of the letter is below. The signed letter is attached as a pdf.
________________________________
ACADEMIC COUNCIL CHAIR STEINTRAGER
EXECUTIVE VICE CHANCELLORS AND PROVOSTS
VICE CHANCELLORS FOR RESEARCH
Dear Colleagues:
I write to update you on the status of the strike authorized by the International Union, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW) despite the collective bargaining agreements (CBAs) all parties signed containing no-strike provisions. These agreements govern our relations with all Academic Student Employees, Graduate Student Researchers, Postdoctoral Scholars, and Academic Researchers represented by the UAW. Consistent with these CBAs, a Superior Court judge issued the University a temporary restraining order (TRO), prohibiting UAW and its members from engaging in any strike activities until June 27, 2024. At that time, the Court will conduct a preliminary injunction hearing to determine if it should issue a new order prohibiting the Union from striking after June 27, 2024.
As events in the Middle East continue to have significant impact on the University of California community, we must remember that lawful protests have always been allowed on our campuses. This continues to be the case, as freedom of expression remains a cardinal value of the institution. Nothing about the TRO or the collective bargaining agreements impacts community members' ability to engage in lawful free speech activities. Each location's time, place, and manner rules are available on their websites and provide a framework for lawful protests across the system. That said, lawful speech activities do not include withholding work in the course of employment or receiving pay - and public pay at that - for work not performed.
I want to convey to you the consequences of the TRO so that you can inform the community on your campus of the responsibilities to which they must now adhere. The court's TRO means that UAW members must continue to perform their regularly assigned work. This work includes the administration of final examinations, grading, submitting grades, and continuing research activities. Employees who fail to comply with these requirements will be subject to applicable disciplinary procedures and corrective actions.
In compliance with the TRO, the UAW sent a communication on June 7th to its members advising that all striking workers should return to work on Monday, June 10th. Accordingly, UAW members are aware that continuing to strike is a violation of the TRO. The University updated its FAQs<https://ucnet.universityofcalifornia.edu/uaw-faqs-2024/> to provide information about the current legal positions regarding the UAW strike, engaging in lawful protests, and reporting absences in time and attendance systems. Please continue to review the FAQs as they will be updated on a regular basis.
Yesterday, we advised all UAW members that they must submit their hours to the time and attendance system, including an accounting of any absences they may have incurred. This is not a discretionary responsibility. It is, instead, required of all members of the UAW because the University is legally barred from paying employees for work that is not actually performed. We must remain in compliance with this regulation both for the sake of state law and in view of federal guidelines for effort reporting on grants.
Accordingly, at the five campuses (UCD, UCLA, UCSD, UCSB, and UCSC) where a strike was called for June 3 through June 7, and at UC Irvine from June 5 through 7, UAW members who fail to submit time and attendance information by their local leave-reporting deadline, will be assumed to have withheld their labor and will not be paid for those days. To avoid that outcome, we strongly encourage department chairs, instructors of record, principal investigators, and administrators to remind UAW members of their obligation to submit their timesheets by the campus/location deadline, as noted below (the campuses where a strike was called for June are highlighted in yellow below):
Location
JUNE
Leave Reporting Due Date
UCB
7/1/2024
UCD
7/8/2024 by 5pm
UCI
7/6/2024 by 12pm
UCLA
7/6/2024 by 5pm
UCM
7/5/2024
UCR
7/3/2024 by 11pm
UCSD
6/20/2024 by 2:30pm
UCSF
7/5/2024
UCSB
7/10/2024
UCSC
6/30/2024
LBNL
6/20/2024 by 10am
UCANR
7/8/2024 by 5pm
To ensure that all of our records are accurate, department chairs, instructors of record, principal investigators, and administrators who serve as approvers or backup approvers in time and attendance systems must certify the accuracy of leave-reporting for Academic Student Employees, Graduate Student Researchers, Postdoctoral Scholars, and
Academic Researchers. We trust these self-reports are honest accounts of work performed. However, should there be credible information that UAW members submitted inaccurate information regarding their absences, the approvers and backup approvers will need to override the entry to "leave without pay" for the time the employee was absent. We need to remind everyone that falsification of records is misconduct that is subject to corrective action.
Instructors of record and principal investigators who are aware that UAW members will be withholding work and need assistance with administering examinations, grading, or conducting research, should contact department chairs, campus academic personnel, or campus labor relations offices for guidance.
We hope that we can all come together as a community to ensure that critical research continues and that our students are able to take their final examinations and receive grades for their hard work during the term. We look forward to celebrating their achievements at campus graduation ceremonies where family, friends, faculty, and staff will gather to recognize the class of 2024.
Thank you for all you are doing to support our students and our academic community.
Best wishes,
Katherine S. Newman
UC System Provost and
Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
UC Berkeley Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Sociology & Public Policy
cc: President Drake
Chancellors
Academic Council Vice Chair Cheung
Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Nava
Executive Vice President Rubin
Senior Vice President and Chief Compliance Officer Bustamante
Interim Senior Vice President Reese
Laboratory Director Witherell
Vice President Brown
Vice President/Vice Provost Gullatt
Vice Provost Haynes
Vice President Humiston
Vice President and Chief of Staff Kao
Vice President Lloyd
Vice President Maldonado
Vice Provosts/Vice Chancellors for Academic Personnel
Associate Vice Provost Jennings
Associate Vice Provost Lee
Associate Vice President Matella
Assistant Vice Provosts/Vice Chancellors for Academic Personnel
Chief Human Resource Officers
Graduate Deans
Executive Director Lin
Deputy General Counsel Woodall
Principal Counsel Hoppe
Chief of Staff Beechem
Deputy Chief HR Officer and Chief of Staff Henderson
Labor Relations Directors
Chief Policy Advisor McAuliffe
Katherine S. Newman
UC System Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs
UC Berkeley Chancellor's Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Public Policy
Office address:
Katherine Newman
C/o Office of the President
University of California
1111 Franklin Street, 12th Floor
Oakland, California 94706
Email: Katherine.Newman at ucop.edu<mailto:Katherine.Newman at ucop.edu>
Chief of Staff
Stephanie Beechem
Stephanie.Beechem at ucop.edu<mailto:Stephanie.Beechem at ucop.edu>
Executive Assistant (for calendar assistance)
Marvin Morris
Marvin.Morris at ucop.edu<mailto:Marvin.Morris at ucop.edu>
[signature_775781637]
- - - - - -
__________________________
Cherysa Cortez for Sang-Hee Lee
Executive Director, Academic Senate
University Office Building 221
cherysac at ucr.edu<mailto:cherysac at ucr.edu>
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA RIVERSIDE
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