HOW DO I FILE FOR UNEMPLOYMENT?
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Part-Time Faculty (YOU) are Probably Entitled to Unemployment Benefits
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As a result of the 1989 Cervisi decision, most part-time community college faculty are eligible to receive unemployment compensation benefits during breaks in their employment. Examples are winter and summer breaks (or a semester during which you are not offered employment), if you are not employed elsewhere, and if you do not have “reasonable assurance of returning to work with an education institution following the period without employment.” (Education Code Section 1253.3) Virtually all appointment offers to part-time faculty are contingent upon meeting minimum enrollment, funding levels, or program continuation. Such contingent offers do not constitute “reasonable assurance” or reemployment as defined in the state unemployment code. Thus, most part-time faculty are eligible for unemployment. The fact that some individuals have a history of being reemployed at the end of a summer or holiday recess between terms is irrelevant in this regard. Applying for unemployment benefits is your legal right! When you, as a part-time instructor, request these benefits, you are simply asking your employer to acknowledge your lack of job security.
All About The Cervisi Decision
Part-time, temporary faculty of California’s community colleges are entitled to unemployment compensation for periods between semesters, including summer breaks. This principle was established in Cervisi v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (1989) 208 Cal.App.3ed 635, and is a permanent part of the California Unemployment Insurance Code Sec.1253.3. Under the Cervisi ruling, an assignment that is contingent on enrollment, funding, or program changes is not a “reasonable assurance” of continued employment.
Cervisi covers all part-time faculty: instructors, nurses, librarians, counselors, and other academic employees. Faculty are entitled to benefits even if their district has provided them with a written offer to teach the following semester. Your district may call this a “contract,” but in the eyes of the law it is NOT. Further, even if your district insists that this “contract” represents reasonable assurance of continued employment, again, in the eye of the law it is NOT.
The only measure of reasonable assurance is whether the assignment is contingent upon enrollment, funding, bumping, or program changes…and because part-time assignments are always contingent on these conditions, part-time faculty have NO reasonable assurance of continued employment. Even if you have a history of being re-employed at the end of a summer or holiday recess between terms, the law considers this irrelevant. Remember: unemployment benefits aren’t a handout–they’re your legal right!
All About The Cervisi Decision
Part-time, temporary faculty of California’s community colleges are entitled to unemployment compensation for periods between semesters, including summer breaks. This principle was established in Cervisi v. California Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board (1989) 208 Cal.App.3ed 635, and is a permanent part of the California Unemployment Insurance Code Sec.1253.3. Under the Cervisi ruling, an assignment that is contingent on enrollment, funding, or program changes is not a “reasonable assurance” of continued employment.
Cervisi covers all part-time faculty: instructors, nurses, librarians, counselors, and other academic employees. Faculty are entitled to benefits even if their district has provided them with a written offer to teach the following semester. Your district may call this a “contract,” but in the eyes of the law it is NOT. Further, even if your district insists that this “contract” represents reasonable assurance of continued employment, again, in the eye of the law it is NOT.
The only measure of reasonable assurance is whether the assignment is contingent upon enrollment, funding, bumping, or program changes…and because part-time assignments are always contingent on these conditions, part-time faculty have NO reasonable assurance of continued employment. Even if you have a history of being re-employed at the end of a summer or holiday recess between terms, the law considers this irrelevant. Remember: unemployment benefits aren’t a handout–they’re your legal right!