AAUP- National
May 5, 2017
New guidance from the United States Department of Labor heightens the potential for faculty on contingent appointments to get unemployment compensation over breaks between semesters. The guidance, Unemployment Insurance Programs Letter No. 05-17, explains the unemployment compensation standards applied to contingent faculty members and increases the likelihood that they will be eligible for unemployment.
The AAUP, along with a coalition of other organizations provided information to the labor department regarding the changed reality of contingent faculty on university campuses. The recent guidance, echoing themes raised with the department and articulated by the AAUP for years, explicitly acknowledged that "the employment model educational institutions follows has changed appreciably, particularly for institutions of higher education. In higher education the use of part-time instructors, often referred to as "adjunct" or "contingent" faculty, has increased significantly."
Read the full article at the AAUP website here.
