NEW: Full-Time Equivalent (FTE) Reduction under the Policy and Procedures on Academic Appointments (PPAA)

Uploaded: May 11, 2021

Policy


The University and the University of Toronto Faculty Association recently agreed to important changes to the Part-time Policy.1 As part of this process, provisions governing requests by faculty who hold tenure or continuing status to reduce their percentage appointment (FTE) to a part-time FTE were revised and moved to the Policy and Procedures on Academic Appointments (PPAA). The changes to the PPAA are Part VIII, section 32 (for tenured faculty) and section 33 (for teaching stream faculty holding continuing status). The new provisions took effect January 1, 2021.

Details


Once a faculty member has received Tenure or Continuing Status they are eligible to request a period of reduced FTE. The PPAA:

  • Defines a part-time FTE: “A part-time appointment is one that does not exceed 75 percent of full-time employment.”
  • States that requests to reduce FTE to part-time will not be unreasonably denied: “Individuals holding a tenured full-time appointment [or a continuing status teaching stream appointment] may, with the agreement of the unit head and the appropriate division head, and with the approval of the Vice-President & Provost, reduce their appointment to part-time. Requests for such a reduction in percentage of appointment shall not be unreasonably denied by the University.”
  • Clarifies that such requests require agreement of unit head and approval of the Vice-President and Provost: “Individuals holding a tenured full-time appointment [or a continuing status teaching stream appointment] may, with the agreement of the unit head and the appropriate division head, and with the approval of the Vice-President & Provost, reduce their appointment to part-time.”
  • Establishes a normal lower limit of 20% FTE: “Appointments shall not normally be reduced to less than 20% FTE.”
  • Establishes a normal limit of 3 years on the reduction of a faculty members FTE from a full-time to a to part-time FTE: “Reductions in percentage of appointment shall not normally exceed three (3) consecutive years, unless the basis for the reduction is an accommodation under the Ontario Human Rights Code.”
  • Establishes the approval required for an extension of a reduced FTE beyond three years: “a reduction in percentage of appointment shall not exceed three (3) consecutive years, and the faculty member must return to a full-time appointment at the expiry of the term of reduction in percentage appointment unless the reduction is extended in writing with the agreement of the faculty member, and the agreement of the unit head and the appropriate division head, and with the approval of the Vice-President & Provost.”

1 Note: In a case where a reduction of FTE is being considered as a matter of accommodation the Office of Health and Well-Being should be involved.