If you have not been given an assignment
(or your assignments have been much reduced during the coming months), you have a right to apply for unemployment insurance benefits. The state budget crisis has resulted in colleges, (including Citrus College), cutting class sections. Part-time faculty who lose some or all of their assignments may be eligible to collect unemployment benefits. You can apply online at www.edd.ca.gov or by phone at (800) 300-5616. Our recommendation is that you don’t bother with phone applications. The numbers of unemployed seeking benefits is extremely high, clogging the phone line and making your successful contact improbable.
Adjuncts are considered “temporary” employees who work without contracts and are not guaranteed continued employment. If you are not offered an assignment or if your workload is reduced, you can file for unemployment benefits. The EDD will determine whether you qualify.
Claims may be filed with the EDD on or right after the last day of the semester. This is also the last day of the week that you are considered by the district to have “worked”. You may still have a paycheck coming from Citrus College afterwards, but when you turn grades in you are unemployed. The last day of the semester should be used as your last work day, as this is the day reported by Human Resources to EDD. You will need to report your earnings for the last week you worked. This can be determined by dividing your usual monthly pay by four (weeks).
The on-line application process is best conducted with all your information at the ready. Look at the application before you start to fill it out. Note the periods you’ll need to document for earnings from each of your employers, (if more than one). Have addresses, dates, etc. ready. It will save you time in the long run. There will be a question on the form asking if you are a teacher, when responding be sure to cite the Cervisi decision which applies directly to “at will” adjunct faculty (help can be found at http://www.faccc.org/part_time/unemployment/edd_cervisi.HTM ) You will also be asked if you are a union member. This applies to unions that pay their members during times of hiatus and/or help them get jobs. This does not apply to community college part-timers and so you should answer that questions with a “no” since in fact you are not technically a member of the CCAFF when you are not working at Citrus College. After you apply you will need to be available for a telephone interview with a representative of EDD. They will inform you of a specific date and time that you will need to be available for. The purpose is to verify your qualification for benefits and clarify issues that may be unclear on your application. Have all your information ready again for the interview, and don’t miss the call!
Sometimes EDD personnel are not aware that, unlike K-12 teachers, community college teachers, who have little or no other employment, are entitled to unemployment at the end of a semester. Since, even if one’s name is in the schedule to teach in a future semester, possible class cancellations mean that adjunct faculty have “no reasonable assurance” of future employment. You have to let the EDD know that you have been laid off because your contract ended and just keep repeating the phrase “ I have no reasonable assurance of work with this employer in the future.”
(Thanks to Phyllis Eckler, GCC)
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