FAQs

Your leave balance is found via MySAIT.ca site under the My Employee area.  Select Vacation and Sick Leave Balances to view a summary.  See the SAITNow FAQ for more information.

No, the Collective Agreement has always referenced “forty-three (43) work days of vacation” (S.32.01) However, historically SAIT had credited your vacation bank with “hours” of vacation based on an 8-hour day. This practice will be corrected, and SAIT will, on a go-forward basis from July 1, 2022, only use vacation “days”. Your existing hours – whatever you have in your vacation bank as of June 30, 2022 – will be calculated as “days” of vacation with no loss of vacation time. After July 1, 2022, you will record any vacation you take in a “days of vacation” format – i.e., half a day would be recorded as 0.5 day of vacation. Vacation will no longer be recorded in an “hour” format.

No, the Collective Agreement says that you may carry forward a maximum of 5 vacation days to the next year with no issues. If the carry-over exceeds five days, you do not lose the days but “the Academic Staff member must work with their Academic Chair/Leader to create a plan to ensure the excessive days are taken in the next year” (Section 32.09). So, if you have excessive vacation days now, begin planning how you will take that time.

SAIT will forward deposit your full vacation entitlement of 43 days on July 1st of the year. If you retire or leave SAIT, you will be paid for any “earned but unused” vacation days (Section 32.02). The calculation will be 3.5 vacation days per month. If you are in a deficit situation, you will owe SAIT any “used but unearned” vacation days determined through the same calculation (3.5 vacation days per month).

See the Collective Agreement, S38.01.
2022 Dates
Friday, Dec 23: SAFA Floater Day
Monday, Dec 26: Christmas Day in lieu (S34.01)
Tuesday, Dec 27 – Boxing Day in lieu (S34.01)

Wednesday, Dec 28 – Friday, Dec 30: Christmas Leave
Monday, January 2: Day in lieu of New Year’s Day (S34.01)

2023 Dates
Friday, Dec 22: SAFA Floater Day
Monday, Dec 25: Christmas Day
Tuesday, Dec 26: Boxing Day
Wednesday, Dec 27 – Friday, Dec 29: Christmas Leave
Monday, January 1: New Year’s Day

You have 2 personal days per calendar year which do not carry over. Once you have given your manager or AC at least 2 week’s notice of your intent to take the day, the time is then recorded in the MySAIT site under the My Employee area Leave Report.

Remember that there are no restrictions on taking personal days, other than that two weeks’ notice may be required (S35.04). This means you can use them no matter if there are students on campus, if you have classes scheduled that day, or whether there is someone to cover for you. These issues are managed by your Academic Chair. Further, when you choose to use your personal days is not at the discretion of your supervisor, AC, or manager. It is not subject to “office needs”, “operational requirements”, scheduling of “team meetings”, etc.

You can say no to certain requests, but you need to know when and how to do so.

If a request is violating health and safety requirements or human rights legislation, then you should immediately decline (or stop) the work and notify your leader of your concerns. Work cannot proceed until the leader has addressed the issues that you raise.

However, an employee must “work now, grieve later” requests that are outside the Collective Agreement but are not unsafe.  This means that you should notify your leader of your concerns in writing while still complying with the request.  If the leader does not respond to your concerns, immediately notify your SAFA representative so they can review with you if a complaint or grievance should be filed.

Common issues that must occur with your agreement (i.e., mutual agreement is specified in the Collective Agreement) include:

• Changes to your annual vacation plan, once documented in writing (S32.08).
• Changes to your approved personal day off – this is available regardless of operational requirements or scheduling/substitution issues (S34). These issues are to be managed by your Academic Chair or Manager.
• For full-time faculty: teaching on Saturday, Sunday, or after 6:00pm (S36.11). You can ask your Chair what compensation is being offered to take on this work outside of standard hours.
• For full-time faculty, SAIT cannot assign more 20 hours in a week (averaged over a 15-week period), more than 6 Class Contact Hours (CCH) a day, and more than 4 CCH in a row without your agreement (S36.04).
• Full-time faculty do not have to accept assignment of overload class contact hours (S36.13).
• Substitution for another instructor’s course when you are fully loaded. This is common for trades instructors in the May/ June period of the academic year.

There are many other situations that may occur in which you can say no or question the work assigned – contact your SAFA representative if you feel an Academic Chair’s or Manager’s request is outside the Collective Agreement.

According to the Collective Agreement, Section 16, if disciplinary action is taken against a SAFA member, that member will be informed in writing.  If the member is to be interviewed related to the disciplinary action, then they are entitled to have a SAFA representative present at the interview.

Yes, you can review your employee file once in every year and in the event of a grievance or complaint (S16.04).  Submit the request via the [email protected] system and it will be processed in approximately 3-5 business days.   Your supervisor and Dean are not notified of this request.  

Currently, files are digitized and provided via email attachments.  There is also a file review meeting with an Employee Services Specialist, and you can request that a SAFA representative also attend.

First, know that full-time faculty cannot be required to work after 6:00pm, even if you are underloaded. You must be asked if you agree to work after 6pm – this is mutual agreement and is specified in the Collective Agreement, section 36. Remember that mutual agreement is NOT an oral conversation that you have with your Academic Chair. The mutual agreement form must be completed with detailed documentation as to how the standard workload will be changed and for what period of time.  

If you, as full-time faculty, prefer to teach after 6pm, you can do so – SAFA recommends that you request an adjunct instructor contract (see S36.11) as this will quantify your additional pay for the additional work. Qualified full-time academic staff members have first right to participate in instruction given after 6:00 p.m.  You can mutually agree to accept a teaching assignment Monday – Friday after 6pm as part of your full-time load but there is typically no additional compensation for that work.

We have no set hours in our Collective Agreement. There is not any language regarding core hours in the Collective Agreement, nor is there any mention of office hours.  Instead, SAIT has a window during the workday – Monday to Friday prior to 6 PM – to assign class contact hours (CCH), meetings and professional duties.  In addition to that, SAIT cannot assign more than 6 Class Contact Hours (CCH) a day and no more than 4 CCH in a row without your permission (Section 36.04).  Our Collective Agreement does not stipulate that you must be present at the place of employment during certain hours.  However, there is an expectation that you’re available on-campus during the regular workday for assigned class times, meetings, and student appointments, as well as other assigned professional duties.  

A full-time salaried member’s workload can vary greatly throughout the academic year and there is an expectation of professionalism in that the work gets done in a timely manner.  Section 31 states “The normal hours of work for academic staff members in the Faculty category shall not exceed 37.5 hours per week or the equivalent on a monthly or annual basis and for academic staff members in the Librarians and Educational Counsellors categories shall not exceed 36 1/4 hours per week or the equivalent on a monthly or annual basis”(S31.01).   Since the Collective Agreement states this is “the equivalent on a monthly or annual basis”,  you may work in excess of your normal hours from time to time, and other weeks you will work less than your normal hours. This doesn’t mean you get to take reading week off as time in lieu – if you want it off you need to take vacation days – but your work hours should average out to the time specified in the Collective Agreement.  If you have tracked your hours and find you are consistently working more than the amount specified in the Collective Agreement, speak to your Leader about the issue.

Yes, but SAIT has modified the annual performance review process so that there is no longer a required process or form.  The Collective Agreement, Section 15, now states that: “After completion of the probationary period, both the Employer and the academic staff member will set goals, create a professional development plan and review progress on those goals at least bi-annually. Academic Staff members should participate in the creation of both the goals and the review.”

Section 15 also states that performance reviews are to provide positive and constructive feedback. They should not be used for disciplinary issues.  The Long Service Allowance is no longer dependent of the results of a performance review. Additional information about the current performance review process can be found on SAITNow.

Casual faculty are hired on hourly contracts in the approved program areas before 6pm. This is a change from the previous Collective Agreement when Adjuncts could be hired for courses during the workday.

A Casual instructor may work up to the standard hours of work (37.5 hours per week), however when the hours of work for the academic year exceeds 800 contract hours (including both Adjunct and Casual contract hours in approved programs), the instructor must be assigned to a temporary salaried or permanent position for the next academic year. (S1.01.h.v)

Unlike Adjunct contracts, Casual contracts specify class contact hours (CCH) and class management activity (CMA) time. Casual faculty are not required to participate in professional duties (attend meetings, work on projects, participate in curriculum development) as part of an instructional contract.

Casual faculty have additional benefits, such as:

• Payment of 14.2% of gross salary in lieu of annual vacation and statutory holidays entitlement (S11.02).
• Eligibility for the Education Allowance (S43), prorated for each calendar month in which they are assigned work.
• Eligibility for the Long Service Allowance (S42), based on years of current continuous service.
• Automatic annual pay increases based on progression on the salary grid.

Adjunct Instructors teach courses that occur in the approved program areas after 6pm on weekdays or on Saturdays. Adjuncts may also teach courses in the non-approved program areas.  They are hired on an “all inclusive” hourly or per course rate. The contract assumes that the rate covers all preparation for their course (i.e., supplemental learning materials, lectures, etc. but not developing the curriculum), classroom instruction activities, and assessment prep and marking.  Adjunct Instructors are not expected to attend meetings, participate in curriculum development or any other professional duties unless they are on a separate contract and being paid to do so.

The answer to this question is found in Section 36 – Workloads in the SAFA Collective Agreement.

In general, Class Contact Hours are assigned to faculty based on their instructional unit. The CCH table is found in Section 36.03:

Contact your SAFA representative if you are unsure which column represents your instructional unit or program.

Additionally, there are daily and weekly limits on the amount of CCH assigned. See Section 36.04:

36.04    (a) A class contact hour shall be fifty (50) minutes of synchronously or asynchronously scheduled instruction to students.

(b) Class contact hours shall not exceed the following unless agreed to by the instructor:

(i) The greater of twenty (20) hours or three percent (3%) of the applicable class contact hours, in any given week averaged over a fifteen (15) week period,

(ii) Six (6) hours in any given day, or

(iii) Four (4) consecutive hours in any given day.

An example of how 36.04(b)(i) is calculated: “The greater of twenty (20) hours or three percent (3%) of the applicable class contact hours, in any given week averaged over a fifteen (15) week period”

Example 1

Business has an annual load of 540 CCH.  540 X .03 = 16.2.

20 is larger than 16.2 which means you could be loaded to 20 CCH in any given week – averaged over a 15-week period. The 15-week period is the current semester in which you are teaching. You could be assigned a higher weekly loading than 20 CCH per week but only if you agree as per 36.04 (b) above.

Example 2

Hospitality & Tourism has an annual load of 735 CCH. 735 X .03 = 22.05 which would be rounded down to 22 CCH. 22 is larger than the 20 hours listed in the Collective Agreement. Therefore, you could be assigned up to 22 CCH in any given week.  Again, any loading above that requires that you be asked and agree to it – simply signing your loading sheet is not the same as being asked and agreeing to a higher loading.

Of course, in addition to the average weekly loading restriction, there is also the requirement that you not have a schedule that requires you to teach more than 6 CCH in any given day or more than 4 CCH in a row without your agreement.

According to the Collective Agreement, Section 36, these three areas of work are assigned based on the Faculty Workload Guidelines document that was created during the last round of negotiations. This document is available on SAITNow.

A committee has been formed by faculty and administrators (appointed by SAFA and SAIT, respectively) to create and then update the guidelines on a regular basis. Faculty input will be vitally important in developing these new guidelines.  Version 1.0 of the can be found on SAITNow, along with a workload complaint process and form.  This is an evolving document – future iterations will define components of all three areas of workload (CCH, CMA, and PD), provide implementation examples, and outline additional information about the new complaint process. 

There is a new workload complaint process outlined in the Faculty Workload Guidelines document and a new committee (the Workload Monitoring Group) to hear complaints. Review the details of the complaint process as well as the submission form on SAITNow.

The Workload Monitoring Group (WMG) is made up of equal numbers of faculty and administrators.  This means your workload concerns will now be heard by your fellow instructors instead of just SAIT administration. 

Not as part of your general instructional activities. The Collective Agreement, Section 20, indicates that the employer (SAIT) is required to supply to all employees (salaried or contingent) all books, texts, software, and other instructional materials that are needed to perform their duties. This means that Adjunct and Casual faculty should be provided with course shells that have all required documents and assessments, as well as necessary physical materials. A Casual instructor may be offered curriculum development work as a set of contracted hours. Adjunct faculty may only be hired in non-approved programs to complete curriculum development work.

Not at this time. SAFA did sign an LOU for a joint committee to “work collaboratively to explore the best method of workload assignment for approved programs at SAIT” that will involve investigating moving from class contact hours to a model such as credit-based workload assignment. See the LOU for details.

There is a common date (October 1st) for salaried SAFA members to move up a step on the salary grid found in the Collective Agreement, Section 50. You will receive your salary grid step every October 1st until you are at the top of the salary grid (step 19). This step increase applies to both full-time and part-time permanent employees, and it is no longer tied to performance review.

Yes, Casual instructor’s pay is based on the Collective Agreement, Section 50 salary grid’s hourly row. Therefore, casual instructors will move one step up on the salary grid on an annual basis.

Many contingent faculty are moving from Adjunct to Casual contracts in Fall 2022. Changing to a Casual contract means that you will now be assigned an hourly rate based on a position on the SAFA salary grid. Your initial appointment to the grid is based on a review of your experience and education, in the same way salaried new hires are assigned. Therefore, SAFA expects that no returning contingent faculty would be placed at the bottom of the grid. Contact your SAFA representative if you have any questions about your rate of pay.

Adjunct instructors are not paid based on the Collective Agreement Section 50 salary grid. Instead, they are hired on an “all inclusive” hourly or per course rate. The contract assumes that the rate covers all preparation for their course (i.e., supplemental learning materials, lectures, etc. but not developing the curriculum), classroom instruction activities, and assessment prep and marking. Adjunct Instructors are not expected to attend meetings, participate in curriculum development or any other professional duties unless they are on a separate contract and being paid to do so.

You can find the salary scale for Adjuncts in the Letter of Understanding: Adjunct Faculty. Rates include:
• $35.00 per hour for participation in training and professional development
• $50.00 per hour for adjuncts in nonapproved programs to perform curriculum development
• $80.00 per hour or less for classroom instructional activities unless approval is granted from the Vice President using the following conditions and reviewed in conjunction with SAFA:
o Qualifications and mastery of skill warrants a higher rate of pay
o Labour market influence
o Industry market influences
o Unique or special skill set

Long Service Allowance (S42) is a bonus that a SAFA member earns after completing 10 years of current continuous employment. Long Service Allowance is no longer connected to the performance review outcome. Salaried employees and Casual employees may earn the Long Service Allowance, based on current continuous service.

Education Allowance (S43) is a bonus that a member earns due to holding an advanced education degree above the minimum required for their position.  Faculty, counsellors, and librarians have different qualifications for this annual allowance. Salaried employees and Casual employees may earn the Educational Allowance – see Section 43 for details.  

Although it is commonly called “SAFA” PD, SAFA does not administer or have anything to do with PD funds except for bargaining it into our Collective Agreement. The administration of PD funds is done through SAIT in accordance with the Collective Agreement, Section 12, and HR Policy (HR.2.2.2 Professional Development Fund – Academic Employees Procedure). While information may also be found on SAITNow, HR.2.2.2 is the official SAIT policy for PD.

If you’re not sure how much funding you’ve used or have available, please ask your Academic Chair.

Highlights from SAIT policy and procedure:

1. Each academic employee (SAFA) is provided with a maximum of $800 on a 24-month basis (inclusive of any taxes) as identified in the Collective Agreement and a maximum of $800 on a 24-month basis (inclusive of any taxes) funded by the Vice President, Academic, for individual professional development. Commencement of the 24-month period is determined by the academic employee’s start date as outlined in Section 12.05 of the Collective Agreement.
2. Pre-approval for professional development activities must be obtained through the completion of the required Application for Professional Development funding and associated AP60 form.
3. This funding can be accessed in conjunction with other SAIT funding for the same purpose or activity.
4. Professional Development funds may be used to facilitate goals set up in performance reviews.
5. Pursuant to Canada Revenue Agency (CRA) regulations, this fund may be a taxable benefit.
6. Unused funds are forfeited. (No carry over)

Professional Development funds are only available to those SAFA members employed in a salaried position, i.e., permanent full / part time or Temporary salaried staff (after completion of their probationary period).

Yes, SAFA and SAIT signed a Letter of Understanding in June 2022 to increase the qualifying period for Long Term Disability from 80 days to 120 consecutive workdays. General illness now means an illness that causes a staff member to be absent for more than 3 days but not exceeding 120 workdays.