HOW TO EXERCISE HIRING PRIORITY
Teachers have hiring priority for the three years following the end of their last contract. However, this priority must be exercised. There are two ways for a teacher to exercise their hiring priority: either by submitting a GOS (General Offer of Service) every year, or by applying to individual job postings (posted on the Dawson College website and on MyDawson portal).
In April, all non-permanent teachers should fill out a GOS and submit it to Human Resources. This is an application for all work which the teacher is eligible to receive during the following academic year. All newly-hired teachers should fill out a GOS within 30 days of starting work.
If a teacher refuses a workload after exercising their hiring priority with a GOS, they do not subsequently lose their priority for the semester. However, the teacher must apply to each subsequent individual posting in order to maintain their hiring priority.
If you forget to hand in a GOS, you do not lose your hiring priority. However, you must apply for each individual posting until the next academic year (when you can submit a GOS).
REMOVAL OF HIRING PRIORITY
The college can remove the priority of a non-permanent teacher with cause. A teacher whose priority is removed can grieve this removal if they have either
(i) carried a full-time year-long charge to term;
(ii) occupied at least one full semester-long charge per year for two consecutive years; or
(iii) accumulated 1.5 years of seniority.
Teachers who do not meet any of these criteria cannot grieve the withdrawal of their priority.
If a teacher grieves the removal of their priority, the college must establish that the removal of priority was for just cause. The college must inform the teacher of the precise reasons for removal in writing.
A non-permanent teacher with two years of continuous service may make a complaint to the Commission des normes de travail (CNT) for wrongful dismissal under article 124 of the Quebec Labour Code. The deadline for making such a complaint is 45 days following removal of priority.
DOUBLE-EMPLOYMENT
The Collective Agreement, which applies to all public Cegeps in Quebec, stipulates (Article 5-1.12) that anyone who has full-time work cannot exercise priority on a teaching workload. This is commonly referred to as “double employment”. What follows is a brief explanation of “double employment”; however, members are encouraged to contact the DTU with any questions about their specific situation.
Why does double employment matter?
The purpose of the double employment clause in our Collective Agreement is to ensure that public sector funds are utilized to provide access to full-time work for as many people as possible.
What counts as double employment?
Any teacher who has a full-time contract, either at Dawson or elsewhere, or who has a reasonable expectation of full-time employment during a given semester, is considered to be double-employed when applying for a teaching workload at Dawson. [see ANNEXE II-6 of the Collective Agreement for more details]
Teachers with either a full-time annual contract or full-time contracts for both fall and winter semester, whether at a Cegep or a University, are usually considered to be full-time for the year, which includes the summer months. Consequently, even if you are not “actively” teaching during the summer, you would still be considered double employed for summer courses if you had a full-time contract in the academic year.
Note that double employment only applies to someone who has full-time work. A teacher who has a part-time contract, even if it is for the whole semester, or who has several part-time jobs elsewhere, is not considered to be double employed.
The College expects 32.5 weekly hours of work from full time teachers, so teachers are free to take on additional work outside these hours — of course, other employers may have their own rules about double employment, but those would not be enforced by Dawson.
What does a double employed status mean?
Under the Double Employment Clause, teachers who work full time outside the College do not have any priority at Dawson.
Teachers have an obligation to declare their double employment status when applying for a posting. Since teachers who sign a G.O.S. (General Offer of Service) are considered to be applying to all teaching jobs for which they are eligible for that year, they do not apply directly to a posting. However, they are still required to inform the College of any change to their double employment status. Whether a teacher is applying directly to a posting or has submitted a G.O.S., the relevant time for determining double-employment status is when the workloads are posted.
Any teacher who is in a situation of double employment, or who has a reasonable expectation of being in such a situation, should inform Dawson’s Human Resources immediately. Similarly, any teacher who was in a situation of double-employment but is no longer double-employed should inform HR as soon as possible.