Please note the following:
1. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) is postponed. A new date, probably in the fall, will be announced within the next few weeks.
2. UTFA has asked the senior administration to agree to have unit heads sign an income tax form called a T2200 so that our members may claim the expense of a home office in the 2020 tax year, for the period during which members could not work at their university offices. We will keep you posted on this matter.
3. UTFA and the senior administration have come to agreement on some important issues:
a) Faculty and librarians will be given at least a one-month extension on the deadline for submitting the annual activity report. If you have not been offered such an extension, please remind your unit head that this agreement must be honoured.
b) Faculty and librarians who were scheduled to take a sabbatical leave during 2020-2021 will be granted a deferral if they formally request a deferral by writing to their unit heads. Faculty and librarians who suffered a serious disruption related to COVID-19 during their 2019-2020 sabbatical leaves should approach their unit heads to discuss a remedy on a case-by-case basis.
c) Quoting the senior administration’s recent letter to UTFA: "Any faculty member or librarian teaching a course that normally includes in-person classes in the period during which physical distancing measures were in place and in-person classes could not continue (beginning March 16, 2020 and ending August 30, 2020) may determine whether or not the student course evaluations for courses taught in that period may be relied on in any academic review process, including the PTR process, and that no adverse consequences will flow from a decision not to consider those course evaluations."
d) The “opt-out” period for an instructor to elect to opt out of the reporting of course evaluation results on Quercus is extended to April 30, 2020.
e) Faculty and librarians who are up for review for tenure, continuing status, or permanent status may receive a one-year extension by formally requesting it.
f) Faculty and librarians who have had already-accepted conference presentations, publications, book contracts, etc. cancelled as a result of COVID-19 should nevertheless list that academic work on the annual activity report and the updated cv, noting that the reason for the cancellation is the pandemic.
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UTFA will continue to keep you posted on all COVID-related issues that might have an impact on your appointment at U of T. We will also keep you informed on the the various policy and salaries/benefits negotiations that are ongoing.
Cynthia Messenger
UTFA President