BP 3-20
APPROVED: May 12, 1988
EFFECTIVE: July 1, 1988
REVISED: December 8, 1994
REPEALED: September 14, 2000
READOPTED: August 25, 2001
REVISED: June 7, 2002
REFERENCES: C.R.S. 23-5-117 (H.B. 1354, 1987)
ISSUED BY:
/ Joe D. May /
Joe D. May
System President
It is the purpose of this policy to:
This policy applies to any Board employee at a state system community college whose employment is covered by a regular faculty contract for continuing service, with the
following conditions:
This policy shall have precedence over all other policies of the Board or college which are in conflict or are inconsistent with this policy.
Academic Freedom: The absence of constraint or coercion of choosing what one will teach (within the constraints of official course descriptions and official course syllabi),
investigate, study or present in all fields of learning.
The involuntary termination of a contract of employment during the term or upon the expiration of the contract for reasons other than reduction in force.
The regular formal process used to review and record an employee’s performance of his/her assigned duties.
An emergency caused by a reduction in the sum total of general fund revenues appropriated to the Board and cash funds received by the Board, and/or a reduction in the Board’s allocation to a college; which reduction(s) threaten the ability of a college to maintain its previous level of operations or previous standards in the fulfillment of its role and mission, as determined by an affirmative vote of the Board.
Failure or refusal to offer to an employee a new contract of employment for the subsequent year.
The chief executive officer of a state system community college. Program areas: Units within a college which may provide the basis for determining which employee(s) will be reduced when a reduction in force is necessary.
Termination of the contract of employment based on reasons other than non-renewal or dismissal for cause.
Funds appropriated to the Board by the General Assembly and allocated by the Board to a college; and/or funds received from a school district for purposes of
providing secondary vocational education.
Unless otherwise indicated, holidays, weekends, and faculty non-working days shall not be counted when computing time.
At the discretion of the president an employee may be reassigned by changing job title, job description, and/or assignment. If the reassignment occurs during the term of an employment contract, there will be no reduction in compensation during that contract term. The president’s decision is final and is not subject to review.
Employees shall serve a provisional period from the date of employment until the completion of employment under three consecutive full year regular contracts. The
provisional period may be extended for one additional year, but not to exceed four years, if the college president determines that additional time should be allowed.
A provisional employee shall be non-renewed at the end of the provisional period unless the college president approves removal from provisional status.
A provisional employee’s contract may be non-renewed without cause at the end of any contract. A non-provisional employee’s contract may be non-renewed on grounds of below standard evaluations for two consecutive years.
Notice of non-renewal shall be given by the president no later than sixty days preceding the end of the contract term. The effective date shall be no sooner than the end of the then current contract date.
There shall be no review of non-renewal of a provisional employee’s contract. A non-provisional employee whose contract is non-renewed shall have the right to request within ten days of service of notice a peer review as provided hereinafter.
The following shall constitute grounds for dismissal, suspension, and other disciplinary action:
Notice of dismissal, suspension, or other disciplinary action may be given by the president at any time and shall state the grounds and effective date.
An employee who is dismissed or suspended in excess of fifteen work days under this policy shall have the right to request within ten days of service of notice a peer review as hereinafter provided.
An employee who is suspended for fifteen or less work days or otherwise disciplined shall have the opportunity to provide a written response to the charges which shall be placed in the employee’s personnel file. An employee who is suspended for 15 or less work days may request, within 10 days of service of notice of the suspension, a review by the System President. The review will consist of a meeting between the System President or his/ her designee, the College President or his/her designee and the faculty member, at which time the faculty member will be given an opportunity to rebut the facts which support the suspension. The decision of the System President will be final and not subject to further review.
The grounds for reduction in force shall be:
It is the responsibility of the president to determine whether one of the above situations will require a reduction in force. As soon as it becomes apparent to the president that a reduction in force is necessary, the president shall determine the number of reductions which may be accommodated by retirements, resignations, dismissals, non-renewals, leaves, or other types of normal attrition. Faculty not holding regular full-time or regular part-time contracts and faculty holding provisional contracts in program area(s) affected shall be reduced prior to the reduction in force of any regular non-provisional faculty member in the same program area.
When staff reduction cannot be satisfied by any of the above methods, the president shall identify the person(s) to be reduced in affected program area(s) based upon consideration of service credit as provided hereinafter, evaluations as defined in this policy, and affirmative action.
The president shall give a minimum of sixty days written notice prior to termination due to a reduction in force.
An employee who is reduced in force shall have the right to request within ten days of service of notice a peer review as hereinafter provided. There shall be no right to peer review of a Board declaration of fiscal emergency.
Regular employees who have been reduced in force under this policy shall have the right to be rehired into the program area at the institution from which they were reduced when an opening occurs in a regular position. Such right shall extend for a period of three years from the effective date of their reduction. Employees who are so rehired shall have all the benefits of service credit, salary, and fringe benefits reinstated. Regular employees who have been reduced in force under this policy shall have the right to request that their name be placed on a system-wide rehire list maintained by the System President. When there are openings in regular positions at any state system community college and there are no employees who have the right to rehire under the above provision, the president of the hiring institution may decide to waive the institutional hiring procedures and hire directly from the rehire list. If the president hires from the rehire list he may require a one year provisional period. Other terms and conditions of employment shall be negotiated at the time of employment.
The following provisions regarding Program Areas shall apply:
In an effort to provide a fair and equitable determination of reduction in force and yet recognize the benefit of assignment flexibility, service credit shall be granted in accordance with the following guidelines:
Employees shall accrue service credit on the basis of each year’s assignment, as
follows:
Part-time employees covered by this policy shall receive service credit on the same basis as full-time employees, but prorated in terms of the percentage contract they hold.
Employees who are covered by this policy at each college shall elect a hearing panel of thirteen members in September of every even numbered year. If a college does not have 14 or more employees covered by this policy, the panel shall include all employees covered by this policy at that college.
If there is a request for a hearing, the following steps apply:
No revisions of this policy shall be adopted except after consultation with the State Faculty Advisory Council.
The System President shall promulgate procedures as necessary to implement this policy.