August 8, 2020 

Dear Colleagues, 

As CFA’s special headlines notes: “CFA affirms that the lack of childcare and closed schools count as essential reasons to take leave and that Unit 3 members are not excluded from this leave.” The CSU developed CPAL in March 2020, while the U.S. Congress passed the FFCRA, which the Chancellor expanded to include all university employees in April 2020. These are federal rights, and deans should not deny them for budgetary reasons.  

A 2019 audit found the CSU has $1.5 billion in reserves, including $459 million intended to use in an economic downtown (according to Chancellor White’s own reports). CFA believes it is the job of the CSU to manage the funding of these leaves and not charge them to department budgets or faculty internal research funds.   

Our July 24, 2020, email informed faculty about these leave programs as an antidote to Cal State LA’s silence about them. CFA simply communicated what the technical letters say about both programs (see attached). Since then, we have learned that numerous faculty have had difficulties getting approval from their deans for either timebase reductions or full leaves.  

We encourage faculty seeking timebase leaves to apply for both emergency paid sick leave (EPSLA) AND expanded family and medical leave (EFMLEA) under the FFCRA. Contact Deborah Williams (dwillia@cslanet.calstatela.edu) in HRM to begin the process or for clarification. If you receive no reply from HRM, please contact CFA immediately, as we are reporting administrative unresponsiveness to the Chancellor’s Office.  

Please read the statement from CFA Headlines below, which provides further details about these programs and CFA’s continued advocacy statewide to ensure Unit 3 employees have access to them. Lastly, please review the attached CSU Technical Letters. 

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Headlines

Update on COVID-19 Leave for Unit 3 Faculty

While CFA continues to discuss and meet with the CSU administration about COVID-19 leave programs, implementation and allowance issues remain across the CSU’s 23 campuses. 

“Despite our exhaustive efforts working with the Chancellor’s Office over the last several months to develop clear guidelines for paid leave programs like CPAL and FFCRA for faculty impacted by COVID-19, bad actors at some universities are playing games and misleading faculty in an effort to deny them full access to the paid leave available to them,” said Meghan O’Donnell, CFA Statewide Associate Vice President Lecturers – North. 

There are two COVID-19-related leave programs offered: Coronavirus Paid Administrative Leave (CPAL) and Families First Coronavirus Response Act (FFCRA) leave. These programs are designed to accommodate both medical and child care issues. 

“Although there are numerous administrators across the CSU rightfully working with faculty to help them find the help they need, too many deans and Associate Vice Presidents (AVP’s) in charge of Academic Personnel, are either ignoring or misinterpreting technical letters created to guide universities on paid leave,” said O’Donnell. “In some extreme cases, we’re hearing of administrators actively trying to deter faculty participation in these vital programs.” 

“CSU campus leaders must adhere to the intent of the agreements and clear guidelines between the Chancellor’s Office and CFA,” said Charles Toombs, CFA President. “Doing otherwise is harmful to our faculty, especially in an ever-increasingly worrisome global health crisis.” 

CFA affirms that the lack of childcare and closed schools count as reasons to take leave, and Unit 3 members are not excluded from this leave. Unit 3 members are also eligible for sick leave and extra sick leave due to having coronavirus or caring for someone with the disease. 

“At a time of unprecedented global crisis such as the one we’re facing with COVID, you would think administrators would want to do everything in their power to help their faculty find relief, especially those forced to work full time and manage childcare and homeschool for their kids because of shelter in place rules, but sadly that’s not happening at every CSU,” said O’Donnell. “It’s really quite shameful.” 

CFA members with deans or department chairs telling them differently or whose request for leave is denied, should reach out to their CFA chapter representation. Leadership for northern California campuses can be found here and southern California campuses here.

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As this last sentence says, if you qualify for leave and are denied, we urge you to file a grievance. You have 42 days from the time of the denial to do so. Read the technical letters carefully to know precisely what your rights are when applying for these leave programs. If you have any other questions or concerns, contact Jackie Teepen (jteepen@calfac.org) and Anthony Ratcliff (aratcliff@calfac.org).  

In Solidarity,

Anthony 

On behalf of the California Faculty Association, Cal State Los Angeles Executive Board