Name That Section - Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts

Finally, in some circumstances, the Code places limits on how long an employee can serve and remain a temporary (rather than a contract or regular) employee.

Additionally, the Education Code includes several protections and programs designed to encourage greater participation of, and protections for, part-time faculty.

A. C LASSIFICATION OF T EMPORARY A CADEMIC E MPLOYEES The Education Code, specifically Sections 87475 et seq. , authorizes community college districts to hire temporary faculty members under certain conditions. Positions should not be classified as temporary unless the employment meets one of these enumerated conditions. 30 Moreover, districts must provide temporary faculty with written notice, at the time of employment, indicating both the temporary nature of the employment and the length of employment. If a district fails to provide this notice, the employee may be deemed a contract employee by operation of law. To avoid the automatic conversion of temporary faculty to contract or regular status, districts must provide clear written notice of the employee’s temporary status on or before the first date of paid service. 31 1. F ACULTY E MPLOYED TO F ILL P OSITIONS OF R EGULARLY E MPLOYED P ERSONS A BSENT FROM S ERVICE — 87478 Education Code section 87478 states that faculty employed to fill positions of regularly employed persons absent from service shall be classified as temporary employees. Regular employees on leave are entitled to return to their positions. Therefore, districts must be careful not to fill such temporary vacancies with contract employees. Section 87478 also mandates that any person employed for one complete school year under this section must, if reemployed for the following school year in a “faculty position,” be classified as a contract employee—and have the previous year’s employment as a temporary employee deemed a year of contract employment. In other words, under this scenario, the faculty member’s status upon being rehired is a second-year probationary employee. 2. F ACULTY E MPLOYED TO F ILL A P OSITION FOR W HICH N O R EGULARLY E MPLOYED P ERSON IS A VAILABLE — 87478 Section 87478 also provides that, where no regular employee is available, any otherwise qualified person who consents to be employed in a temporary status may be hired after September 1 of any school year. The district must demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the Board of Governors, that it was unable to acquire the services of a qualified regular employee. Again, if the employee serves for a complete school year and is rehired into a faculty position, the governing board must classify the employee as a contract employee and count the prior year as a year of contract employment.

Name that Section: Frequently Used Education Code and Title 5 Sections for Community College Districts ©2019 (c) Liebert Cassidy Whitmore 13