This FAQ pertains information for all units regarding pay.
- How do I know if I was paid?
As of last year, York no longer distributes paper pay stubs, so you will need to check your employee email, which you can do by following the instructions here, or you can sign in through HR Self Serve to access it as well.
- What do I do if I was not paid properly?
Please fill out the ‘Pay Issues Survey’ that the Union has prepared to help us collect as much data as possible about the nature of pay problems our members are having:
https://form.jotform.com/82706624233252
- Who should have been paid September 25th?
September 25th was our regular (on-cycle) pay date for new contracts, and so members with contracts for Fall 2018 should have been paid their first monthly payment. However, if you were unable to sign and submit your offer of appointment by September 10th you may not have received your first payment on September 25th. Since this was largely due to delays at the Department and Faculty level, we are pushing Faculty Relations to distribute all pay on a rolling off-cycle pay that would see the money distributed as soon as possible.
- What should have been paid on September 25th?
All members with a Fall 2018 contract should have received their September wages, vacation pay, and the first (monthly; F/W) installment of their Grant-in-Aid.
- Why was I not paid?
At this time, the Employer has not provided clear answers explaining the many mistakes in calculating and processing our remediation and September 2018 pay. Decisions around what remediation hours were approved are similarly opaque.
- How do I check if my graduate funding was distributed?
Your student finances, which can be accessed through your Passport York Account at my.yorku.ca are where you can check whether your funding was distributed, and where you will find any charges for tuition or registration fees.
- What funding should be distributed?
For a detailed breakdown of how funding is distributed please consult our Fellowship Funding FAQ, which you can find here. Please see below for a detailed description.
- When can we expect to get this funding?
The University begins distributing funding on September 10th, however, there are no specific dates set out in our Collective Agreement. The Finance Office at the Faculty of Graduate Studies has told us that they are working to get these funds out to everyone as soon as possible.
- Who do we contact if we have not received our funding?
All funding is distributed through the Finance Office of the Faculty of Graduate Studies, and so if you have not received your funding in part or in full and would like to seek clarification on when those funds will be distributed please contact them and voice your concerns.
For general concerns, you can contact fgsfo@yorku.ca or by phone at 416-736-5521.
For specific questions about your funding contact the Graduate Funding Advisors, Arun Devdas at gfa.arun@yorku.ca (ext 70255) or Sandra Yiu gfa.sandra@yorku.ca (ext 70203).
For questions regarding Scholarships and Awards, you can contact the Accounting Assistant-Awards Irina Mikhailyuk at gsawards@yorku.ca (ext 60468).
- What are these additional charges on my student account?
Some of us have been charged for either the GSA – Health Plan ($410) or the UHIP Health Plan ($624). The first is the YUGSA Health Plan, and we have asked them to un-enroll our members given that you already have benefits through the Collective Agreement. The second is a charge for International Students to allow them to access healthcare in Ontario as non-residents. There is a UHIP Fund in our Collective Agreement that will be distributed to cover these charges; FGS is in the process of administering the UHIP refunds, and all CUPE 3903 members should see the $410 YUGSA Health Plan refunded to their student accounts soon too.
If you have interest charges on your account, these will be reversed by York and need not be paid by our members.
- Who should have been paid on September 28th?
The union was advised that payment for all remediation hours approved by the Office of the Dean in the relevant Faculty by the end of day September 21st should have been issued in an off-cycle payment on September 28th.
- What should have been paid on September 28th?
Members who completed work during the remediation period, and who submitted forms that were approved by September 21st should have received wages, vacation pay, and Grant-in-Aid.
Your wages are established by multiplying the hours approved on your workload forms by your hourly rate.
Your vacation pay is calculated by taking 4% of your gross wages for the period (if you have been employed at York for less than 5 years) or 6% of your gross wages for that period (if you have been employed at York for 5 years or more). More information can be found here.
Your Grant-in-Aid for the remediation period should be the combined amount of your March ($463.12) and April ($463.12) GIA, minus the amount you received on your March pay stub ($42.75). The total should come to $883.50.
- Which Unit 1 positions have a fixed hourly rate?
There is a breakdown of rates of pay for each Unit 1 position on p. 24 of the current Unit 1 Collective Agreement, which has been included below for your reference:
- How do we calculate the hourly rate for other U1 positions?
For those members in Unit 1 who do not have a fixed hourly rate, because they are paid a salary for the completion of a contract, an hourly rate can be calculated by taking your base rate as indicated on your Offer of Appointment and dividing it by your total contracted hours.
For example, Half-TA positions (Tutor 1 at 0.5) comes with a base rate of $5609 for 135 total contracted hours, and so the hourly rate should be $41.55 per hour.
- How are the hours on my pay stub calculated?
The hours indicated on our pay stub can be misleading, and should not be used to calculate your total hours worked or paid. Earnings for monthly paid employees are based on annual salary, not on the regular hours reported on the pay stub.
For example, for a full TA position (Tutor 1 at 1.0) the hours listed on a monthly pay stub are 44.50 hours. When calculated over the course of 12 months, however, this amounts to 356 hours per year rather than the 270 hours contracted hours.
- How do I calculate my remediation pay if not by the hourly rate?
According to the CA, a 1.0 TAship should add up to a salary of $5609 per term (or $11,218 per year) and GIA of $3705. If you declared a total of 243 hours, that’s 90% of your contract, and you should expect to be paid 90% of $11,218.
- What is happening with remediation pay for Unit 3 members?
For those members that received a 1.0 (270 hour) GAship over the Fall/Winter 2017-18 academic year (with the expectation of 135 hours of work in the Fall and 135 hours of work in the Winter), the amount of hours left to be paid out for outstanding work was ~64 hours (it was recommended members apply for 65 hours).
Regular earnings for Unit 3 members should be paid out at $25.67 per hour.
Thus, for members who received the remediation amount of 64 hours:
- Regular earnings should be listed as $1,643.12.
- Vacation pay, which is calculated at 4% of regular earnings, should be $65.72 ($1,643.12 * 0.04).
- Grant-in-aid should be listed as $862.22.
What this shows is that Unit 3s, whose original and remediation workload forms were accepted and granted the “full amount” of remediation pay received $10,832.60 (or 99.85% of the $10,848.48 that would have been expected). This stems from being paid for a total of 135.04 hours in Fall and 134.58 hours for the Winter term.
For those members with a 0.5 GAship (135 hour) GAship over the Fall/Winter 2017-18 academic year, it is expected that they will see a prorated amount.
For those members who received no remediation pay or received an email from FGS regarding missing forms, contact the Executive Officer, Mario Verilli at mariov@yorku.ca or Associate Dean of Students, Aryn Martin at fgsadst@yorku.ca as soon as possible, cc’ing in your Principal Investigator and Chief Steward Unit 3 (cupe3903csu3@gmail.com). York has claimed that if they do not hear back from our members by September 30th, they will retire the contract. As this timeline is unacceptable and some members were not made aware of problems with remediation until the September 28th off-cycle pay, the Local will be challenging this deadline.
For those members with accommodations or alternative work agreements with their Principal Investigators, we are unsure how remediation payment will work. We recommend you contact the FGS Financial Officer and Associate Dean Students to confirm your remediation arrangement, and reach out to our Chief Steward Unit 3 with any insight or concerns.
- What is happening with remediation pay for Unit 2 members?
After voting to accept the signed Memorandum of Settlement on June 15th, Unit 2 members were paid 65% of what they would have been paid from March 5th-April 30th on July 9th. This was an advance on the remediation work to be done in July and August. In order to claim any further remediation pay Unit 2 course directors were required to submit remediation plans for their courses outlining how they would complete their contracts during the remediation period. Once remediation is complete Unit 2 TAs and Course Directors are required to complete and submit a Remediation Workload Form to their hiring units outlining work completed and hours worked in order to qualify for any additional pay. Hiring units will pass on the forms to the Dean’s office for final approval. If the Dean’s office approves a member’s Remediation Work Form (and there is no guarantee that they will: the MoS does not require the employer to recognize some or all of the hours claimed during remediation beyond the 65% advance) that member will be eligible for remediation pay up to an additional 35% of the value of their original contract (for a total of 100% remuneration). Remediation Work Forms (available on the CUPE 3903 website) must be completed for each course assignment and must be consistent with the remediation plan submitted by the CUPE or YUFA course director (if any).
Remediation work forms should include:
- all marking done between June 15 and July 22 to finish work submitted before the strike;
- all office hours between ratification and remediation (members were required to hold office hours for each course between June 15 and July 22);
- all hours spent completing remediation plans (if applicable);
- all hours spent answering student emails and phone calls;
- all time spent reading administration emails regarding remediation procedures;
- all contact hours during remediation (office hours/lecture/tutorials);
- all marking during remediation;
- all hours spent communicating with hiring units and administrators from June 15 to the end of remediation;
- all departmental meetings from June 15 until the end of remediation
Benchmarks
Based on pay stubs and EI filings, the following numbers should serve as defensible hours guidelines for how much work Unit 2 members would normally have been credited during the strike:
Unit 2 T1 (Mar 05-Apr 30): 41 hrs 49 mins for 100% work
Unit 2 CD (Mar 05-Apr 30): 124 hrs 49 mins for 100% work
Some pay has been distributed in September; forms already completed and approved that have not been paid out yet will be paid during the October pay period. Instructors with deferred standing students cannot submit Remediation Work Forms (and therefore will not be paid) until all deferred grades are completed and submitted. As such members with deferred standing students may have to wait until January 2019 or later to get paid.
There has been no commitment from the Employer on when we will be paid the 2.1% salary increase for our 2017-18 assignments, as stipulated in the MoS, nor has there been a commitment about when members with more than 5 years service (with 1 FCE) will receive the additional 2% vacation pay for 2017-18 or 2018-19 as required by the Memorandum of Settlement and the Ontario Employment Standards Act.
- What is happening with remediation pay for U1 CDs?
It seems the employer was surprised by the fact that some Unit 1 members are course directors, and had not thought of this when they developed their remediation process. As a result, there were great inconsistencies between departments and faculties on what these members were asked to submit and when. We have contacted Faculty Relations looking for answers, but so far they are unable to provide us with any.
- Why am I being taxed at a much higher rate?
If you made over $3826.33 on this pay cycle (i.e both September paycheques) then you will be taxed at 9.15%, and not our standard 5.05%, since the rate is calculated base on estimated annual income. You should be able to claim that back at the end of the financial year.
- Who do we contact if we have not been paid for remediation?
You should contact the Dean of your Faculty as listed below, cc’ing in your Department’s Administrative Assistant, and Chief Steward.
School of Arts, Media, Performance and Design
Interim Dean, Norma-Sue Fisher-Stitt: normasue@yorku.ca
Suite 201, Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts
Assistant Dean, Students, Lynda Tam ltam@yorku.ca
322C, Joan & Martin Goldfarb Centre for Fine Arts
Faculty of Education
Dean, Lyndon Martin: lmartin@edu.yorku.ca
242 Winters College, 416-736-5667
Faculty of Environmental Studies
Interim Dean, Ravi de Costa: fesdean@yorku.ca
139J Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building
Associate Dean, Students, Sarah Flicker: flicker@yorku.ca
137 Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building
Associate Dean, Research and Professor, Martin Bunch (bunchmj@yorku.ca)
139D Health, Nursing & Environmental Studies Building
Glendon
Ian Roberge and Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, Co-Interim Principals
Dominique Scheffel-Dunand, Associate Principal, Research and
Graduate Studies: dsdunand@glendon.yorku.ca
220 Glendon Hall
Faculty of Health
Dean, Paul McDonald: healthdn@yorku.ca
444A Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies Building
Associate Dean, Students, Judith MacDonnell: hlthadst@yorku.ca
442B Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies Building
Director, Financial and Academic Resources, Renata Gritsyuk:
426 Health, Nursing and Environmental Studies Building
Lassonde School of Engineering
Interim Dean, Richard Hornsey: richard.hornsey@lassonde.yorku.ca
204 Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence
Vice Dean, Uyen Nguyen: ad.academic@lassonde.yorku.ca
437 Bergeron Centre for Engineering Excellence
Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies
Dean, JJ McMurtry: jmcmurtr@yorku.ca
949 Ross South
Associate Dean, Faculty Affairs, Kate McPherson: adfa@yorku.ca
900 Ross South
Associate Dean, Students, Peter Avery (adstu@yorku.ca)
Faculty of Science
Interim Dean, E.J Janse van Rensburg: scidean@yorku.ca
215 Petrie Science and Engineering Building
Associate Dean, Faculty, Donald Hastie: sciadfac@yorku.ca
Associate Dean, Students, Alex Mills (sciadstu@yorku.ca)
355 Lumbers Building
Osgoode Hall Law School
Interim Dean, Mary Condon: lawdean@osgoode.yorku.ca
Ignat Kaneff Building 2026E
Manager, Faculty Governance, Dean’s Office, Tanya Bowes: tbowes@osgoode.yorku.ca
Ignat Kaneff Building 2026B
Schulich School of Business
Dean, Dezsö Horváth: dhorvath@schulich.yorku.ca
Seymour Schulich Building, N302C
- Who do we contact if we have not been paid for September?
Faculty Relations:
Leanne De Filippis, Interim Executive Director
416-736-2100, ext. 33311
Robert Lawson, Associate Director
416-736-2100, ext. 22557
Finance and Administration:
Carol McAulay, Vice President
416-736-2100, ext. 33655
Richard Silva, Vice President
416-736-2100, ext. 22953
*** Please CC your Chief Steward on all correspondence to help keep us in the loop.
- What is the end date of our Winter contract?
It is our understanding that Winter contracts ended on the final day of the remediation period (August 31st), however we were informed by Rob Lawson, in Faculty Relations, that York is considering our contracts to have ended on April 31st.
Since York is considering our Winter contracts to have ended on April 31st, for those who held a Winter 2018 contract and are not expecting a Fall 2018 contract, your access to Sun Life benefits will end on September 30th.
- What other resources can I access to alleviate my financial burden?
CUPE 3903 – Ways and Means Fund
Members, as always, should familiarize themselves with the other funds offered by the Local, including funds for Childcare, Extended Health Benefits, Sexual Violence Survivor Support, and more: https://3903.cupe.ca/resources/benefits/
YUGSA Emergency Loan – http://yugsa.ca/services/funding/
YFS Food Bank – http://www.yfs.ca/yfs-food-services/
FGS Emergency Bursary and Emergency Food Vouchers:
“Emergency bursaries are only available to full-time graduate students, and students must be registered in the current term to be eligible. If they meet these eligibility criteria, graduate students can email fgssao@yorku.ca to request an application.
The intent of the emergency bursary program is to assist registered, full-time graduate students who encounter an unexpected emergency. This bursary is not intended to cover tuition fees owing to York. Bursaries are not considered to be a source of routine or long-term funding. Bursaries range from $250 to a maximum of $1,500.” Link
Department Graduate Student Associations may also have emergency funds.