KNOW YOUR CONTRACT

What to Do When Requested to Meet with HR?

When requested to attend an interview by HR about a complaint about teaching or professional conduct, please know that faculty are entitled to be accompanied by a union representative. Your union representatives are experienced with these interviews, available to help you, and bound to confidentiality. 

According to the most recent 2019 statistics provided by HR, only about one quarter of the complaints are sustained, and they can generally be resolved with restorative and non-intrusive follow-ups. Adjunct faculty, however, have much less protection than full time faculty and certain complaints about their teaching methods may result in “non-reappointment” the following semester. 

Our current contract (Article 22) stipulates that HR has 14 days to inform faculty of a complaint. Faculty can ask any union representative to accompany them. The union representative is there to observe and support; that representative is bound to confidentiality. 

Do not be alarmed if the request for an interview comes from a lawyer who seems to have no relation to St. John’s (HR has needed to rely on commercial legal services because of a high caseload). Faculty are required to attend if requested but HR works hard to find mutually agreeable meeting times. Sometimes faculty are called in as witnesses; sometimes as the subject of the complaint – in either case, faculty do not have a right to know who has made the complaint. Regardless of your initial point of contact for an inquiry and no matter how great your level of concern (or embarrassment), please know that you can reach out to a union representative for support and guidance. Officers' emails are available on this website.