Procedure: Casual sessional academic conditions

Purpose

To outline the conditions and procedures for the engagement and payment of casual sessional academic (CSA) staff at ANU, in accordance with the ANU Enterprise Agreement.

Procedure

Supervisors will ensure that CSA workloads are both reasonable and agreed with the staff member, aligned with the workload provisions outlined in the ANU Enterprise Agreement.

Responsibilities of CSA staff

1. CSA staff engaged in principal/autonomous form of delivery and supplementary/scaffolded form of delivery will:

1. not be responsible for the engagement or supervision of other staff;
2. not be required to engage in research duties (for the purpose of this clause preparation for teaching and course/subject development is not regarded as research);
3. only be involved in administration to the extent that is necessary to support their primary teaching related function;
4. not have sole academic or decision-making responsibility for the development of an on-line teaching and learning course (on-line or face-to-face); and
5. not be responsible for the delivery of items reserved for the Course Convenor such as preparation of subject guides and reading lists and basic activities;

2. A sessional academic staff member will not normally be engaged by the University for lectures, tutorials or demonstrations for 60% or more of the time of teaching contact hours expected of a full-time staff member of similar designation within the academic organisational unit

Reasonable access to facilities

3. Where practical, sessional academic staff will be provided with reasonable access, commensurate with available resources, to University facilities to enable them to perform University work. These include access to the library, email and internet, a working space, and out-of-hours access to the office as appropriate.

Involvement in relevant academic activities

4. The University supports the reasonable inclusion of CSA staff in the relevant activities of the University in terms of attending staff meetings and other related academic activities.
5. If attendance at staff meetings and other related academic activities is required, the CSA staff member will be paid the hourly rate for other required academic activity as prescribed in Schedule 2.15 of the ANU Enterprise Agreement.

CSA staff salary

6. The CSA salary rate includes a 25% casual loading for the relevant casual/sessional activity. This casual loading is paid in lieu of certain entitlements, including, but not limited to, annual leave and personal and wellbeing leave.
7. CSA staff are paid at the sessional rates in Schedule 2 of the ANU Enterprise Agreement, which is derived from the following formula:

• relevant full-time salary divided by 52 divided by 37.5 multiplied by hours multiplied by loading of 25%.

8. The CSA rate of pay for teaching activities encompasses the following activities in addition to the delivery of principal/autonomous or supplementary/scaffolding activities:

1. preparing of teaching activities
2. for contemporaneous marking for the students for whom the CSA staff member is responsible;
3. administration directly associated with a teaching activity, such as administration of relevant records of students for whom the CSA staff member is responsible;
4. consultation with students involving face to face consultation immediately prior to and following a face-to-face teaching activity;
5. online consultation (e.g. email, messages, forums) immediately prior to and following an online teaching activity; and
6. attendance at meetings specifically for the purpose of assisting the CSA staff member to prepare for their teaching activity and which are intended as a substitute for preparation that the staff member would have otherwise had to undertake.

9. ‘Contemporaneous marking’ means marking that is performed during a teaching activity, or marking work that could have reasonably been performed during the teaching activity, for example, marking oral presentations delivered during class.
10. CSA staff must be engaged and paid for at least two hours of work on each occasion they are required to attend work by the University, inclusive of any incorporated time and payment for preparation or associated working time.
11. A CSA staff member is paid within 22 days of submitting a valid and approved electronic timesheet.

CSA experience rate

12. CSA staff are entitled to the CSA experience rate where the staff member has been employed teaching in excess of four teaching periods. CSA staff are not otherwise entitled to incremental progression.
13. The CSA experience rate is derived from the next salary step from the base academic rate for the related CSA activity.
14. Where it is deemed that a CSA staff member is eligible to be paid the CSA experience rate, they will be paid this rate as prescribed on the Academic casual sessional experience loading webpage.
15. The teaching periods do not need to be consecutive, may be undertaken during summer, autumn, winter or spring semesters and do not need to be undertaken within the same business area.
16. CSA staff are encouraged to confirm their eligibility for the CSA experience rate at the time of discussion of work allocation with the course convener, and prior to acceptance of an employment contract, where possible. HR staff may provide assistance in confirming eligibility upon request by the staff member or course convener.
17. CSA staff may discuss with the Course Convener prior to the agreed unit allocation being added to HORUS at the beginning of each teaching period to ensure that if eligible, payment is allocated correctly.
18. With respect to clinical skills tutors, the same eligibility criteria will apply, against the rates prescribed in Schedule 2.14.2 of the ANU Enterprise Agreement.

Superannuation

19. The University will maintain employer contributions at the rate of 12.5% (or the minimum required contribution under the Superannuation Guarantee (Administration) Act 1992) for CSA staff members.

Leave entitlements

20. CSA staff members are able to access the following paid and unpaid leave;

Casual sessional notice periods and termination

21. A CSA staff member’s employment may be terminated by the University by giving one weeks' notice, or by the University providing payment for the staff member’s rostered shifts within the week in lieu of notice.
22. A CSA staff member who resigns from their position, must give the University at least one weeks’ notice of resignation. A shorter period of notice may be agreed by the delegate where this can be achieved without a demonstrable adverse effect on University operations, including teaching and research commitments.
23. Casual staff are not entitled to redundancy or severance payments.

Resolving pay and entitlement concerns

24. Where a CSA staff member wishes to discuss any questions about the application of this procedure, including those relating to their pay and/or entitlements, they should first contact their local HR team for advice and guidance.
25. Where these questions are not resolved, the matter will be progressed via the process outlined in the dispute avoidance and settlement provisions as outlined in clause 77 of the ANU Enterprise Agreement.