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Mon, 23 Jun 2003 23:14:23 -0700

Email to "Adjunct Mailing List" <adj-l@lyris.gc.cuny.edu>

From: "Jack Longmate" <jacklongmate@silverlink.net>

 

Some good news to report about health care from Washington state for part-timers.
 
Up until now, part-time faculty had to work at least 50 percent of a full-time load for two consecutive quarters to quality for health care.  When one's teaching load dropped below 50 percent, as it does for most part-timers in the summer when enrollments drop, one lost coverage.  (Of course, a part-timer could pay for coverage out of pocket, which I believe could run as high as $400 per month.)  Part-timers who had the need to see a physician during a time like the summer when they weren't teaching at 50 percent were compromised by this situation: They would have to decided to see a doctor without having insurance or waiting until the fall quarter when coverage would be resumed. 
 
Now, thanks to a June 5 ruling on class action lawsuit, Mader et. al. v. The (Washington) Health Care Authority, this is changing.  Now those who work "half time or more on an instruction year" are entitled to employer contribution for health care benefits for the "off season."   That is, like full-time faculty who receive health care benefits whether they teach during the summer or not, part-time faculty who've taught at 50 percent for half the year or more will get health care coverage for the balance of the year.
 
It is noteworthy that this positive step for part-time faculty was not achieved through collective bargaining.  It wasn't achieved through sympathetic legislation either.  It was achieve through a lawsuit.
 
Best wishes,
 
Jack Longmate
Olympic College
Bremerton, Washington
 
 

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