As per the Collective Agreement, your supervisor cannot ask you to work more than twenty-five (25) hours per week. Moreover, you cannot be required to work more than forty (40) hours for a period of two consecutive weeks. We recommend that you that you use a tally sheet (such as this one) to keep track of your hours in order to avoid overwork.
Your supervisor should meet with you at the beginning of the semester to discuss the number of hours allocated to each task, and again after mid-semester to review how your hours have been spent so far (such a meeting is required per Article 31.4 of our Collective Agreement). Throughout your contract, your supervisor should be planning the calendar and workload with you. If you are unsure about the amount of time you should be spending on a task, request clarification from your supervisor.
You have the right to stop work after your hours are completed, regardless of how many assignments remain or what the other TAs are tasked to complete. Your supervisor has the responsibility to ensure that the work they assign to you can be completed in the number of hours indicated in your contract. Any leftover work to be done after your hours are completed is to be done by the supervisor, unless the Chair of the department has approved more hours and you accept these new contract hours.
If you think you’ll exceed the hours stipulated in your contract, and you still have tasks to accomplish, we recommend that you fill out the Workload Review Form as soon as possible and submit it to your supervisor.
On the form, be sure to explain that almost all your hours have been completed and that you will not be able to complete the tasks as indicated in your contract within specified hours. Your supervisor should then meet with you within four (4) working days to discuss the problem.
Your supervisor may then decide:
a) Against increasing the number of hours in your contract. In this case, they will have to find a way for the work to be accomplished within the remaining hours by reducing other responsibilities. This agreement will need to be confirmed in writing.
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b) To increase the number of hours so that the tasks may be completed. In this case, they will have to seek written permission from the Director of the Department before you can work overtime. Additional hours will be paid as a new contract.
If the above procedure is not followed, you are not required to work beyond the end of your contract, and you are not required to work more hours than are stipulated in your contract.
Remember that you always have the right to be accompanied by a Union Representative at any meeting to discuss your workload. Should you encounter any issue, please contact us and we will be happy to help.
It’s not always easy to navigate school and work when they coincide on the calendar, especially when you need to take care of yourself and visit home. If you have a contract as a TA, RA, Marker, or Proctor, we’d like to remind you that you cannot be obligated to work from December 23 to the first day of classes in the Winter semester, as per Article 23.2 of the CUPE 2626 Collective Agreement (please see the uOttawa Important Academic Dates and Deadlines page to know the date of the first day of classes for the Winter semester)
As per the Collective Agreement, your supervisor cannot ask you to work more than twenty-five (25) hours per week. Moreover, you cannot be required to work more than forty (40) hours for a period of two consecutive weeks. For final exams, you are not supposed to work past December 23 at all.
Usually, exams need to be corrected and marks entered in the 10 business days following the date of examination. In cases where the exams cannot be corrected prior to the beginning of holidays (i.e. before the end of the contract, usually Dec. 31), the Employer should contact you to ask you if you agree to do the work after the holidays, in January.
You can accept to push back the work, without changing when you get your pay. This can be discussed and accepted verbally, but we recommend that you get written confirmation (such as by email), to avoid misunderstandings in the future.
If you are not willing or able to complete the work after the holidays, you can also refuse. Instead, you may be asked to complete other tasks prior to the beginning of the holiday period. Supervisor, as a salaried professionals, are responsible for making sure the work is completed (i.e. they might need to do it themselves if you can’t). It is therefore important for you and your supervisor to establish a clear schedule early in the semester.
If your supervisor insists that you work over the winter break, or beyond the number of hours outlined above, please contact CUPE 2626 at info@2626.ca — we’ll be glad to help and offer you support.
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