Chapter Leader UpdateJune 1, 2023

Salary & Personell

Excessing guidance for chapter leaders

After the union and public school advocates made a strong push to protect public schools, the DOE agreed this week that schools would be held harmless in their school budgets for register loss this September. This positive development should keep excessing to a minimum. Excessing should be limited to unique circumstances. If the DOE notifies your members this month that they may be excessed, please ensure the excessing proceeds according to established contractual protocols and state law, but also push your principal to maintain staffing levels and not excess staff. If the school has the money, it would do well to maintain staff as mandatory class sizes decrease as a result of the recent class-size law. Keep in mind that excessing letters mean that a person is in danger of being excessed. The DOE notifies members in June, but the actual excessing occurs in September. Notified members may either look for a new position through the Open Market Transfer Plan this summer or wait until the fall to see if a position remains open. Read the UFT’s Q&A on excessing. Excessed members lose their school position but keep their job, their salary and their benefits. Excessing happens when a school has more staff members in a given license than positions in that license. If excessing occurs in a particular title or license, the person with the fewest years of service at a school or work site is excessed first. The union has prepared a document to help you read a seniority list so you can see the order of excessing. (You must be logged in to the UFT website to access this document.) If your members are placed in excess in September, they then must register on the Open Market Transfer System. They may apply for any vacancies in their license area citywide or they may apply to any school regardless of vacancies. Excessing is covered in Article 17B in the DOE-UFT collective bargaining agreement. If you have questions, please contact your UFT district representative.

Employees must give 30 days’ notice before resigning

DOE pedagogue employees who plan to resign must give at least 30 calendar days’ notice, according to Chancellor's Regulations. Therefore, if a UFT-represented employee wants to resign (not retire) effective Tuesday, Sept. 5, the first day of work in the 2023–24 school year, that employee must submit a letter of resignation by Thursday, Aug. 4. Chapter leaders have reported some principals are asking members to add the word “irrevocable” to their letters of resignation. It is unnecessary since UFT-represented educators have a contractual right to withdraw their resignations at a later date. It’s important to note, however, that the person must have found a new position before submitting a withdrawal of resignation form to the DOE. According to the DOE, employees who resign without providing 30 calendar days’ notice will receive a problem code in their personnel files that flag them for review should they wish to return to teaching. Non-pedagogues like paraprofessionals and therapists, are only required to give two weeks’ notice. While there is no requirement to give notice for retirement, employees who are interested in taking terminal leave prior to retirement must also give 30 days’ notice.