Month: Jun 2016

Quia nunc vale

Sally Gunz, FAUW President

On behalf of all board members of FAUW past, present and future, I would like to offer my most sincere thanks to David Porreca for his amazing service to FAUW.

David was a board member from July 2009 to June 2016, he was president from July 2013 to June 2015, and for the past year he has been an invaluable past president. I can safely say I would not have survived this last year without David’s wise counsel and always gracious assistance. David has continued to serve in some of the most time consuming and valuable roles for FAUW and is one of those quiet and one hundred percent dependable/reliable colleagues who is always ready to step up and do one more task. His work is always of the highest quality; thoughtful, careful, and wise.

David, we will miss you as you head off to your well-earned and much deserved sabbatical. Thank you for everything.

An Update on Compassionate and Bereavement Leaves

Sally Gunz, FAUW President

A few weeks ago you received a statement on leave entitlements from the provost and myself. No sooner than it had gone out than I received an email reminding me we had forgotten to discuss compassionate and bereavement leaves. This is entirely correct.

FYI, bereavement leaves are short and are covered by university guidelines.

Compassionate leave is trickier. Ontario’s Employment Standards Act ensures job protection for up to eight weeks of Family Caregiver Leave, eight weeks of Family Medical Leave (in circumstances of imminent death of a family member), and up to 37 weeks of Critically Ill Child Care Leave. As of now they are unpaid, although there may be eligibility for employment insurance benefits. Information is available on the Human Resources Website (see the section on Employment Standards Act (ESA) Leaves).

FAUW raised the issue of lack of a clear policy or guideline for compassionate leaves, and the terms of reference for the new committee reviewing Policy 14, Pregnancy and Parental Leave (Including Adoption) have been extended to allow for the consideration of inclusion of this (and possibly other) leaves. While these may seem unrelated life events, in fact the principles behind the leaves are very similar. Certainly the entitlements should be clarified by policy.

I thank those who brought these issues to my attention.

Note: Additional updates on ongoing issues are provided in today’s President’s Newsletter, available on the FAUW website.