Negotiations: Article 31, Other Benefits

AAUP-WSU Proposal for Article 31, Other Benefits	Administration Proposal for Article 31, Other Benefits
31.1 Tuition and Fee Remission. This benefit consists of a waiver of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members taking courses at the University, and a waiver of 80100% of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for their spouses or domestic partners and eligible dependents taking courses at the University.	31.1 Tuition and Fee Remission. This benefit consists of a waiver of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members taking courses at the University, and a waiver of 80% of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for their spouses and eligible dependents taking courses at the University.
31.1.1 Eligibility for Tuition and Fee Remission Benefits. Eligibility is determined by the status of the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member on the first day of the applicable term. The following individuals are eligible for these benefits: Bargaining Unit Faculty Members. Spouse, domestic partner or dependents of an eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member. A dependent is a son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter of the Member as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, Section 151 (e)(3), who is eligible to be claimed as a dependent on the Member's federal income tax return. Retirees, including those on disability retirement, who have ten years of Wright State University service, and who were eligible at the time of their retirement, and their spouses and dependents. Spouses, domestic partners and dependents of Bargaining Unit Faculty Members who were eligible at the time of their deaths or spouses, domestic partners and dependents of eligible Members on disability leave. Such eligibility for dependents expires at the time their dependent status would have expired. Members on disability leave pursuant to Section 30.4.	31.1.1 Eligibility for Tuition and Fee Remission Benefits. Eligibility is determined by the status of the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member on the first day of the applicable term. The following individuals are eligible for these benefits: Bargaining Unit Faculty Members. Spouse or dependents of an eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member. A dependent is a son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter of the Member as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, Section 151 (e)(3), who is eligible to be claimed as a dependent on the Member's federal income tax return. Retirees, including those on disability retirement, who have ten years of Wright State University service, and who were eligible at the time of their retirement, and their spouses and dependents. Spouses and dependents of Bargaining Unit Faculty Members who were eligible at the time of their deaths or spouses and dependents of eligible Members on disability leave. Such eligibility for dependents expires at the time their dependent status would have expired. Members on disability leave pursuant to Section 30.4.
31.1.2 Limitations on Tuition and Fee Remission Benefits. 31.1.2.1 A Bargaining Unit Faculty Member is limited to maximum benefits equal to the instructional fee, general fee and out-of-state tuition for a maximum of eight (8) credit hours per quarter. For the purpose of Member fee remission, there are four quarters per year: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Spouses, domestic partners and dependents of the eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member, retirees, and Members on disability leave are not subject to these limitations.	31.1.2 Limitations on Tuition and Fee Remission Benefits. 31.1.2.1 A Bargaining Unit Faculty Member is limited to maximum benefits equal to the instructional fee, general fee and out-of-state tuition for a maximum of eight (8) credit hours per quarter. For the purpose of Member fee remission, there are four quarters per year: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Spouses and dependents of the eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member, retirees, and Members on disability leave are not subject to these limitations.
31.1.2.2 Benefits for credit-hour courses for a Bargaining Unit Faculty Member apply only to courses included in regular undergraduate and graduate level programs, and do not apply to courses in Medicine and Professional Psychology. Benefits for credit-hour courses for an individual other than a Bargaining Unit Faculty Member apply only to courses included in regular undergraduate and master's level programs. 31.1.2.3 Except for certain restricted offerings, an eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member may have 100% of the fee for noncredit courses or workshops remitted if the enrollment is approved by the Member's Chair as being beneficial for the training of the Member. 31.1.2.4 The fee remission benefit for eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members covers audited courses as well as courses for academic credit. 31.1.2.5 A fee remission for noncredit courses or workshops is not available for spouses and dependents of the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member or for retirees. 31.2 Employee Assistance Program. The University will provide members of the household of eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members, and dependents of an eligible Member who are eligible for group health insurance coverage, an Employee Assistance Program that provides short-term problem-focused counseling to deal with a variety of personal and work-related problems. This program shall be provided at no cost to the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member. 31.3 Flexible Spending Accounts. The University will offer flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care to eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members. The terms of such accounts are as follows:	31.1.2.2 Benefits for credit-hour courses for a Bargaining Unit Faculty Member apply only to courses included in regular undergraduate and graduate level programs, and do not apply to courses in Medicine and Professional Psychology. Benefits for credit-hour courses for an individual other than a Bargaining Unit Faculty Member apply only to courses included in regular undergraduate and master's level programs. 31.1.2.3 Except for certain restricted offerings, an eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member may have 100% of the fee for noncredit courses or workshops remitted if the enrollment is approved by the Member's Chair as being beneficial for the training of the Member. 31.1.2.4 The fee remission benefit for eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members covers audited courses as well as courses for academic credit. 31.1.2.5 A fee remission for noncredit courses or workshops is not available for spouses and dependents of the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member or for retirees. 31.2 Employee Assistance Program. The University will provide members of the household of eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members, and dependents of an eligible Member who are eligible for group health insurance coverage, an Employee Assistance Program that provides short-term problem-focused counseling to deal with a variety of personal and work-related problems. This program shall be provided at no cost to the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member. 31.3 Flexible Spending Accounts. The University will offer flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care to eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members. The terms of such accounts are as follows:
31.3.1 The health care account is used for pre-tax reimbursement of medical, dental and vision care costs that are not reimbursed by an insurance plan. The minimum contribution is $10/month; the maximum contribution is $700$910/month beginning January 1, 20032009.	31.3.1 The health care account is used for pre-tax reimbursement of medical, dental and vision care costs that are not reimbursed by an insurance plan. The minimum contribution is $10/month; the maximum contribution is $700/month beginning January 1, 2003.
31.3.2 The dependent care account is used for pre-tax reimbursement of dependent care expenses including the cost of care in a licensed day care center, preschool tuition, and care provided in or outside the employee's home. The minimum contribution is $10/month; the maximum is the maximum allowable by law beginning January 1, 20093.	31.3.2 The dependent care account is used for pre-tax reimbursement of dependent care expenses including the cost of care in a licensed day care center, preschool tuition, and care provided in or outside the employee's home. The minimum contribution is $10/month; the maximum is the maximum allowable by law beginning January 1, 2003.
31.4 Parking. The University will offer parking for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members (B permits) at $110 per year through June 30, 2008. Members will not be charged extra for gated lot access. The University shall make a good faith effort to provide an adequate number of parking spaces for Members of the Bargaining Unit. As part of this effort, the University will designate in each faculty/staff parking lot 25 percent of the spaces for faculty use only. Bargaining Unit Faculty will be able to park in these spaces or in any other space designated for faculty and staff. The University will not decrease in total or in any specific parking lot the number of parking spaces designed for faculty and staff without first negotiating with AAUP-WSU.	31.4 Parking. The University will offer parking for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members (B permits) at $110 per year through June 30, 2008 $120 for calendar year 2009, $130 for calendar year 2010, and $140 for calendar year 2010. Members will not be charged extra for gated lot access. The University shall make a good faith effort to provide an adequate number of parking spaces for Members of the Bargaining Unit.
31.5 Fitness Program and Facilities. Effective September 1, 2005, individual Bargaining Unit Members can join the Fitness Center with no charge and can purchase a family membership for $75 annually September 1 through August 31, $50 January 1 through August 31, or $25 March 1 through August 31.The University will continue to provide fitness classes currently available to Bargaining Unit Faculty Members for a fee as determined by the University. Such fees shall not exceed the fees charged to other University employees. The University will continue to provide access to athletic facilities currently available to Bargaining Unit Faculty Members at no additional charge.	31.5 Fitness Program and Facilities. Effective September 1, 2005, individual Bargaining Unit Members can join the Fitness Center with no charge and can purchase a family membership for $75 annually September 1 through August 31, $50 January 1 through August 31, or $25 March 1 through August 31.The University will continue to provide fitness classes currently available to Bargaining Unit Faculty Members for a fee as determined by the University. Such fees shall not exceed the fees charged to other University employees. The University will continue to provide access to athletic facilities currently available to Bargaining Unit Faculty Members at no additional charge.
Note: the parental accommodations language shown below by both parties in sections 31.6.x is not actually new, but instead is adopted from the “Agreement on Parental Accommodations” signed on February 1, 2006.
	31.6 Parental Accommodations
31.6 Parental Teaching Relief is intended to provide a birth or adoptive parent with additional time to care for a newborn or newly-adopted child under the age of six. Eligible Members may choose to take either one full quarter with no teaching responsibilities or two quarters with 50% of that Member's customary teaching load without loss of pay. Teaching relief quarters must be started within one year of the birth or adoption. 31.6.1 Eligibility: The Member must, during the teaching relief quarter(s), be the primary caretaker of his or her newborn or newly adopted child under six for at least 25 hours per week, from Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. 31.6.1.1. Parental Teaching Relief will be granted if requested by a Member who meets the requirements for eligibility. 31.6.1.2. Requests must be submitted to the Provost as much in advance as is reasonably possible. A copy of the request must also be sent to the AAUP-WSU. 31.6.1.3. Requests must include a signed statement that the individual will satisfy the requirement for eligibility, as defined above. 31.6.2 Class Scheduling: When preparing teaching schedules and other assignments, department chairs and deans are encouraged to consider the child care responsibilities of Members with children under the age of six. Member's schedule requests will be considered but cannot be guaranteed, and reasonable adjustments to accommodate their parenting responsibilities shall not be construed as preferential treatment of those Members. 31.6.3 Support for Ongoing Professional Commitments: Members may apply to their dean for support to maintain their laboratory operations or other ongoing professional commitments during the year following the birth or adoption of a child under six. Parental Accommodations in the 2005-2008 CBA.	31.6.1 Teaching Relief. So that they will have time to care for a newborn or newly - adopted child under the age of six, eligible Members may choose to take either one full quarter with no teaching responsibilities or two quarters with 50% of that Member's customary teaching load without loss of pay. Teaching relief quarters must be started within one year of the birth or adoption. 31.6.1.1 To be eligible for teaching relief, the Member must, during the teaching relief quarter(s), be the primary caretaker of his or her newborn or newly adopted child under six for at least 25 hours per week, from Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m. 31.6.1.2 Parental Teaching Relief will be granted if requested by a Member who meets the requirements for eligibility. Requests must be submitted to the Provost, with a copy sent to AAUP - WSU, as much in advance as is reasonably possible. Requests must include a signed statement that the individual will satisfy the requirement for eligibility, as defined in Section 31.6.1.1 and also an anticipated schedule of times when the Member will be the primary caretaker of the child. 31.6.2 Annual Evaluation. All Members who have a newly born or adopted child under the age of six may, upon request, receive the average evaluation score in their department for annual evaluation in the year in which the child was born or adopted, or in one of the following two years. Thus, a Member with a child born or adopted in 2008 has the option of receiving an average evaluation score for 2008, 2009, or 2010. The request must be made no later than December 31 of the year for which the average evaluation score is requested. 31.6.3 When preparing teaching schedules and other assignments, department chairs and deans are encouraged to consider the child care responsibilities of Members with children under the age of six. Member's schedule requests will be considered but cannot be guaranteed, and reasonable adjustments to accommodate their parenting responsibilities shall not be construed as preferential treatment of those Members. 31.6.4 Members may apply to their dean for support to maintain their lab oratory operations or other ongoing professional commitments during the year following the birth or adoption of a child under six. 31.6.5 Additional provisions in this Agreement to assist parents of newborn or newly adopted children include - sick leave and FMLA (Article 28 and Sections 30.1 - 30.25), unpaid child care leave (Sections 30.3 - 30.3.3), partial unpaid leave (Section 30.8), and probationary period extensions (13.xxx-13.xxx).
31.7 Adoption Assistance. 31.7.1 Adoption Assistance will reimburse Bargaining Unit Faculty Members up to $4,000 per child for eligible adoption related expenses upon placement of a minor child in the Member's home. If two adopting parents of the same adopted child are both eligible for Adoption Assistance, the total maximum benefit amount for that adoption is $4,000 31.7.2 Eligible adoptions: Adopted children must be under the age of 18. The children may be biologically related to either parent. Adoptions made through public, private, domestic, international, and independent means are eligible. 31.7.3 Eligible Expenses: Agency and placement fees Legal fees and court costs Required medical expenses for the child prior to adoption (including immunizations) Adoption health/assessment costs post placement not covered by WSU medical plan Immigration fees (USCIS applications and processing) Translation services Transportation and lodging expenses Fingerprinting fees Safety inspections Well water tests Notarizing/certification expenses Readoption court costs Post-placement costs The following expenses are not eligible: Medical examination fees for the adopting parents Cost of personal items such as clothing and food for either the parents or the child Expenses incurred prior to eligibility for the program. 31.7.4 To receive adoption assistance a Bargaining Unit Member must fill out an application for adoption assistance and turn it in to the Department of Human Resources. (Adoption benefits may carry tax implications so Bargaining Unit Members are encouraged to consult their tax advisor.)

AAUP-WSU Proposal for Article 31, Other Benefits

Administration Proposal for Article 31, Other Benefits

31.1 Tuition and Fee Remission. This benefit consists of a waiver of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members taking courses at the University, and a waiver of 80100% of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for their spouses or domestic partners and eligible dependents taking courses at the University.

31.1 Tuition and Fee Remission. This benefit consists of a waiver of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members taking courses at the University, and a waiver of 80% of the instructional fee, general fee, and out-of-state tuition for their spouses and eligible dependents taking courses at the University.

31.1.1 Eligibility for Tuition and Fee Remission Benefits. Eligibility is determined by the status of the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member on the first day of the applicable term. The following individuals are eligible for these benefits:

Bargaining Unit Faculty Members.

Spouse, domestic partner or dependents of an eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member. A dependent is a son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter of the Member as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, Section 151 (e)(3), who is eligible to be claimed as a dependent on the Member's federal income tax return.

Retirees, including those on disability retirement, who have ten years of Wright State University service, and who were eligible at the time of their retirement, and their spouses and dependents.

Spouses, domestic partners and dependents of Bargaining Unit Faculty Members who were eligible at the time of their deaths or spouses, domestic partners and dependents of eligible Members on disability leave. Such eligibility for dependents expires at the time their dependent status would have expired.

Members on disability leave pursuant to Section 30.4.

Bargaining Unit Faculty Members.

Spouse or dependents of an eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member. A dependent is a son, stepson, daughter, or stepdaughter of the Member as defined in the Internal Revenue Code, Section 151 (e)(3), who is eligible to be claimed as a dependent on the Member's federal income tax return.

Retirees, including those on disability retirement, who have ten years of Wright State University service, and who were eligible at the time of their retirement, and their spouses and dependents.

Spouses and dependents of Bargaining Unit Faculty Members who were eligible at the time of their deaths or spouses and dependents of eligible Members on disability leave. Such eligibility for dependents expires at the time their dependent status would have expired.

Members on disability leave pursuant to Section 30.4.

31.1.2 Limitations on Tuition and Fee Remission Benefits.

31.1.2.1 A Bargaining Unit Faculty Member is limited to maximum benefits equal to the instructional fee, general fee and out-of-state tuition for a maximum of eight (8) credit hours per quarter. For the purpose of Member fee remission, there are four quarters per year: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Spouses, domestic partners and dependents of the eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member, retirees, and Members on disability leave are not subject to these limitations.

31.1.2 Limitations on Tuition and Fee Remission Benefits.

31.1.2.1 A Bargaining Unit Faculty Member is limited to maximum benefits equal to the instructional fee, general fee and out-of-state tuition for a maximum of eight (8) credit hours per quarter. For the purpose of Member fee remission, there are four quarters per year: fall, winter, spring, and summer. Spouses and dependents of the eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member, retirees, and Members on disability leave are not subject to these limitations.

31.1.2.2 Benefits for credit-hour courses for a Bargaining Unit Faculty Member apply only to courses included in regular undergraduate and graduate level programs, and do not apply to courses in Medicine and Professional Psychology. Benefits for credit-hour courses for an individual other than a Bargaining Unit Faculty Member apply only to courses included in regular undergraduate and master's level programs.

31.1.2.3 Except for certain restricted offerings, an eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Member may have 100% of the fee for noncredit courses or workshops remitted if the enrollment is approved by the Member's Chair as being beneficial for the training of the Member.

31.1.2.4 The fee remission benefit for eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members covers audited courses as well as courses for academic credit.

31.1.2.5 A fee remission for noncredit courses or workshops is not available for spouses and dependents of the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member or for retirees.

31.2 Employee Assistance Program. The University will provide members of the household of eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members, and dependents of an eligible Member who are eligible for group health insurance coverage, an Employee Assistance Program that provides short-term problem-focused counseling to deal with a variety of personal and work-related problems. This program shall be provided at no cost to the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member.

31.3 Flexible Spending Accounts. The University will offer flexible spending accounts for health and dependent care to eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members. The terms of such accounts are as follows:

31.1.2.4 The fee remission benefit for eligible Bargaining Unit Faculty Members covers audited courses as well as courses for academic credit.

31.1.2.5 A fee remission for noncredit courses or workshops is not available for spouses and dependents of the Bargaining Unit Faculty Member or for retirees.

31.3.1 The health care account is used for pre-tax reimbursement of medical, dental and vision care costs that are not reimbursed by an insurance plan. The minimum contribution is $10/month; the maximum contribution is $700$910/month beginning January 1, 20032009.

31.3.2 The dependent care account is used for pre-tax reimbursement of dependent care expenses including the cost of care in a licensed day care center, preschool tuition, and care provided in or outside the employee's home. The minimum contribution is $10/month; the maximum is the maximum allowable by law beginning January 1, 20093.

31.4 Parking. The University will offer parking for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members (B permits) at $110 per year through June 30, 2008. Members will not be charged extra for gated lot access. The University shall make a good faith effort to provide an adequate number of parking spaces for Members of the Bargaining Unit. As part of this effort, the University will designate in each faculty/staff parking lot 25 percent of the spaces for faculty use only. Bargaining Unit Faculty will be able to park in these spaces or in any other space designated for faculty and staff. The University will not decrease in total or in any specific parking lot the number of parking spaces designed for faculty and staff without first negotiating with AAUP-WSU.

31.4 Parking. The University will offer parking for Bargaining Unit Faculty Members (B permits) at $110 per year through June 30, 2008 $120 for calendar year 2009, $130 for calendar year 2010, and $140 for calendar year 2010. Members will not be charged extra for gated lot access. The University shall make a good faith effort to provide an adequate number of parking spaces for Members of the Bargaining Unit.

31.5 Fitness Program and Facilities. Effective September 1, 2005, individual Bargaining Unit Members can join the Fitness Center with no charge and can purchase a family membership for $75 annually September 1 through August 31, $50 January 1 through August 31, or $25 March 1 through August 31.The University will continue to provide fitness classes currently available to Bargaining Unit Faculty Members for a fee as determined by the University. Such fees shall not exceed the fees charged to other University employees. The University will continue to provide access to athletic facilities currently available to Bargaining Unit Faculty Members at no additional charge.

Note: the parental accommodations language shown below by both parties in sections 31.6.x is not actually new, but instead is adopted from the “Agreement on Parental Accommodations” signed on February 1, 2006.

31.6 Parental Accommodations

31.6 Parental Teaching Relief is intended to provide a birth or adoptive parent with additional time to care for a newborn or newly-adopted child under the age of six. Eligible Members may choose to take either one full quarter with no teaching responsibilities or two quarters with 50% of that Member's customary teaching load without loss of pay. Teaching relief quarters must be started within one year of the birth or adoption.

31.6.1 Eligibility: The Member must, during the teaching relief quarter(s), be the primary caretaker of his or her newborn or newly adopted child under six for at least 25 hours per week, from Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

31.6.1.1. Parental Teaching Relief will be granted if requested by a Member who meets the requirements for eligibility.

31.6.1.2. Requests must be submitted to the Provost as much in advance as is reasonably possible. A copy of the request must also be sent to the AAUP-WSU.

31.6.1.3. Requests must include a signed statement that the individual will satisfy the requirement for eligibility, as defined above.

31.6.2 Class Scheduling: When preparing teaching schedules and other assignments, department chairs and deans are encouraged to consider the child care responsibilities of Members with children under the age of six. Member's schedule requests will be considered but cannot be guaranteed, and reasonable adjustments to accommodate their parenting responsibilities shall not be construed as preferential treatment of those Members.

31.6.3 Support for Ongoing Professional Commitments: Members may apply to their dean for support to maintain their laboratory operations or other ongoing professional commitments during the year following the birth or adoption of a child under six. Parental Accommodations in the 2005-2008 CBA.

31.6.1 Teaching Relief. So that they will have time to care for a newborn or newly - adopted child under the age of six, eligible Members may choose to take either one full quarter with no teaching responsibilities or two quarters with 50% of that Member's customary teaching load without loss of pay. Teaching relief quarters must be started within one year of the birth or adoption.

31.6.1.1 To be eligible for teaching relief, the Member must, during the teaching relief quarter(s), be the primary caretaker of his or her newborn or newly adopted child under six for at least 25 hours per week, from Monday through Friday, between the hours of 8 a.m. and 10 p.m.

31.6.1.2 Parental Teaching Relief will be granted if requested by a Member who meets the requirements for eligibility. Requests must be submitted to the Provost, with a copy sent to AAUP - WSU, as much in advance as is reasonably possible. Requests must include a signed statement that the individual will satisfy the requirement for eligibility, as defined in Section 31.6.1.1 and also an anticipated schedule of times when the Member will be the primary caretaker of the child.

31.6.2 Annual Evaluation. All Members who have a newly born or adopted child under the age of six may, upon request, receive the average evaluation score in their department for annual evaluation in the year in which the child was born or adopted, or in one of the following two years. Thus, a Member with a child born or adopted in 2008 has the option of receiving an average evaluation score for 2008, 2009, or 2010. The request must be made no later than December 31 of the year for which the average evaluation score is requested.

31.6.3 When preparing teaching schedules and other assignments, department chairs and deans are encouraged to consider the child care responsibilities of Members with children under the age of six. Member's schedule requests will be considered but cannot be guaranteed, and reasonable adjustments to accommodate their parenting responsibilities shall not be construed as preferential treatment of those Members.

31.6.4 Members may apply to their dean for support to maintain their lab oratory operations or other ongoing professional commitments during the year following the birth or adoption of a child under six.

31.6.5 Additional provisions in this Agreement to assist parents of newborn or newly adopted children include -

sick leave and FMLA (Article 28 and Sections 30.1 - 30.25),
unpaid child care leave (Sections 30.3 - 30.3.3),
partial unpaid leave (Section 30.8), and
probationary period extensions (13.xxx-13.xxx).

31.7 Adoption Assistance.

31.7.1 Adoption Assistance will reimburse Bargaining Unit Faculty Members up to $4,000 per child for eligible adoption related expenses upon placement of a minor child in the Member's home. If two adopting parents of the same adopted child are both eligible for Adoption Assistance, the total maximum benefit amount for that adoption is $4,000

31.7.2 Eligible adoptions:

Adopted children must be under the age of 18.
The children may be biologically related to either parent.
Adoptions made through public, private, domestic, international, and independent means are eligible.

31.7.3 Eligible Expenses:

Agency and placement fees
Legal fees and court costs
Required medical expenses for the child prior to adoption (including immunizations)
Adoption health/assessment costs post placement not covered by WSU medical plan
Immigration fees (USCIS applications and processing)
Translation services
Transportation and lodging expenses
Fingerprinting fees
Safety inspections
Well water tests
Notarizing/certification expenses
Readoption court costs
Post-placement costs

The following expenses are not eligible:

Medical examination fees for the adopting parents
Cost of personal items such as clothing and food for either the parents or the child
Expenses incurred prior to eligibility for the program.

31.7.4 To receive adoption assistance a Bargaining Unit Member must fill out an application for adoption assistance and turn it in to the Department of Human Resources. (Adoption benefits may carry tax implications so Bargaining Unit Members are encouraged to consult their tax advisor.)

Reports on Negotiations about Article 31, Other Benefits

The administration agreed that benefits available to the spouses of Bargaining Unit Faculty are also available to domestic partners, and it thus (apparently) agreed to our insertion of the phrase “domestic partner(s)” here and there.

The administration agreed to our adjustment of the maximum FSA contribution (see section 31.3.1).

About parking (section 31.4): the administration stated that the last sentence in the language we proposed to add was good. However it did not want to agree to set aside some faculty-only spaces, even though our explicit suggestion was that these should be farthest from the buildings served by the respective lots, as is appropriate since the objective is to prevent faculty who arrive at odd hours (e.g., due to evening teaching assignments or laboratory obligations) when lots are likely full from having to hunt for parking. Our Negotiating Team asked if the administration would entertain setting aside any number of faculty-only spaces; there was no clear reply, but one guesses that the answer is “no.” The administration suggested adding parking services to the organizations whose performance would be monitored by a committee to be described in Article 18 (Institutional Environment); we agreed to respond to that idea. The administration stated that when faculty lots are full, faculty can park for no charge in the visitor lots; our team asked if the administration would put that statement in the CBA. Turning to the administration’s proposal to increase charges for parking (section 31.4), our team stated that when we have agreed on an increase in real compensation, we would give the administration an increase in parking fees. The administration stated that the proposed increases were small; our team replied that the administration’s primary economic proposals would result in a decrease in our real pay!

The two parties evidently agree on the substance of the parental accommodations language, though this session failed to resolve which set of language (or what meld of the two sets) proposed for section 31.6 and subsections would actually be adopted.

The administration stated clearly that it did not reject out-of-hand our proposal (section 31.7) for adoption assistance. One guesses that this proposal’s fate will be tied to the major economic articles.

Friday, April 4

When our Negotiating Team introduced our proposal above, we sketched it as follows. First, in section 31.1, we have again proposed 100% tuition remission for eligible dependents. Second, in section 31.3.1, we would increase the maximum FSA contribution. Next, in section 31.4, we provide for certain improvements in the availability of parking, including faculty-only parking, with the goal of preventing faculty from having to waste time searching for parking spaces (especially when their teaching schedules and other commitments call for them to arrive on campus at times other than early morning). In section 31.6 and subsections, we would incorporate provisions from the “Agreement on Parental Accommodations” signed on February 1, 2006, into the new CBA. In section 31.7 and its subsections, we propose adoption assistance modeled on current policy at Ohio State University; our team explained that this should help Wright State recruit and retain women faculty, some of whom may elect to postpone having children for professional reasons and find it better to adopt. Finally, in appropriate places we have added references to domestic partner benefits, as is appropriate in light of the November 16, 2006, “Agreement on Domestic Partner Benefits.”

Likewise, the administration noted that its proposal features higher charges for parking in section 31.4 and, like ours, includes parental accommodations in section 31.6 and subsections.

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This page was last modified on May 3, 2008. Corrections, comments, and suggestions are most welcome. Contact the webmaster for this page (Jim Vance) at jvance@math.wright.edu, telephone 937-775-2206.

Reports on Negotiations about Article 31, Other Benefits

Friday, May 2

Friday, April 4