If you are a part-time faculty, you can be hired as a temporary employee, but your title must be changed to term employee after four consecutive semesters. There are two huge differences between a temporary and a term employee:
- a temporary employee can be let go at any time, with no notice or other rights (regardless of the length of their appointment). A term employee must be given a minimum of 45 days’ notice and cannot have their contracted term cut short.
- a term employee has the right to join the ORP (optional retirement program). A temporary employee does not have access to the ORP, and has the choice of only the TRS (Teachers’ Retirement System) or ERS (Employees’ Retirement System) .
One other thing to consider: If you have been teaching as an adjunct for 10 years, and are age eligible to retire (age 55 or older), and you receive a notice of non-renewal — you should consider retiring, or retiring for health insurance purposes (see separate DYK on the topic) before your last day of service. Doing so allows you to take your sick days into retirement with you, to use as payment on future health insurance premiums.
For additional information on part-time employee rights, please see the UUP document, “Part-time/Full-time Contingent Employees: Know Your Contract Rights and Benefits“.
Last updated: April 2012