Article from the Tech Memo, Nov/Dec 1997, No. 3, published by WEAC for Members in the Wisconsin Technical College System.

Part-Time Instructor Ruled Eligible For WRS Coverage

In an important ruling, with potentially far-reaching implications, the Employee Trust Fund Board (ETFB), which oversees our Wisconsin Retirement System, and a Wisconsin circuit court judge have both agreed with a part-time MATC instructor that she should be included in the Retirement System.

While the court's decision applies only to this one individual at this time, the underlying concept and rationale are important for all of us, both full- and part-time employees. The ETFB and the court both recognized that the part-time teacher, who was compensated only for her in-class hours, had to spend more hours than those in order to perform the job. As this ruling is affirmed and spreads, it may result in lessening the huge gap that currently exists between the wages of full- and part-time faculty. This gap has resulted, understandably, in the use of more and more part-time faculty in the WTCS, as a cost-saving measure. The problem, however, is that continued expansion of part-time work threatens to undermine the continuation of full-time teaching positions in the future. The future structure of the WTCS is at issue.

Facts of the Case

In the 1994-95 school year, a part-time instructor at MATC-Madison kept track of all her hours of work for MATC. She not only kept track of her in-class hours, but also the hours she spent preparing for class, grading papers and tests, attending required department meetings, and in student contact time. At the end of the school year she had documented 880 hours of time. Her total in-class time was 313 hours. This ratio of almost 2 to 1 in prep time to classroom time is typical of what teachers, nationwide, on an average, spend in out-of-class time.

The Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) is the state organization that administers the pension fund for WTCS employees. One of the criteria to be a participant is that the employee must work a minimum of one-third of what is considered full-time for the position. A full-time teacher is considered full-time at 1,330 hours per year. The ETFB has determined that a teacher must have 440 hours to be eligible for the WRS pension fund.

At issue in the MATC case was whether the hours spent outside of paid classroom hours should be counted toward the 440 hours necessary for inclusion in the pension fund. MATC contended that only the hours for which the employee was paid, i.e., classroom hours, should be counted. The instructor contended that she was expected to work all 880 hours, even though she was paid for only the 313 in-class hours.The ETFB ruled: AMATC chooses to calculate the amount of the appellant's paycheck based upon the number of hours she is actually in the classroom, not the actual hours worked. The employer also requires the appellant to render personal services outside the classroom as a condition of her employment. All hours of service required by the part-time employment, both inside and outside the classroom, must be included both in determining whether the appellant qualifies as a participating employee and in reporting hours of service to the Wisconsin Retirement System.

MATC appealed this decision to Dane County Circuit Court. This past July, Judge Bartell upheld the ETFB's decision stating . . . "The Board (ETFB) acted according to the law, used its discretion reasonably, and correctly interpreted the applicable statutes, I affirm the Board's Final Decision."

Thus, all hours, inside and outside the classroom, are to be used to determine if a part-time instructor has met the minimum of 440 hours to be included in the Wisconsin Retirement System.

Results of this Ruling

Do not expect any immediate state-wide application of this ruling. In order for a part-time faculty employee to qualify for WRS, the instructor will have to do as the MATC instructor did, i.e., document all hours spent, and, if the employer does not agree, will have to present his/her individual case to the ETFB. Except where part-time faculty have negotiated a collective bargaining agreement, the part-time employee will be required to pay the 6.5% employee share, which matches the required employer payment, into the fund.

Should enough individual cases be brought forward, the ETFB may publish general guidelines for determining "workload percent" for part-time teaching that can be applied in all cases to determine eligibility and payment into the retirement fund.