Quick Guides to basic employee rights

Your basic rights as an employee are outlined below. For a downloadable summary, click:

Here for TAs, Markers, and Tutors

Here for Exam Invigilators at the Centre for Accessibility

Salaries and wages

Here are the wages for the different classifications of TAs according to our collective agreement. Monthly and yearly wages are calculated based on the amount of hours in a full TA appointment outlined in the collective agreement. Please consult the collective agreement or read the section below for more details on the differences between the classifications.

Exam invigilators are paid $23.11 per hour, and senior exam invigilators are paid $27.82 per hour. Please consult the collective agreement.

Re-appointment and hiring preference

For TAs

• Once you have been hired, the department is obliged to offer you future work opportunities (contingent upon departmental budgets).

• If you are a graduate student TA they must offer you the same number of hours in subsequent years: year two if you are a master’s student and years two, three, four, and five if you are a Ph.D. student. Conditions apply.

• If you are an undergraduate student TA, the department must offer you employment for the following 2 years before they hire a new undergraduate student. 

For Exam Invigilators

• Once you are hired, you are employed for both terms or the Winter or Summer Session that you are hired in.

• You will be canvased about your interest in returning the following academic year. 

• You will be rehired (if you want) in order of seniority.

Job Classifications

STA Senior Teaching Assistant – A graduate student who either 

1) Coordinates and/or guides other teaching assistants OR 

2) Is focused on curriculum development, and has substantial teaching experience, professional development, and/or achievement as a TA.

 GTA I – A graduate student who has two (2) years’ experience as a graduate student teaching assistant.

 GTA II – A graduate student with less than two (2) years’ experience as a graduate student teaching assistant.

 UTA I – An employee who has not yet earned an undergraduate degree in the posted discipline, and has “direct interaction with students on more than an incidental basis.” Such interaction includes giving feedback on assignments.

 UTA II – An employee who has not yet earned an undergraduate degree in the posted discipline; duties do not require knowledge of the discipline; student contact is limited to an incidental or transactional basis (like handing out exams).

Senior Exam Invigilators - Exam Invigilators that are appointed to provide invigilation expertise during high-volume periods. 

Hours of work

For TAs

• A full TA appointment is 384 hours (minus 16 hrs vacation) per session. This is usually expressed as 192 hours (minus eight hrs vacation) per term. 

• TA duties in a single day cannot exceed seven hours over an eight-hour period without your consent.

• You cannot be required to work more than 24 hours in a single week.

• You cannot be required to work before 7:30 a.m. or after 8 p.m

• You have the right to a 20-minute break every two hours (unless you are in the middle of a lab).

• You cannot be required to work 24 hours prior to one of your own final exams, including your oral defence.

For Exam Invigilators

• Daily hours are a maximum of 8 hours.

• Weekly hours are a maximum of 40 hours. 

• Shifts are normally 4 hours.

• Overtime rates of 2 times the normal rate are applied to hours in excess of the above maximums.

What counts as TA work?

Any mandatory work that you do as a TA counts toward your paid hours, including orientations, class preparation, attending lectures, marking and recording grades, preparing/conducting labs and tutorials, meeting with students/TAs/ instructors, e-mail, administration of online classroom environments, invigilating, training, and photocopying.

You are never obliged to work for free.

Managing workload

At the beginning of the term, an Allocation of Hours form must be filled out. Some faculty will fill this out with you during a meeting; other faculty will have it prepared prior to the beginning of the term. This form outlines your position, ALL of the duties expected of you over the term, and the number of hours you should be spending on your various duties. It should also account for time spent on training and vacation.

Allocation of Hours forms help:

• Ensure that instructors are aware of the TA hours assigned to their course.

• Ensure that instructor expectations are understood.

• Provide an opportunity for TAs to provide feedback on expectations. (Is marking 45 essays in 3 hours realistic?)

If you anticipate that your workload will exceed the number of hours in your appointment, you should notify the instructor and/or departmental TA coordinator so that they can reallocate some of your work or attach additional hours to the appointment. Those are their only options. If a faculty member rejects your concerns, contact your Union Departmental Representative, or the Union Advocate.

You are never obliged to work for free. If you want to talk about how to approach these (sometimes awkward)  conversations, contact your Department Representative or the Advocate. 

Vacation, holidays, and leaves of absence

Vacation for TAs

Each TA appointment includes vacation time. If you have a full appointment of 384 hours over the Winter Session, 16 hours are to be used as vacation time, typically between December 24 and the beginning of the next term. If you have a single term appointment of 192 hours, eight of those hours are paid vacation time, and should be taken at the end of that term. If you have less than a full appointment, these hours are prorated. 

Vacation for Exam Invigilators

Due to the unevenness of shifts at the CfA, vacation time is compensated for as 4% of your gross earnings. This is paid out each payday. 

Sick Leave for TAs

A full-time TA position includes 12 hours of paid sick leave per term, prorated for partial appointments. TAs must notify their instructor that they are sick as soon as possible, in which case the instructor is responsible for finding a replacement TA. Unused leave can be carried forward to the next term, to a maximum of 24 hours banked.

Sick Leave for Exam Invigilators

Invigilators are allowed sick leave as per the Employment Standards Act of BC. Currently, that means that, after 90 days of employment, employees can take up to 5 paid days and 3 unpaid days of job-protected leave per calendar year. The amount of pay you receive is an “average” day’s pay. This average is based on the amount you were paid for the last 30 days divided by the number of days you worked.

Other Types of Leave

Maternity/parental leave is available for all members. This leave is unpaid, but you may be eligible for Employment Insurance or support from the Union’s Hardship Maternity Fund.

Unpaid leave is available to attend conferences or prepare for an academic defence or comprehensive examination. You should give the instructor as much notice as possible.

Any member who is addressing domestic violence in their life will be provided up to 5 days of paid leave.

Paid compassionate leave is also available to members who have experienced a recent death in their family (broadly defined).

Protection from harasment, discrimination and academic harm

Everyone has the right to work in an environment free of harassment. 

Any threat to harm an employee’s academic standing or performance that is intended to prevent an employee from exercising their rights as provided for in this Agreement is a form of personal harassment. 

Both UBC and CUPE 2278 are bound by the Human RIghts Code of BC.

It is prohibited to discriminate against an individual based on:

• Age

• Race, colour, ancestry, or place of origin

• Political belief or religion, or membership, office, non-membership or activity in any political, religious, labour, or academic organization

• Sex, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression

• Marital or family status

• Physical or mental disability

• Criminal or summary conviction offence that is unrelated to the employment or to the intended employment of that person

• Any other set of grounds that may be outlined in the Human Rights Code of BC in the future

All workers in BC who face barriers to participation in the workplace due to personal characteristics outlined in the Human Rights Code of BC must be accommodated by the employer, up to the point of “undue hardship.” The term “undue hardship” is a bit of a floating signifier, and you should talk to the Advocate about it if you need to assert your right to accommodation.