Graduate Employee Organization -- University of Massachusetts, Amherst / Workload

From CGEU

Assignments to graduate student employees will be such that they can be reasonably expected to discharge them within the number of hours specified in the individual's contract. No graduate student employee will be instructed to work more hours than his or her contract stipulates.

Significant changes in features of a graduate student employee's workload (such as class size, number of sections or courses taught, or number of students advised) shall be structured in such a way as not to increase the graduate student employee's expenditure of time beyond the number of hours specified in the graduate student employee's contract ( e.g., switching from essay to multiple choice, adding graders) and shall be discussed by the department chair with the graduate student employee involved. Department-wide changes shall be discussed with all affected graduate student employees.

Furthermore, a Teaching Associate must be paid for no less than ten hours per week per three-credit course.

For courses or sections taught by graduate student employees, graduate student employees shall report any overenrollment, including requests, to the department head. The department head shall prepare an annual report which includes such data and which the administration shall make available to GEO. The University shall collect data on overenrollment attempts during registration and make such data available to GEO by the end of the semester. GEO and the University shall meet to discuss any implications of these data.

If a department wishes to increase the enrollment cap in a course taught by a graduate student employee, the department head shall consult with affected graduate student employees in a manner deemed appropriate by the department head.